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Golden Lovers

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Golden☆Lovers ( ゴールデン☆ラヴァーズ , Gōruden☆Ravāzu ) is the professional wrestling tag team of Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi . The team was formed in January 2009 in the Japanese DDT Pro-Wrestling promotion , where, over the next five years, they won the KO-D Tag Team Championship on two occasions. The team also made appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship once . The team disbanded when Omega left DDT in October 2014. Omega and Ibushi reunited at The New Beginning in Sapporo in January 2018.

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121-612: In July 2008, Canadian wrestler Kenny Omega started his first Japanese tour with the DDT Pro-Wrestling promotion, where he quickly became friends with Kota Ibushi , with the two forming a tag team named "Golden☆Lovers" in January 2009. On January 24, Ibushi and Omega defeated Harashima and Toru Owashi to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time. After one successful defense, they lost

242-649: A gaijin . Omega defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2015. He retained the title over Taguchi in a rematch on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka . In the following months, he successfully defended the title against Máscara Dorada at Invasion Attack 2015 and Alex Shelley at Wrestling Dontaku 2015 . Omega lost

363-490: A Blood & Guts match . On August 2, 2023, it was announced that Omega, the Young Bucks, and Adam Page had all signed multi-year contract extensions with AEW. On August 27 at All In , Omega, Adam Page and Kota Ibushi was defeated by Bullet Club Gold ( Jay White and Juice Robinson ) and Konosuke Takeshita in a trios match. On September 3 at All Out , Omega was defeated by Takeshita losing twice on pay per view in

484-596: A Winner Takes All match to retain his AEW World Championship and also win the Impact World Championship . At Slammiversary , Omega defeated Sami Callihan in a no disqualification match to retain the Impact World Championship. On the premiere episode of AEW Rampage on August 13, he lost the Impact World Championship to Christian Cage . In November 2022 at Historic X-Over , Omega returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling via

605-574: A three-way match . At All Out on September 5, Omega defeated Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship. He lost the title to Page on November 13 at Full Gear . That same year, Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked him No. 1 on its list of the top 500 male professional wrestlers for the second time. Omega took a hiatus from competing in November due to injuries. He underwent hernia and knee surgeries. Omega returned on

726-622: A two out of three falls match with no time limit for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall , becoming the first Canadian wrestler to win the title in the process. The match received a seven-star rating from Meltzer, which remains the highest rating ever given to a match. Omega then defeated Cody to retain his title at NJPW's G1 Special in San Francisco on July 7. Following

847-672: A 60-minute time limit draw. The match was rated 6 1 ⁄ 4 stars by Dave Meltzer, higher than their previous match, making it the highest-rated match by Meltzer at that time. During the G1 Special in USA in July 2017, Omega defeated Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal, and Tomohiro Ishii in an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion . The event also saw signs of dissension between Omega and new Bullet Club member Cody . On August 12, Omega won his block in

968-565: A DDT-style match to YouTube, in hopes they would interest Ibushi into working with him. After seeing the videos, DDT invited Omega to Japan to wrestle Ibushi, which Omega accepted; he made his first appearance for the promotion in August 2008. Omega stated that wrestling in Japan had been one of his dreams, as the local scene appealed to his creative side, feeling that he was able to show his personality and express himself. He and Ibushi then formed

1089-738: A custom entrance video in the style of the game. In addition to video games, Smith also draws inspiration from the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation and superhero cartoons to develop elements of his in-ring persona. At Fyter Fest in June 2019, Smith also donned ring gear that references the character Akuma from the Street Fighter series. During his run in Bullet Club, Smith did his interviews entirely in English, refusing to speak Japanese. In an interview, he stated that he

1210-487: A demented mean streak that saw him win the Progress Championship for the first time in a No Disqualification match against Will Ospreay at Chapter Twenty-Five. Scurll went on to successfully defend the title against Mark Haskins , Chris Hero , and Tommy End in singles competition and against seven opponents in the 2016 Thunderbastard match which he won. He was the first Progress Champion to defend

1331-752: A four-way match against Noam Dar , Jack Gallagher and Dan Moloney. On 4 April 2015, at a sold-out British Championship Wrestling event in Scotland, Scurll challenged Galloway in a Double Title match for both the Evolve World Championship and the Dragon Gate USA Open the Freedom Gate Championship , but was defeated. In October 2015, Scurll debuted for Global Force Wrestling (GFW) on their "UK Invasion", losing to GFW Global Champion Nick Aldis in

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1452-518: A goalie. He also worked at branches of retailers IGA and Costco . Smith first became interested in a career in professional wrestling after one of his friends from Transcona Collegiate Institute (TCI) began training with Top Rope Championship Wrestling (TRCW) in Winnipeg. Smith ended his ice hockey career plans, turning down a scholarship offer from Bemidji State University and began training under TRCW promoter Bobby Jay, whom he met while he

1573-518: A half years at Failure to Communicate when he teamed with El Generico in a tag team match, where they defeated The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). Omega returned to PWG to compete in the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles on August 29, advancing all the way to the semifinals until he was eliminated by the eventual winner of the tournament, Ricochet . He returned again for the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles on September 2, teaming with The Young Bucks and defeating Flamita , Penta 0M , and Rey Fenix in

1694-517: A make his in-ring return at Wrestle Dynasty on January 5, 2025. He would be then be confronted backstage by Gabe Kidd , which led to a brawl between the two. A fan of video games , Smith incorporates ideas from the medium into wrestling maneuvers, entrance music, and gimmick concepts. The Kenny Omega ring name was originally inspired by the character Omega Weapon from the Final Fantasy video game series. He named his finishing maneuver

1815-468: A press conference to announce that Omega was set to sign with the promotion once his DDT contract expired on October 26. Omega, dubbing himself the Cleaner, made his debut under contract on November 8 at Power Struggle , where he was revealed as the newest member of Bullet Club, despite having previously dismissed the idea of joining the villainous foreigner stable, claiming that he did not consider himself

