Alan Angels Addresses Criticism Over His Kenny Omega Match
Alan Angels' second match on AEW sparked quite a bit of controversy, as he went one-on-one with one-half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions at the time, Kenny Omega, in a match many expected to be a squash match. However, the match went longer than most thought it would.
While on "The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast", former AEW star Alan Angels addressed the controversy surrounding his first match with Kenny Omega.
"Yeah, of course, I heard it all. Yeah, I didn't really care," Angels said. "... My dad gets more upset about that stuff than I do ... I could care less. Like, I'm living my dream right now. I'm doing this for a living and that's all I could ever ask for. So, if there is some guys online that want to talk sh*t about me, or whatever it may be, that's fine."
Angels took on Omega on the April 22, 2020 edition of AEW "Dynamite" in a match that ended up lasting six minutes and 19 seconds, taking Omega over four minutes longer to defeat Angels than it took Lance Archer two weeks prior. The match going to the length that it did left some liking how the match played out and some despising it.
Angels took on Omega for a second time right before Omega's AEW World Title defense at Full Gear against 'Hangman' Adam Page. This time, it took Omega eight minutes and one second to defeat Angels on the November 3rd, 2021 edition of AEW "Dynamite" — longer than their first match against each other a year and a half prior.
Angels revealed advice Cody Rhodes gave him backstage following his original match against Omega in the early part of 2020, and how much offense he expected to get in the match.
"Cody told me after the match, he said, 'Just be sure when you're in that position that you do the same for that next young guy'," Angels said. "I'm definitely going to keep that in mind. If I am ever in that position where, you know, I'm the big name on the card and I'm wrestling someone that's relatively unheard of, I'm going to give him some stuff ... I think I was surprised at how much I got. I thought maybe I would get, I don't know, like a few punches or some sh*t, but I didn't think I was going to be bumping him and stuff like that. And like I said, I owe my career to like, three or four people and Kenny is definitely on that list of guys that I really owe my career to."
Angels is no longer affiliated with AEW as he had his last match for the company during the June 11th AEW "Dark" tapings in Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. In his last match, Angels took on Daniel Garcia in a pure rules match, which saw Garcia walk away with the victory. Angels has since worked in other major promotions, recently having a match against 'Speedball' Mike Bailey on Impact Wrestling in an attempt to win Bailey's X-Division Championship.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The "Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription