AEW's Kenny Omega Names 1980s WWE Stars That Helped Shape His Wrestling Fandom

Former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega has played a big part in how wrestling is perceived in the modern era. From his work in DDT and NJPW, to winning world titles in AAA, Impact Wrestling, and AEW, Omega has been one of wrestling's premiere athletes. However, being a man born and raised in the 1980s, his early influences were legends of that time.

During a recent Twitch stream, Omega was asked for his thoughts on WWE Hall of Famer Mr. Perfect, to which Omega explained that the late Curt Hennig was someone who changed his outlook on wrestling as a whole. "When I first started to kind of become like a 'workrate' guy where I really enjoyed more of what I saw in the ring than the storyline type stuff, he was my first ever 'oh man this is what wrestling looks like when I'm really into a match.' Not that I wasn't into the matches before, I was into them in a different way."

For comparison, Omega explained that before he started watching Perfect more closely, his favorite wrestler was The Ultimate Warrior, as fans were told over and over that Warrior and Hulk Hogan were the two best wrestlers in the world. While Perfect changed his outlook on singles matches, Omega also had his favorites in tag team wrestling as well. "I loved the Legion of Doom, but my actual favorite tag team was The Rockers ... and second place was the Hart Foundation easily." Omega also noted he was a big fan of "Ravishing" Rick Rude growing up, despite being afraid to say it as a kid due to Rude being a heel. However, Omega noted he feels Rude was underrated during his time, and that a lot of what he did could applied to the modern style of wrestling and it would still hold up.

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