1936-619: A regular competitor for ROH. The Elite lost the title to Tanahashi, Michael Elgin , and Yoshitatsu on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016 . On April 27, Omega retained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship over Elgin, which marked the first time two Canadians main evented an NJPW event. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016 , The Elite regained the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall , Omega lost

2057-672: A rivalry with Apollo 55 , a tag team made up of Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi . On October 11 at NJPW's Destruction '10 event, the Golden☆Lovers defeated Apollo 55 to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , in a match that was later named the 2010 Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports , becoming the first junior heavyweight tag team match in history to win the award. After making successful title defenses against Apollo 55 and

2178-532: A singles match and teaming with Rampage Brown in a losing effort against Doug Williams and Aldis. Scurll returned to the company in March 2016, unsuccessfully challenging Sonjay Dutt for the GFW NEX*GEN Championship. In early October 2017 at What Culture Pro Wrestling's (WCPW) event Refuse to Lose, Scurll won a triple threat match between Joe Hendry and Will Ospreay and himself to become

2299-511: A six-man tag team match. On July 25, 2008, Omega appeared for the promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), losing to Delirious in Toronto, Ontario . The following night, Omega competed at ROH New Horizons , losing to Silas Young. The following year, he defeated Austin Aries , Jay Briscoe , and Roderick Strong in a Four-Corner Survival match . On November 14, 2009, Omega competed against Aries for

2420-697: A successful defence against Frankie Kazarian , both Hangman Page and the returning Matt Sydal returned. On 29 April 2017 at ROH Masters of the Craft Scurll successful retained the ROH World Television Championship against Ken Anderson . On 12 May 2017, during the third night of the NJPW and ROH co-produced War of the Worlds tour, Scurll was revealed as the newest member of Bullet Club , replacing Adam Cole. Two days later, on

2541-691: A tag team match. After the match, Bullet Club turned on Styles, with Omega taking over the leadership of the stable. At The New Beginning in Niigata on February 14, 2016, Omega defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the vacant IWGP Intercontinental Championship . Six days later, he and The Young Bucks–the Bullet Club subgroup known as The Elite –won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship from The Briscoe Brothers and Toru Yano at Honor Rising: Japan 2016 , an event co-produced by NJPW and ROH. That same month, Omega had signed on to become

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2662-489: A tag team named the Golden☆Lovers . In 2011, Omega competed in a match against a nine-year-old girl named Haruka. A video of the match went viral, making international news and receiving polarizing responses, after which Omega received death threats. Wrestler Mick Foley , conversely, praised Omega's work as a heel, asking why he was not on national television. Omega later stated that he was asked to work with Haruka due to

2783-560: A team against Cody and Marty Scurll . After the match, Omega and Ibushi were confronted by The Young Bucks and challenged to a match at Strong Style Evolved on March 25, which the Golden☆Lovers won. At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall , Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship . After the match, Omega reunited with The Young Bucks, forming the Golden☆Elite along with Ibushi. On

2904-413: A victory over Honda and Miyu Yamashita in a tag team match. On November 1, 2008, Omega appeared for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) during the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles , where he was defeated in the first round of the tournament by local talent Brandon Bonham. The next night, during a three-way tag team match in which Omega competed, he was Irish whipped into the ropes by Davey Richards , only for

3025-407: A video message, challenging IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay , to a match for the title at Wrestle Kingdom 17 . At the event, Omega defeated Ospreay, winning the title for the second time. He dropped the title back to Ospreay at Forbidden Door in June after interference from Callis. In November 2024 at Power Struggle , Omega returned to NJPW, and announced his intentions to

3146-640: Is known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH) as the leader of the stable Villain Enterprises , where he was a one-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship and a one-time ROH World Television Champion , as well as being a former member of the Bullet Club stable. He also worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion . From May 2017 to late October 2018, he

3267-793: The One-Winged Angel (a reference to Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth ) and the running knee strike he employs as a signature maneuver the V-Trigger (a technique used in Street Fighter V ); integrated the Hadouken attack from the Street Fighter video game series as a signature move; and used of variations of Mega Man antagonist Dr. Wily 's theme music as entrance themes. For his final appearance as an NJPW-contracted wrestler at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Smith collaborated with Undertale creator Toby Fox to create

3388-428: The 2016 Battle of Los Angeles , defeating Pentagón Jr. in the first round, Cody Rhodes in the quarterfinals, Mark Haskins in the semifinals, and both Will Ospreay and Trevor Lee in a three-way elimination final to win the tournament. On 18 February 2017, Scurll reunited with Sabre, as they attacked Chuck Taylor , only to see Trent? come to Taylor's defence. At PWG Mystery Vortex V on 12 January 2018 Marty

3509-470: The 2017 G1 Climax tournament with a record of seven wins and two losses, advancing to the finals, where he was eventually defeated by Tetsuya Naito . He successfully defended his title against Juice Robinson on September 24 at Destruction in Kobe and against Yoshi-Hashi on October 15 at the NJPW and ROH-co-produced Global Wars: Chicago event. At Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4, 2018, Omega defeated

3630-704: The AAA Mega Championship from Fénix. He retained the title against Dragon Lee at Triplemanía Regia in December and against Laredo Kid at Triplemanía XXVIII the following year. He defeated Andrade El Idolo to remain the AAA Mega Champion at Triplemanía XXIX in August 2021. In November, Omega vacated the AAA Mega Championship due to injuries, ending his reign as the title's longest-reigning holder. In 2023, Omega faced

