Welcome to another edition of #FinisherFriday! This is Wreddit_Regal giving a short review of the finisher that arguably was the catalyst of the upcoming power shift in AEW.
When people talk about independent wrestlers-turned-mainstream outside of WWE, Kenny Omega will almost always be the first name to come out of their mouths. And that infamy is well-deserved: his journey from PCW, DSW, and ROH, to that fateful tryout video which landed him a spot on DDT (and would spark the creation of the Golden☆Lovers), rising to the top of NJPW as "The Cleaner," dominating in various promotions like PWG and AAA, and finally settling down as the EVP of All Elite Wrestling, is volumes more interesting than your average Cinderella tale.
Last night, he wrote history, as he ended Jon Moxley's 277-day reign as AEW World Champion with help from Impact Wrestling exec Don Callis...
...which was regarded by some as the "Jacksonville Screwjob" in its aftermath:
That controversy aside, Kenny's finisher (aside from that goddamn microphone) played a vital role in setting this sequence of events into motion. Breaking down the move into chunks:
- Kenny hoists the opponent into the standard electric chair position
- Kenny puts the opponent's right leg behind him
- Kenny grabs the opponent's head using his right arm
- He then forcibly pulls the opponent's head downwards, while simultaneously falling into a sitout position. This drives the opponent's neck and upper back onto the mat.
This move is so devastating, that only ONE person has managed to kick out of it. And that sturdy wrestler was no other than his Golden☆Lover, Kota Ibushi:
In the driver hierarchy (yup, the OWA isn't a piledriver, but belongs to another family of similar-looking maneuvers), this finisher sits at the very top because of the ridiculously high distance the opponent's neck and upper back travels before they come down crashing onto the canvas.
What I also like about Kenny's execution is that the opponent is immediately put into a pinning position once they both land on the mat. This eliminates the time between doing your finisher and covering your opponent, which might give the opponent some time to conserve all of his strength and kick out.
Using my Regal Rating, I would give this finisher a:
10/10 for aesthetics. The One-Winged Angel is a pretty solid move, no matter how much you try to find faults. It follows the "higher elevation = greater damage" logic, and it's done in a snappy motion that makes the average person wince upon seeing the move get done.
10/10 for damage. While no one would argue about the damages inflicted by a driver of such magnitude, this is a great ergonomic move that denies the opponent of any chance to kick out, much like the small package driver and the Regalplex:
And that's it chaps, my short review of Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel! Do you think that The Cleaner is on the road to being the first three-promotion champion of this decade? Let us know in the comment section below!
Wreddit_Regal is the resident sports kinesiologist of Reddit's wrestling forum, r/squaredcircle. From the most basic of punches to the most intricate double-team maneuvers, he can explain them within the realm of human anatomy and physics, because when doing absolutely nothing wrestling-related, he also happens to work as an operating room nurse.
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