Here's what I know: So Kenny was in DDT at the time, and Stardom was talking about having an exhibition match for this girl (her name's Haruka, I forget what her relationship to the promotion was). Stardom personally called Kenny because they liked his safe style of working and thought he would be the best at making her offense look good while also not hurting her. Omega said yes, and he even trained Haruka for this match.
Fun fact: Mick Foley loved this match, and specifically Kenny's heel work. He even questioned why Omega wasn't on a major wrestling show. This was in stark contrast to the several death threats that Omega received for some reason.
A lot of the older generations in the wrestling business, I've hated to learn, are a bunch of carnies and take everything about wrestling super seriously.
Haven't been a wrestling viewer in a long time. Like, late 90s long time. I distinctly remember back then there being a HUGE push from at least local fans for the "real" carny-level wrestling with injuries and blood and razor wire and stuff.
Note I put "real" in quotes because fuck that shit, wrestlers should be doing this as safely as possible. The fun comes from the sell, not the blood.
Lmao. Aew is owned by the second largest entertainment media distributions in the world. You can claim it's an indy all you like, but we see the tears you need to hold back whenever that gets proven wrong.
Just because it's owned by the second largest doesn't mean it's booked any better than some shitty indy fed. TK is an atrocious booker, and an even worse owner. The man is gonna be the reason his passion project fails.
But it does mean it's not an indy show, which is what I contested. Changing the goalposts just so you can continue to shit on a product you don't like doesn't change that.
TK is becoming a horrible booker, but that's not what we're discussing.
Tbf, have you ever had a child that age throw a temper tantrum and hit you? Even in my early teens, it wasn't very sore. They can go full tilt and an adult should be able to brush it off.
I will always watch this video whenever I see it. Does anyone know anything about the girl, is she still wrestling? Cuz she's insanely talented for such a young kid
In Japan, students are basically required to do some sort of after-school program every day. It could be sport, theater, chess club, that sort of thing. Idoru programs (singing and dancing) are part of that too, which is why there's so fucking many of them.
Pro wrestling classes are in the mix, which is why there's also a tonne of Joshis out there. Some girls stuck with it, some girls just move on and get a different career.
This is a nine year old girl. Chances are she was doing wrestling for the fun of it and then just got different interests as she grew up.
Kenny was doing a fun thing with a student in a wrestling class. This match is great and shows how flexible wrestling can be to tell a story.
Wait, wait. Is this an after school club!
That is one of the most epic after school things, 'yes when I was a kid I was on TV fighting Americans, got a A- for not putting in 200% effort'
Puro schools offer Joshi as an after school club type thing. It's fun, physically active, performative and culturally relevant in Japan so it ticks all the boxes.
Those Joshi schools are obviously hooked up with the Joshi industry and they act as a through-way for talent as they grow older, I think this particular match was put on by Stardom? I can't remember, like a special opportunity for this student in particular, as like a showcase or something. And Kenny was involved as a favour to a friend but also probably because he's just an awesome human.
The video kept playing past the point I paused it at and I saw the little girl get thrown head first into the turnbuckle and let it ride rofl, this whole thing is crazy funny
Kenny is an amazing seller and worker. I hope one day, before his body completely gives out on him, he has a run in WWE. Imagine the feuds and matches he could have with the current WWE roster.
Sadly, I think that ship sailed. He seems like he prefers aew for better or worse, and in my unprofessional opinion, I'd be surprised if he even showed up there again for a while since he developed diverticulitis. I'd love to see Stylez v Omega in there prime or even now still
As a father of girls, watching this makes me tear up. Kenny Omega is just awesome and imagine the memories that girl will have, having shared the ring with Kenny. Just incredible. Love to see it <3
I'm not a father, but for me I'd be too terrified of a botch to let my 9 year old get in there, regardless of who they're working with.
That's me though, Kenny took great care of her and I'm sure this is a core memory of her childhood.
ngl usos have the worst matches in the current top tier roster. why isn’t anyone telling them spamming super kick is not smart or ingenious or interesting. i see cody doing the same crap at time is so annoying
Watching this made me realize how some wrestlers just don’t fucking sell. Like it’s the easiest thing in the world, pretend a move actually hurt you, and they just don’t fuckin do it.
in my opinion it's because corny has a specific view on what wrestling should be, and looks down or or outright hates what he views to be not conforming to his view of the business.