3751-503: The AEW World Championship , AEW World Tag Team Championship , and AEW World Trios Championship , making him AEW's inaugural Triple Crown winner . Hailed as one of the best professional wrestlers in the world, Omega was named Sports Illustrated ' s Wrestler of the Year in 2017 and topped Pro Wrestling Illustrated ' s list of top 500 male wrestlers the following year and in 2021. He has also attained

Golden Lovers - Misplaced Pages Continue

3872-562: The AEW World Tag Team Championship , marking the first title change in the promotion's history. After defeating him in a rematch on the Thanksgiving Eve episode of Dynamite on November 27, Pac began relentlessly pursuing a rubber match with Omega. After attacking Omega's friend Michael Nakazawa , Omega agreed to the match on 5 February 2020. The two wrestled in a 30-minute Iron Man match on

3993-538: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship , IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship , as well as other titles. A member and one-time leader of the Bullet Club stable , he incorporates elements from video games in his persona. Throughout his career, Omega has also performed as part of independent promotions worldwide, including DDT Pro-Wrestling , Jersey All Pro Wrestling , and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla , as well as larger promotions, such as Ring of Honor , Impact Wrestling , and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide . While wrestling in

4114-469: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship . Omega not only won the tournament in his first attempt but also became the first non-Japanese G1 Climax winner in history. Towards the end of the year, despite having the opportunity to return to ROH, Omega was asked by NJPW not to take any outside bookings heading into Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome. Due to this, Omega did not appear for ROH for the rest of 2016. He lost to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in

4235-643: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . On January 23, 2011, at Fantastica Mania 2011 , an NJPW and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre co-promoted event in Tokyo, the Golden☆Lovers lost title back to Apollo 55. He also competed in the 2010 and 2011 Best of the Super Juniors tournaments. Omega returned to NJPW in May 2013 to take part in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors , where he managed to win five out of his eight round-robin matches, advancing to

4356-658: The JAPW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Low Ki . On April 19, he retained his title against Frankie Kazarian at Spring Massacre . Omega lost the JAPW Heavyweight Championship to Jay Lethal at Jersey City Rumble on February 28, 2009. Omega competed in a six-way elimination match for the JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship on December 10, 2010, during which he was eliminated by

4477-617: The KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship . Omega's team lost the championship to Hino, Honda, and Hoshitango . On August 25, Omega lost the DDT Extreme Championship to Danshoku Dino . On January 26, 2014, the Golden☆Lovers defeated the respective teams of Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto as well as Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo in a three-way match to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. The team of

4598-752: The ROH 17th Anniversary Show , Scurll defeated Kenny King , and the following night during the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Scurll, King, and PCO defeated the Kingdom to win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship for the first time. In January 2020, Scurll signed a multi-year contract with ROH, becoming the head booker of the promotion in the process. During the Speaking Out Movement in June 2020, Scurll

4719-504: The ROH World Championship but was defeated. At Final Battle 2009 , he competed in a Four-Corner Survival match, which was won by Claudio Castagnoli . In September 2010, Omega competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), losing to Prince Devitt in a match for Devitt's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship . On October 11 at Destruction '10 , the Golden☆Lovers defeated Apollo 55 (Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi ) to win

4840-720: The UK 's Progress Wrestling and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Germany 's Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and the Australia based World Series Wrestling (WSW). Marty started training at Frank Rimer 's Dropkixx training school which would also produce wrestlers like Martin Stone , The Kartel and Paul Robinson. Marty made his debut for Dropkixx at the Fondu Club in Purfleet, defeating Jimmy Starr by two falls to one. Once under

4961-516: The ring name Kenny Omega , is a Canadian-born professional wrestler . He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is also an executive vice president. He is a former one-time AEW World Champion and AEW World Tag Team Champion . He is out of action indefinitely due to diverticulitis . Before joining AEW in 2019, Omega was known for his tenure in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from 2014 to 2019, during which he held

Golden Lovers - Misplaced Pages Continue

5082-477: The 26 February episode of Dynamite , which Pac lost after the match went to sudden death overtime thus ending the feud. At Revolution on February 29, Omega and Page retained the championship against The Young Bucks. Omega, Page, and The Young Bucks competed alongside Matt Hardy against The Inner Circle –which comprises Jericho, Sammy Guevara , Jake Hager , and Santana and Ortiz –in a Stadium Stampede match on May 23 at Double or Nothing , where Omega's team

5203-759: The AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo for the title at Triplemanía XXXI: Tijuana , but was defeated by the champion. On the December 8 episode of its program, Impact! , Omega made his Impact Wrestling debut, appearing in a segment with Don Callis. At the Hard To Kill pay-per-view in January 2021, he competed for the promotion, teaming with fellow former Bullet Club stablemates Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows to defeat Rich Swann , Chris Sabin, and Moose . At Impact Wrestling's Rebellion pay-per-view in April 2021, Omega defeated Swann in

5324-517: The Arena match with The Elite going up against Team AEW (Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, FTR). In 2019, AEW announced a partnership with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide , and Omega made his debut for the latter promotion at its Triplemanía XXVII event, teaming with Matt and Nick Jackson in a losing effort against Fénix, Pentagón Jr., and Laredo Kid . At Héroes Inmortales XIII in October, Omega won

5445-405: The August 17, 2022, episode of Dynamite as a face to team with The Young Bucks who had also turned face, in the inaugural AEW World Trios Championship tournament , where they defeated La Facción Ingobernable in the first round. After defeating United Empire in the second round, Omega and The Young Bucks defeated Adam Page, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver at All Out on September 4 to become

5566-627: The BCC's Jon Moxley in a steel cage match after Don Callis betrayed Omega by stabbing him with a screwdriver. At Double or Nothing on May 28, Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta of the BCC defeated Omega, The Young Bucks, and Page in an Anarchy in the Arena match . On July 19 on Dynamite: Blood & Guts , the Elite, along with Kota Ibushi , defeated the Blackpool Combat Club, Konosuke Takeshita , and Pac in

5687-502: The Bullet Club faction, Cody hit Omega with a rolling cutter . When Page attempted to assist Cody in attacking Omega, Kota Ibushi returned to the ring after competing earlier in the night to save his former partner, leading to an embrace between Omega and Ibushi and a rekindling of their friendship. Omega returned to ROH for the Supercard of Honor XII event on April 7, 2018, where he lost to Cody. On June 9, Omega defeated Okada in

5808-482: The Golden☆Lovers and Sasaki won the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship from Irie, Keisuke Ishii , and Soma Takao in April but lost the title to Kudo , Masa Takanashi , and Yukio Sakaguchi the following month. On September 28, the Golden☆Lovers lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Takeshita and Endo. Omega returned to DDT for the promotion's Ultimate Party event on November 3, 2019, during which he and Riho scored

5929-429: The Golden☆Lovers were apparently reformed after Omega was seemingly kicked out of Bullet Club and attacked by fellow member Cody . Ibushi made the save for Omega as Bullet Club fled the scene. At first, Omega refused to shake Ibushi's hand, but moments after, both Omega and Ibushi emotionally embraced as confetti fell to the ring. At Honor Rising: Japan Night 2 on February 24, the Golden☆Lovers won their return match as

6050-446: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Ishii at Destruction later that month as well as against Cody and Ibushi in a three-way match at King of Pro-Wrestling the next month. It was revealed in October that Cody, Page, and Marty Scurll would be known alongside Omega and The Young Bucks as part of The Elite, with the group also stating that they were "no longer affiliated with Bullet Club". Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Omega

6171-462: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Elgin in NJPW's inaugural ladder match . On July 3, The Elite lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Matt Sydal , Ricochet, and Satoshi Kojima . From July to August, Omega took part in the 2016 G1 Climax , where he advanced to the finals after winning his block with a record of six wins and three losses. In the final round, he defeated Hirooki Goto and earned an opportunity to compete for

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6292-816: The New Beginning in USA event on 30 January 2019. Scurll also participated in the Best of the Super Junior XXVI tournament, ending with 10 points. On 14 December 2019, Scurll made a surprise appearance on NWA 's Into the Fire following a NWA Championship match between Nick Aldis and James Storm . He was scheduled to face Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at the Crockett Cup on April 19, 2020, but

6413-436: The No. 1 professional wrestler of 2018 in its annual list of the top 500 male wrestlers . Omega lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13 on January 4, 2019, ending his reign at 209 days. He departed NJPW after his contract expired at the end of January. Omega signed a four-year contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on February 7, 2019. He serves as an executive vice president of

6534-411: The Premier Cup and the NWA Canada X-Division Championship on June 2. After competing for Harley Race 's promotion World League Wrestling in September 2005, losing to Keith Walker in a match, Omega was invited to a week-long tryout by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In October 2005, Smith was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), WWE's then- developmental territory for a tryout, after which he

6655-402: The Progress Championship in a match that also included Jimmy Havoc . After being disqualified against Havoc at Chapter 39, the two had a No Disqualification at Chapter 40 where Scurll lost. In 2017 Scurll returned to Progress on Chapter 55 being defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. Scurll made his PWG debut at the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles , where he beat Rich Swann in round one, Trevor Lee in

6776-437: The Winnipeg-based promotion Premier Championship Wrestling (PCW). He won the PCW Heavyweight Championship and the PCW Tag Team Championship in 2003 and 2004, respectively. He unsuccessfully challenged Petey Williams for the TNA X Division Championship at the National Wrestling Alliance's 56th Anniversary Show on October 17. He later won an eight-man tournament, defeating Nate Hardy, Chris Sabin , and Amazing Red , to win

6897-412: The Young Bucks defeated Bad Luck Fale , Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa to win the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship . On 3 May, NJPW announced Scurll as a participant in the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Like the previous year, he finished the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. On 12 August, at the G1 Climax Finals, Scurll and

7018-429: The Young Bucks lost the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship to Bullet Club OG's Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Taiji Ishimori . Scurll, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi represented The Elite in the pre-show gauntlet at Wrestle Kingdom 13 for NEVER Openweight Six Man Championship number one contendership. They were the first team eliminated. Scurll returned to NJPW for the first time since Wrestle Kingdom on

7139-507: The belt against Mark Andrews at Chapter Thirty-Five, Scurll lost the Progress Championship to Mark Haskins in a triple-threat main event match also involving Tommy End at Chapter Thirty-Six, PROGRESS' biggest show to date, held at the Brixton Academy in London . During the match, Scurll attacked three referees as he became frustrated at not being able to win; before attacking a fourth official Jimmy Havoc returned to attack Scurll, leading to his loss. At Chapter 38, Scurll failed to regain

7260-429: The championship to Aries, ending his reign at 34 days. In late 2012, Scurll began competing in TNA's newest program TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp that began airing on 1 January 2013 on Challenge . On 14 February edition of Impact Wrestling , he teamed up with The Blossom Twins (Hannah and Holly) to face the team of Jessie Godderz , Tara and Gail Kim . They were defeated after Gail Kim pinned Hannah. During

7381-422: The company's February tour. A highly anticipated rematch finally took place between the teams at the 2009 "Sittingbourne Spectacular" after the Leaders' scheduled opponents had to pull out through injury. This time the championships were on the line, and the Leaders won again to claim their first championship gold in IPW:UK. The feud between the Leaders and the Thrillers became the dominant storyline in IPW:UK through

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7502-484: The debuting Chris Jericho in a no disqualification match to retain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The bout was credited as having grown international interest in NJPW, particularly from North America. On January 28, Omega lost the title to Jay White at The New Beginning in Sapporo . After the match, Omega accepted defeat and stopped Bullet Club member Adam Page from confronting White, which brought out Cody. After months of tension over leadership of