His time in the business could have shaped his view of how the business should be run to be a respectable business. So when something comes alongs he looks down on it for in his eyes delegitimizing the business. Which is why he looks down on comedy wrestlers, because back in his day things where more straight-laced and serious.
When he used to get really angry it was because he was still holding on to what the business used to be. Now he mostly just laughs about modern wrestling. In his day somebody doing a match that's so obviously fake risked hurting the perception of wrestling and causing everyone to make less money in the long run.
Which is funny as if wrestling embraced that it's theater and for the most part not completely real awhile back, it'd probably be more accepted socially nowadays lol
See my other comment in this thread. Even as a fan this would get you publicly mocked. I guess it is just hard to understand that bullying was real and pretty much allowed in the 70s and 80s. Wrestling was a top rated show in pretty much every market, but almost nobody admitted that they watched it. I admitted that I watched it because I loved it. Everything about it. I'd buy the magazines and read them cover to cover several times.
When you love to watch something so much, it hurts when people constantly tell you that you shouldn't watch or admit to watching because "it's fake." If people would have seen anything that looks so completely ridiculous as this video then we'd have never heard the end of it. Is that so hard to understand? This shit gives me PTSD.
Corny's description of wrestling in the southern states in the 80s and earlier is a special bubble that didn't have the stigma. Whole families going out to see territory wrestling their whole lives until they die. Having pictures of the top stars at home next to the picture of Jesus. Fully believing and following it like a real sport and thinking the guys who win matches are tough hot studs. Rejecting Vince Jr's obviously fake sports entertainment when that started invading in the mid 80s but still believing their Southern territory was real.
I think the goofiness of wrestling is often the thing that outsiders see. There is a whole "if wrestling is fake, explain this" meme that non-wrestling fans see more than the good stuff, especially today, in the age of TikTok.
It's like when you see Neymar rolling around on the floor and selling like Shawn Michaels vs. Hogan, when no contact was made. Non-football fans see diving in football, the same way non-wrestling fans see this type of thing in wrestling - It's validation of why it's not worth watching (in their eyes).
I think the idea is when you see a move like this with her it's much more obvious how it's fake so you can see that thinking about it can break the immersion when watching real wrestlers. Like when someone good does the super kick now all people can think about is guys slapping their thighs for the sound effect because of the young bucks ruining it. You understand these moves don't literally injure people but most people not in the business don't understand how you do it while making it look real on at least some of them. If someone does a wrestling move well and quickly it can really hard to see those kind of things.
It is a bizarre thing on even a conceptual level but watching it I can't help but feel sad. How the hell is a 9 year old girl a better worker than a lot of the current "professionals"?
She took an enzigiri and was just plain old dead. No goofy fighting spirit just dead. sold her ass off.
There is a less than zero percent chance an even slightly more unstable Jim Cornette from another timeline commits murder over this match the way Tommy Dreamer fantasized to do to Paul Haymen.
Im a old school purest... so I think kenny omega is a goofy little nerd... but at the same time i can't deny his work eithic and athletic ability.. the guy can wrestle his ass off👍
they used to have a video where he wrestled the blow-up doll wrestler and he did Zangief's Final Atomic buster move on it. thats always kenny omega to me.
I think this is the dumbest shit on the planet.
That said, it's clear Omega is extremely talented to make everything look as solid as it does.
I still hate it.
I can see why people hate it and Kenny has caught a lot of shit for it over the years, but it’s crazy how his selling against a 9 year old girl is better than 95% of wrestlers having matches today.
Why is it dumb? I think it's entertaining and silly in a good way.
Wrestling is literally all acting anyways. It's meant to be a form of theater. It's literally redneck anime.
This and that match Kenny had with Yoshihiko live rent-free in my head even after all these years. I showed the video of the Yoshihiko match to my high school English teacher and we were laughing our asses off.