7623-434: The episode of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite . He portrayed the character Cody Travers in a live-action portion of a trailer for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition in 2018, and voiced a fictionalized version of himself in the third episode of the 2023 animated series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix . Source: Marty Scurll Martin Scurll (born 26 July 1988) is an English professional wrestler . He

7744-690: The eventual winner, Jushin Thunder Liger . On May 15, 2011, he defeated Liger in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's inaugural US tour to win the JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship. That same year, Omega wrestled in tapings for Wrestling Revolution Project , performing under the ring name Scott Carpenter. JAPW declared the Light Heavyweight Championship vacant in September 2014. He went on to make appearances during PCW events in October 2018 and March 2019. In 2006, Omega became captivated by Japanese wrestler Kota Ibushi after watching him perform as part of Japanese promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling , so he uploaded videos of himself having

7865-523: The final night of the tour, Scurll lost the ROH World Television Championship to Kushida , following a distraction from Cole. The Elite, minus Scurll, left ROH after 14 December 2018's Final Battle pay-per-view. During an in-ring promo at the following night's television tapings in Philadelphia, Scurll would be confronted by The Kingdom , which led the former to unveil his new stable, Villain Enterprises , with Brody King and PCO . A brawl ensued which ended with Villain Enterprises standing tall. At

7986-480: The final of an eight-man tournament to determine the new IPW:UK British Cruiserweight Champion. On 15 March 2014, Scurll defeated Colt Cabana in a 30 Minute Iron Fist match to become Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion. Scurll would go on to successfully defend the championship against the likes of Ricochet , Kevin Steen , Martin Stone , Davey Richards , Doug Williams , Shelton Benjamin , Rocky Romero and others, before losing

8107-440: The final round at Full Gear . At Winter Is Coming on December 2, Omega defeated Jon Moxley to become the AEW World Champion for the first time, with the help of Don Callis , and turned heel. At Revolution on March 7, 2021, Omega retained the title over Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch . At Double or Nothing on May 30, Omega successfully defended the AEW World Championship against Pac and Orange Cassidy in

8228-421: The finals of the World Tag League , Ibushi defeated Hirooki Goto to win the NEVER Openweight Championship . At Wrestle Kingdom , Ibushi lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Will Ospreay and Omega lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi . At the end of January, Omega left NJPW to join All Elite Wrestling in the United States meanwhile Ibushi stayed in NJPW full-time, disbanding for

8349-431: The finals. On 5 November at Power Struggle , Scurll defeated Will Ospreay to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion . On 4 January 2018, Scurll lost the title to back to Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome in a four-way match, also involving Hiromu Takahashi and Kushida . On 1 April, Scurll failed to regain the title from Ospreay at Sakura Genesis . On 3 May, at Wrestling Dontaku 2018 , he and

8470-415: The force to snap the middle and bottom ropes, throwing Omega out of the ring. Three months later, Omega returned to the promotion at Express Written Consent , where he was defeated by El Generico after referee Rick Knox hit him with a leaping clothesline after Knox grew tired of Omega abusing him. At PWG's hundredth show on April 12, 2009, he lost to Bryan Danielson . On November 20, 2009, Omega entered

8591-737: The franchise and promotion are owned by its parent company Bushiroad . Smith considers himself straight edge as he avoids the recreational use of alcohol and drugs. He has suffered from vertigo since 2018. He is close friends with wrestler and former tag team partner Michael Nakazawa . Smith is fluent in Japanese . As of August 2018, he lived in the Katsushika ward of Tokyo . He said in October 2016 that he "loved Japanese culture before even realizing it was, in fact, Japanese culture" and that his favorite video games and cartoons were Japanese. He has since acquired Japanese citizenship. Regarding his life outside of wrestling, he said in 2016 that he had no time to think about relationships because he

8712-562: The gimmick straightforwardly, he later integrated comedy into the persona as a response to people who thought he was portraying a janitor, doing so by coming out for his matches holding a mop and a broom. Over the course of their careers, the relationship between Omega and his Golden☆Lovers tag team partner Kota Ibushi has been portrayed with romantic undertones. On the partnership, Omega stated in 2018: "Let people think what they want to think. If LGBT people can identify with our story, ... I'm good with that." Omega and Ibushi's partnership

8833-513: The inaugural AEW World Trios Champions , and with that Omega also became the first AEW Triple Crown Champion by virtue of winning the World, Tag Team, and Trios Championships. After the All Out post-event media scrum , Omega and The Young Bucks clashed with AEW World Champion CM Punk and producer Ace Steel in a legitimate physical altercation following comments Punk had made about them during

8954-533: The last two promotions, he held the Impact World Championship and AAA Mega Championship , and during the spring and summer of 2021 he held the AEW World, Impact World, and AAA Mega titles simultaneously as a triple champion. His 2011 Wrestling Retribution Project tournament championship now serves as the revived Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling 's world championship, the PWA Champion's Grail. In AEW, he has held

9075-556: The latter publication's Match of the Year distinction three times; one of those matches, in which Omega competed against Kazuchika Okada in a two out of three falls match at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall in June 2018, received a seven-star rating from sports journalist Dave Meltzer , the highest rating Meltzer has ever awarded a professional wrestling match. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2020. Tyson Smith

9196-737: The main event of Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4, 2017. At 46 minutes and 45 seconds, the match was, at the time, the longest in the history of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show . Sports journalist Dave Meltzer gave the match a six-star rating in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , adding that Omega and Okada "may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history". The match was also praised by wrestlers Bryan Danielson, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin . On January 6, 2017, Omega stated that he would be "stepping away from Japan to reassess [his] future", adding that he

9317-421: The match, Bullet Club members Tama Tonga , Tanga Loa , Bad Luck Fale , and King Haku attacked Omega, Cody, and every other Bullet Club member who tried to aid them, forming their own branch within the stable. Omega and Cody subsequently reconciled alongside the rest of Bullet Club. In September 2018, Omega appeared at the independent event All In , where he defeated Penta El Zero. He successfully defended

9438-436: The match, Scurll was injured after performing a suicide dive into the metal railing. Scurll was part of the very first Progress Wrestling show, Chapter One , in a tournament to determine the first ever Progress Champion . He beat Zack Sabre Jr in an acclaimed semi-final match before competing in a four-way match for the title against Mike Mason, El Ligero and winner Nathan Cruz . Scurll went on to challenge Cruz for

9559-683: The match, the series (4–3), and the AEW World Trios Championship. On March 5 at Revolution , Omega and The Young Bucks lost the title to House of Black . Omega's team failed to regain the championship later that month on Dynamite , losing to the retaining House of Black in a three-way-trios match that also involved The Jericho Appreciation Society . After the match, the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) and Page appeared and brawled, leading Omega and The Young Bucks to help Page. On May 10 on Dynamite , Omega lost to

9680-533: The name The Leaders of the New School. They then feuded with BritRage ( Mark Sloan and Wade Flitzgerald) and The Kartel . Scurll wrestled and lost to Doug Williams in IPW:UK's British National Championship Tournament. In 2009, Scurll and Sabre focused their attention on the IPW:UK tag team division, and picked up a memorable win against tag team champions The Thrillers ( Mark Haskins and Joel Redman ) during

9801-622: The place where he would meet Phil Powers , who he ended up wrestling many times in the summer season on the holiday camps circuit. During the rest of the year, Scurll debuted for the likes of IPW:UK and RQW, wrestling Jonny Storm , Taiji Ishimori , Bubblegum and many others. On 5 June 2007, Marty made his debut for All Star Wrestling by defeating Jimmy Starr at Gravesend. Marty competed regularly for All Star, including main eventing Fairfield Halls, Croydon against Pro Wrestling NOAH's Shuhei Taniguchi and Tsutomu Hirayanagi . In IPW:UK, Marty would reform his tag team with Zack Sabre Jr. , but under

9922-501: The promotion as well as one of its in-ring talents. He competed at the promotion's inaugural event, Double or Nothing on May 25, where he lost to Chris Jericho in the main event, after which both men were attacked by Jon Moxley . A scheduled match between Omega and Moxley for the All Out pay-per-view on August 31 did not take place due to Moxley suffering an MRSA infection. Omega instead competed against Pac at All Out, where he

10043-446: The quarter-finals and lost to Zack Sabre Jr. in the semi-finals. Scurll then suffered a string of singles losses; losing to Ricochet at All Star Weekend 11 Night One and to Timothy Thatcher on Night Two, to Kyle O'Reilly on All Star Weekend 12 Night One and to Chuck Taylor on Night Two. At Prince , he won a match against Mark Andrews and at Thirteen , gained victory over Sami Callihan . In September, Scurll participated

10164-481: The quarter-finals of the first Super Strong Style 16 tournament in 2015, beating Eddie Dennis on Day One and Dave Mastiff in the quarter-finals before losing to Zack Sabre Jr on Day Two, and was runner-up to Mark Haskins in the 2015 Thunderbastard match at Chapter Twenty. He lost to Kris Travis at Chapter Twenty-One, Travis' final match before his retirement from wrestling and death from stomach cancer. Scurll turned firmly villainous following this match; gaining

10285-507: The safe nature of his work and that he personally trained her before their match. In the same year, Omega represented DDT in All Japan Pro Wrestling 's 2011 Junior League , making his debut for the promotion on September 11. After three wins and two losses, he finished second in his block and did not advance to the finals. On October 23, Omega defeated Kai to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion . He lost

10406-505: The scrum. As a result, AEW President Tony Khan suspended all involved. Both the AEW World Championship and AEW World Trios Championship were then vacated. Omega and The Young Bucks returned at Full Gear on November 19, challenging Death Triangle for the AEW World Trios Championship in a losing effort. This was the first match in a best-of-seven series between the two teams, which concluded in an Escalera De La Muerte ladder match on Dynamite on January 11, 2023, where Omega's team won

10527-582: The second time. On the July 13 episode of All Elite Wrestling's Dynamite , Ibushi was announced as the mystery partner of The Elite in their Blood And Guts match against the Blackpool Combat Club , thus reuniting with Omega and reforming the Golden Lovers, now under the "Golden Elite" name (since Hangman Page and the Young Bucks also competed in Blood And Guts). Kenny Omega Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983), better known by

10648-502: The semifinals of the tournament. On June 9, Omega was defeated in his semifinal match by Devitt, following interference from Devitt's stable, Bullet Club . A year later, he took part in New Japan's 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament from May 30 to June 6, finishing with a record of three wins and four losses, with a loss against Taichi on the final day, which cost him a spot in the semifinals. On October 3, 2014, NJPW held

10769-642: The sixth and final WCPW champion, before the company rebranded as Defiant Wrestling. On 4 December at Defiant Wrestling's iPPV, titled WeAreDefiant, Scurll was given the new championship belt by General Manager Stu Bennett , and had a confrontation with the debuting Austin Aries at the beginning of the show. In the main event of the evening, Scurll successfully defended the championship in a triple threat match between himself, Joe Hendry and Martin Kirby. However, on 5 December at Defiant's first episode of their new weekly show (uploaded 15 December on YouTube ), Scurll lost

10890-428: The span of a week - In a six man tag team match at All In and in a singles match at All Out. On October 1 at WrestleDream , Omega along with Kota Ibushi and Chris Jericho lost to The Don Callis Family members Takeshita, Will Ospreay and Sammy Guevara . On the October 25 episode of Dynamite , Omega challenged AEW World Champion MJF to an title match on the October 28 edition of Collision which MJF accepted. Omega