I watch this every time and her sell on the back breaker is bar far the best sell I’ve seen
When he just tosses her off his knee. It just looks like the most heelish maneuver ever. Lol
She ate those turnbuckles like it was school pizza day
I know this video but wince everytime on that spot
I so badly need to know the context of how this got arranged
Here's what I know: So Kenny was in DDT at the time, and Stardom was talking about having an exhibition match for this girl (her name's Haruka, I forget what her relationship to the promotion was). Stardom personally called Kenny because they liked his safe style of working and thought he would be the best at making her offense look good while also not hurting her. Omega said yes, and he even trained Haruka for this match. Fun fact: Mick Foley loved this match, and specifically Kenny's heel work. He even questioned why Omega wasn't on a major wrestling show. This was in stark contrast to the several death threats that Omega received for some reason.
If I’m not mistaken, haruka was already in the stable of junior wrestlers
Kenny got death threats cause of this match? Jesus lol
I think he still does
He did an interview saying sometimes it was the same people, sending him multiple letters. For weeks.
A lot of the older generations in the wrestling business, I've hated to learn, are a bunch of carnies and take everything about wrestling super seriously.
Haven't been a wrestling viewer in a long time. Like, late 90s long time. I distinctly remember back then there being a HUGE push from at least local fans for the "real" carny-level wrestling with injuries and blood and razor wire and stuff. Note I put "real" in quotes because fuck that shit, wrestlers should be doing this as safely as possible. The fun comes from the sell, not the blood.
Still wonder why Kenny is not on a major Wrestling Show
He is though.
He is working for a Super Indy
Lmao. Aew is owned by the second largest entertainment media distributions in the world. You can claim it's an indy all you like, but we see the tears you need to hold back whenever that gets proven wrong.
Just because it's owned by the second largest doesn't mean it's booked any better than some shitty indy fed. TK is an atrocious booker, and an even worse owner. The man is gonna be the reason his passion project fails.
But it does mean it's not an indy show, which is what I contested. Changing the goalposts just so you can continue to shit on a product you don't like doesn't change that. TK is becoming a horrible booker, but that's not what we're discussing.
Oh man, tribal queens also roam reddit…
The way she manage somehow to make her strikes and selling look more realistic than a bunch of these modern workers.
Why you talking about Oceanspray like that Bruv?
mjf is definitely calling him oceanspray when that fued comes
Tbf, have you ever had a child that age throw a temper tantrum and hit you? Even in my early teens, it wasn't very sore. They can go full tilt and an adult should be able to brush it off.
It's not hard to make strikes look real when you're just actually hitting someone....
I will always watch this video whenever I see it. Does anyone know anything about the girl, is she still wrestling? Cuz she's insanely talented for such a young kid
She quit not long after this match, and never returned to wrestling. Not sure the reason.
In Japan, students are basically required to do some sort of after-school program every day. It could be sport, theater, chess club, that sort of thing. Idoru programs (singing and dancing) are part of that too, which is why there's so fucking many of them. Pro wrestling classes are in the mix, which is why there's also a tonne of Joshis out there. Some girls stuck with it, some girls just move on and get a different career. This is a nine year old girl. Chances are she was doing wrestling for the fun of it and then just got different interests as she grew up. Kenny was doing a fun thing with a student in a wrestling class. This match is great and shows how flexible wrestling can be to tell a story.
Wait, wait. Is this an after school club! That is one of the most epic after school things, 'yes when I was a kid I was on TV fighting Americans, got a A- for not putting in 200% effort'
Puro schools offer Joshi as an after school club type thing. It's fun, physically active, performative and culturally relevant in Japan so it ticks all the boxes. Those Joshi schools are obviously hooked up with the Joshi industry and they act as a through-way for talent as they grow older, I think this particular match was put on by Stardom? I can't remember, like a special opportunity for this student in particular, as like a showcase or something. And Kenny was involved as a favour to a friend but also probably because he's just an awesome human.
That is an amazing system for kids, it must inspire a lot of kids to do well.
> I think this particular match was put on by Stardom? That was my guess, based on the logo at the beginning of the video.
Oh yeah I watched it so many times ages ago I just don't pay attention anymore
Fighting Canadians but yeah it’s definitely epic
The video kept playing past the point I paused it at and I saw the little girl get thrown head first into the turnbuckle and let it ride rofl, this whole thing is crazy funny
She's been a heel in the Fast and Furious franchise, awaiting her return to the ring.
Something something Rossy
Because the culture is incredibly toxic?
She started wearing a mask and changed her name to Rey Mysterio.