11011-414: The spring of 2014, three times in 2015, and in early 2019. After his release from WWE, Omega intended to forge a career in mixed martial arts and entered Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments before deciding to return to professional wrestling. He then reinvented his wrestling persona and developed a new distinct move set. On March 8, 2008, Omega competed for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) and captured

11132-525: The summer, culminating in the Leaders winning a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against their rivals in September. The Leaders have enjoyed an unbroken reign as champions since that time. Scurll and Sabre competed in the first match of the newly re-launched Frontier Wrestling Alliance in August 2009, beating Northern Xposure (NX) at "New Frontiers". On 28 April 2012, Scurll defeated Sami Callihan in

11253-519: The team of Gedo and Jado, with both matches taking place back in DDT, Ibushi and Omega lost the title back to Apollo 55 on January 23, 2011, during NJPW's Fantastica Mania 2011 weekend. The Golden☆Lovers received a rematch for the title on August 14, but were again defeated by Apollo 55. Meanwhile, in DDT, Ibushi and Omega came together with Gota Ihashi to form the Golden☆Rendezvous~ stable , with

11374-404: The three holding the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship from May 26 to June 23, 2013. On January 26, 2014, the Golden☆Lovers won the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the second time by defeating reigning champions Yanke Nichōkenjū ( Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto ) and the team of Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo in a three-way match. On April 12, Ibushi and Omega became double champions, when

11495-769: The title back to Kai on May 27, 2012, in his sixth title defense. On December 23, Omega defeated El Generico to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time. On January 27, 2013, Omega defeated Isami Kodaka in a title vs. title match , retaining his title and winning the DDT Extreme Championship held by Kodaka. He lost the KO-D Openweight Championship to Shigehiro Irie on March 20, 2013. On May 26, Omega, Ibushi, and Gota Ihashi defeated Yuji Hino , Antonio Honda , and Daisuke Sasaki to win

11616-446: The title in a Two Out of Three Falls match at Chapter Two, failing to capture the title. Competing regularly for Progress, he was notably part of a four-way match for the Progress Championship at Chapter Twelve, facing Rampage Brown , El Ligero and then-champion Jimmy Havoc , and fighting again for the title at Chapter Eighteen against Will Ospreay , Noam Dar , Dave Mastiff, Paul Robinson and champion Jimmy Havoc . Scurll reached

11737-534: The title overseas – successfully defending the belt against Will Ospreay at WrestleCon SuperShow 2016 in Dallas, Texas and against Zack Gibson in Italy for Power Wrestling Entertainment. Scurll lost the title to Pastor William Eaver at Chapter Thirty-Two and regained it a month later at Chapter Thirty-Three, making him the first person to ever win the Progress Championship more than once. After successfully defending

11858-470: The title to Francesco Togo and Piza Michinoku on May 10. Over the following years, Omega and Ibushi established themselves as one of the top tag teams on the Japanese independent circuit. On January 31, 2010, the Golden☆Lovers made their debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), defeating Gedo and Jado by referee stoppage, when Jado was legitimately injured. Afterwards, the Golden☆Lovers engaged in

11979-501: The title to Kushida on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall . On September 23 at Destruction in Okayama , he regained the title from Kushida, following an interference from Bullet Club stablemate Karl Anderson . On January 4, 2016, Omega once again lost the title to Kushida at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome . The following day, Omega teamed with Bullet Club leader A.J. Styles to defeat Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi in

12100-607: The title to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) wrestler AJ Styles at the 2015 Summer Sizzler event on 14 June 2015. Scurll debuted for Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion in late 2014, unsuccessfully challenging Kenny Williams for the ICW Zero-G Championship before continuing to appear for the promotion in 2015, culminating in a main-event non-title loss to reigning ICW World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway . Scurll scored his first win in ICW in

12221-521: The tour, Scurll defeated Will Ospreay to win the ROH World Television Championship . Scurll successfully defended his newly won title against previous champion Ospreay and Dragon Lee in a triple threat match at ROH's biggest pay-per-view, Final Battle 2016 . The beginning of 2017 saw Scurll make many successful defences of his title against Juice Robinson , Donovan Dijak , Sonjay Dutt , Lio Rush and Adam Cole . During

12342-574: The tutorship of Jon Ritchie, who by this time was in charge at Dropkixx, Marty took part in Dropkixx's Shoot Fighting Tournament. Scurll would go on to win the middleweight tournament, in the process becoming Dropkixx's first middleweight champion. Scurll also competed regularly for Summit Promotions, and at the end of the year formed a tag team with Paul Robinson as 'The Party Boys' (or 'The Midnight Ravers', as they were sometimes billed). Scurll would go on to appear for Premier Promotions and this would be

12463-551: The two, along with the newest member of the Golden☆Rendezvous~ stable, Daisuke Sasaki , defeated Team Drift ( Keisuke Ishii , Shigehiro Irie and Soma Takao ) for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. The trio's reign lasted until May 4, when they were defeated by Shuten-dōji ( Kudo , Masa Takanashi and Yukio Sakaguchi ) in their second defense. Ibushi and Omega continued holding the KO-D Tag Team Championship until September 28, 2014, when they were defeated by Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo. On October 3, 2014, Omega announced he

12584-685: The year's Battle of Los Angeles , which was contested for the vacant PWG World Championship , defeating Kevin Steen , Scott Lost , and Joey Ryan in the first, quarter, and semifinal rounds, respectively. He defeated Roderick Strong in the final round to win the tournament and become the PWG World Champion. On February 27, 2010, Omega lost the championship to Richards at As the Worm Turns in his first defense. On October 27, 2012, Omega made his first appearance for PWG in over two and

12705-492: Was "weighing all options". On January 26, Omega announced on Wrestling Observer Radio that he would be flying back to Japan in February to negotiate a new deal with NJPW for "at least one more year". He returned during the first night of Honor Rising: Japan 2017 in February. Omega competed against Kazuchika Okada in a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall , which ended in