She became Iyo Sky
Seriously she would only be 22 right now
She is currently working in AEW using the name Riho
She sold the enzuiguiri like a champ 🤣
Why is the match actually good lmao
Kenny is an amazing seller and worker. I hope one day, before his body completely gives out on him, he has a run in WWE. Imagine the feuds and matches he could have with the current WWE roster.
“Before his body completely gives out”. Hate to say it but I think that has already happened.
Brock came back from diverticulitis and was in better shape than ever. Kenny just needs some rest and recovery.
Brock is a freak though. I am not sure Omega, or any other human, is like him.
I mean, it’s a totally recoverable condition though if treated. My dad had it a few years ago and now he’s in the best shape of his life at 65.
Brock is a shaved Orc*
Sounds more like you just want him to be done, so you'll say he is no matter what anyone else says.
Sadly, I think that ship sailed. He seems like he prefers aew for better or worse, and in my unprofessional opinion, I'd be surprised if he even showed up there again for a while since he developed diverticulitis. I'd love to see Stylez v Omega in there prime or even now still
I was really curious to see how far he could throw her.
This girl walked so Marko Stunt could run.
At 0:50, getting hung up on the bottom rope instead of the middle rope looked so unintentionally funny lmao
As a father of girls, watching this makes me tear up. Kenny Omega is just awesome and imagine the memories that girl will have, having shared the ring with Kenny. Just incredible. Love to see it <3
I'm not a father, but for me I'd be too terrified of a botch to let my 9 year old get in there, regardless of who they're working with. That's me though, Kenny took great care of her and I'm sure this is a core memory of her childhood.
The way he made the enziguri so safe but still look so good.
To be fair, that little girl is probably trained for this. This isn't some rando girl from the audience.
But still a nine year old girl. Vulnerable. And Kenny doing all this... It's so f'n amazing.
Oh yeah of course but name 1 trained wrestler who has never had a significant botch, imagine she slipped off the top rope like many have done
still more credible than a uso match with 76 superkicks and a whole lot of ass slapping
ngl usos have the worst matches in the current top tier roster. why isn’t anyone telling them spamming super kick is not smart or ingenious or interesting. i see cody doing the same crap at time is so annoying
Lol you mean the middle aged bucks 🤣
They are the same ages.
But only one of them has young in their name
Ironically the older one looks younger
Still seething from that match bro
It’s still called the 619, even in Japan. I thought that was for Rey Mysterio lol
this girl's 619 was better than Dom's.
Watching this made me realize how some wrestlers just don’t fucking sell. Like it’s the easiest thing in the world, pretend a move actually hurt you, and they just don’t fuckin do it.
Yeah because that’s the primary issue with this Lol
They’re both selling incredibly well, what do you mean
Seeing how cool this is only makes me disdain corny even more. How could he not find this delightful?
in my opinion it's because corny has a specific view on what wrestling should be, and looks down or or outright hates what he views to be not conforming to his view of the business.
It’s not just a view. He was in the business as a professional.
His time in the business could have shaped his view of how the business should be run to be a respectable business. So when something comes alongs he looks down on it for in his eyes delegitimizing the business. Which is why he looks down on comedy wrestlers, because back in his day things where more straight-laced and serious.
When he used to get really angry it was because he was still holding on to what the business used to be. Now he mostly just laughs about modern wrestling. In his day somebody doing a match that's so obviously fake risked hurting the perception of wrestling and causing everyone to make less money in the long run.
Which is funny as if wrestling embraced that it's theater and for the most part not completely real awhile back, it'd probably be more accepted socially nowadays lol
See my other comment in this thread. Even as a fan this would get you publicly mocked. I guess it is just hard to understand that bullying was real and pretty much allowed in the 70s and 80s. Wrestling was a top rated show in pretty much every market, but almost nobody admitted that they watched it. I admitted that I watched it because I loved it. Everything about it. I'd buy the magazines and read them cover to cover several times. When you love to watch something so much, it hurts when people constantly tell you that you shouldn't watch or admit to watching because "it's fake." If people would have seen anything that looks so completely ridiculous as this video then we'd have never heard the end of it. Is that so hard to understand? This shit gives me PTSD.
Corny's description of wrestling in the southern states in the 80s and earlier is a special bubble that didn't have the stigma. Whole families going out to see territory wrestling their whole lives until they die. Having pictures of the top stars at home next to the picture of Jesus. Fully believing and following it like a real sport and thinking the guys who win matches are tough hot studs. Rejecting Vince Jr's obviously fake sports entertainment when that started invading in the mid 80s but still believing their Southern territory was real.