12826-463: Was a member of the Bullet Club stable, which splintered into the new faction The Elite . The latter left ROH at the end of 2018 which led Scurll to form a new stable with ROH's new signees King and PCO called Villain Enterprises , which debuted during December's post- Final Battle television tapings. He has wrestled for numerous promotions around the world - such as the U.S. based Impact Wrestling and ROH partner Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG),

12947-509: Was accused of taking advantage of an inebriated 16-year-old girl in 2015. Scurll released two statements in which he did not deny the allegations, but claimed the encounter was consensual. ROH subsequently announced that they had launched an investigation concerning the allegations. Scurll did not take part in TV tapings after ROH returned from a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and his profile

13068-706: Was born in Winnipeg , Manitoba , on October 16, 1983. He grew up in Transcona , a Winnipeg suburb. As of 2016, Smith's mother works in family services while his father works for the Canadian government as a transport officer. He has a younger sister. Smith's affinity toward professional wrestling began during childhood when he watched tapes of WWE (then-WWF)'s Saturday Night's Main Event , which became his favorite program. Growing up, Smith played ice hockey as

13189-443: Was chronicled in the 2019 documentary Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story . Omega strives for inclusivity within professional wrestling and believes that "it's important to show in the 21st century that [LGBT people] should feel just as welcome to be a wrestling fan as anyone else". Smith, during his time with NJPW, promoted one of the new Bang Dream! games, during a series of trailers that aired in 2018. Its worth noting that both

13310-444: Was completely focused on wrestling. A self-professed avid gamer, Smith hosted a YouTube series called Cleaner's Corner , in which he played some of his favorite video games. In June 2016, he made a guest appearance at Community Effort Orlando , defeating wrestler Xavier Woods in a game of Street Fighter V . The two often appear at video game conventions together, where at some point he dressed up as Sans for October 30, 2019 in

13431-536: Was defeated by Trent?. On 22 August 2016, the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion announced Scurll's upcoming debut for the promotion. Pro Wrestling Torch reported that Scurll had signed with the company after giving his notice to Evolve the previous month. Scurll made his ROH debut during the promotion's three-day tour of the United Kingdom in November. On 20 November, during the final day of

13552-488: Was defeated. On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Omega was taken out by a returning Moxley during a six-man tag team match, with Omega's team later losing the contest. In the main event of Full Gear on November 9, Omega lost to Moxley in an unsanctioned Lights Out match . At Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave in January 2020, Omega and Adam Page defeated SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky ) to win

13673-659: Was forced to cancel the event because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 22, 2021, Puerto Rican promotion CWA announced Scurll would take part in their Halloween Fan Fest event on October 23. The match, which was against Star Roger, was Scurll's first since the accusations made against Scurll during the Speaking Out movement in June 2020. Prior to the event, Scurll told Contralona that he would be working in Puerto Rico and CWA long term. He also made appearances at

13794-416: Was kicked from The Elite stable on the March 6 episode of Dynamite and was replaced by Kazuchika Okada and Jack Perry . On the May 1, 2024 episode of Dynamite , Omega returned to AEW to talk about his health, informing the audience that he was lucky to be alive but would need major surgery in the future. After his address, Omega was attacked by The Elite. The following week, he would book an Anarchy in

13915-518: Was leaving DDT and signing with NJPW, where Ibushi was already a semi-regular. However, with Ibushi having recently moved to NJPW's heavyweight division, Omega stated that the Golden☆Lovers were done as a tag team due to him wanting to remain in the junior heavyweight division. The Golden☆Lovers wrestled their final match together on October 26, 2014, when they defeated Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita in Omega's DDT farewell match. On January 28, 2018,

14036-458: Was offered a developmental contract and subsequently assigned to DSW full-time. In August 2006, he requested his release from his contract. Omega later stated that his time in DSW was poor, particularly criticizing promoters Bill DeMott and Jody Hamilton , and trainer Bob Holly . Nevertheless, he expressed praise for trainer Dave Taylor . WWE has since reportedly approached him with contracts in

14157-409: Was removed from the company's website in October. In January 2021, ROH announced that Scurll was no longer under contract after the two parties mutually agreed to part ways. On 3 May 2017, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced Scurll as a participant in the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He finished the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to

14278-540: Was stacking shelves at an IGA store. After training with Jay for a year, 16-year-old Smith made his professional wrestling debut in the year 2000. He went on to wrestle as part of TRCW for two years, where he developed the gimmick of a Hawaiian surfer named Kenny Omega. The surfer aspect was later dropped and replaced with an otaku -influenced gimmick. In 2001, he graduated from TCI and enrolled in university but dropped out during his first year in order to fully pursue professional wrestling. In 2001, Omega debuted in

14399-495: Was told that his otaku gimmick was "too bubbly" for Bullet Club, which led to him adopting the Cleaner nickname as a reference to people who clean up crime scenes . Smith cited the character Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil video game series as well as Sylvester Stallone 's character, Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, from the film Cobra as inspirations for the Cleaner gimmick. Although Smith originally intended to embody

14520-429: Was unsuccessful at winning the title against MJF. On November 18 at Full Gear , Omega and Jericho, known as The Golden Jets, defeated The Young Bucks, receiving a AEW World Tag Team Championship match. On the December 5 episode of Collision he defeated Ethan Page , which would be his final match in 2023 as later in December, Omega underwent treatment to help battle problems with diverticulitis. During his absence, he

14641-500: Was victorious. On September 5 at All Out , Omega and Page lost the AEW World Tag Team Championship to FTR ( Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood ). Following the loss to FTR, Omega stated that he was going to return to singles competition. From October to November 2020, he participated in a tournament to determine the number one contender for the AEW World Championship and won it by defeating Adam Page in

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