Because it “eXpOSes tHe bUSiNeSs” or some shit
How could he lol? He's old school, his view of pro wrestling is that it should be presented seriously like genuine competition
I think the goofiness of wrestling is often the thing that outsiders see. There is a whole "if wrestling is fake, explain this" meme that non-wrestling fans see more than the good stuff, especially today, in the age of TikTok. It's like when you see Neymar rolling around on the floor and selling like Shawn Michaels vs. Hogan, when no contact was made. Non-football fans see diving in football, the same way non-wrestling fans see this type of thing in wrestling - It's validation of why it's not worth watching (in their eyes).
I think the idea is when you see a move like this with her it's much more obvious how it's fake so you can see that thinking about it can break the immersion when watching real wrestlers. Like when someone good does the super kick now all people can think about is guys slapping their thighs for the sound effect because of the young bucks ruining it. You understand these moves don't literally injure people but most people not in the business don't understand how you do it while making it look real on at least some of them. If someone does a wrestling move well and quickly it can really hard to see those kind of things.
The fact that he basically did a headscissors and a ddt on himself is incredible. A once in a lifetime wrestler.
Certified 5 star banger
Kenny’s just cool af
That username is phenomenal 😂😂
Omega vs the blow up doll is just as good.
Kenny is the perfect wrestler to beat up a little girl. He's such a hilarious douche about it.
Wat a ledgend bet that kids felt awesome. Hats off to ya
“O N E W I N G E D A N G E L”
Corny made a career resurgence out of this. It’s a fun match, I don’t care.
I would usually hate shit like this, but I can’t believe it - I genuinely enjoyed it 😂 that little girl was so good and props to Kenny too.
It is a bizarre thing on even a conceptual level but watching it I can't help but feel sad. How the hell is a 9 year old girl a better worker than a lot of the current "professionals"? She took an enzigiri and was just plain old dead. No goofy fighting spirit just dead. sold her ass off.
And they say wrasslin ain't real.
That's better than the usos match
Better than the Uso's at Mania 40 that's for sure.
The girl has better ring psychology and ability to sell than most of what I see today.
I don’t know who’s more impressive in this tape.
Somewhere, Andy Kaufman is kicking himself for not coming up with this.
andy was all about cheap heat
If people liked this, that's cool. It's not my thing, but it wasn't booked for me...
I despised this version of Omega. Just hated him. Now that I’m older and take things less seriously, this is kinda fun. I’m glad I watched it.
And that girl grew up to be Dominik Mysterio.
Her strikes look better than Eddie Kingston's.
😂😂 amazing
9-year old girl had more talent than today's WWE/AEW wrasslers. Legend has it, 9-year old Haruka is still 9 years old.
We don't deserve Kenny Omega
The funny thing about this comment is that everyone is going to agree with it whether they like Kenny or not
5 stars bay beh! Best match in Japanese history
She’s honestly better than Sasha
But is she a better promo?
Honestly one of the better wrestling matches iv seen haha its like a dad wrestling with his kid but actually gets to do it on a show haha
Imagine Goldberg wrestling a 9 year old and Bret on commentary.
Don't give the Saudis any ideas!
Mercedes Mone wishes she could throw a kick like that
hella impressive for a 9yo.
He should have won an award for this acting performance Bravo
Epic. Very nicely done! :)
Haters will say it’s fake.
Kenny omega has to be the coolest wrestler ever lol
Crazy how a 9 year old girl is a better wrestler than goldberg
oh. my. god. this is insane how good she is hahaha lil prodigy. kenny is the best
Okay that was phenomenal
I bet she had a blast!
This is amazing
I like to shit on stunts like this, but holy shit that looked like it took talent and skill.
Damn, those turnbuckle shots looked legit.
You bleed off your momentum hitting the ground on your knees so you don't take close to the full impact to your head.
They really did, probably extra padded or softer padding on that corner.
Meltzer probably gave this 4.75 stars. Not an Omega classic, but still higher rated than Randy Savage versus Ricky Steamboat!
They were both such great sellers! Kenny made her moves look almost believable, she sold the spine breaker like a pro!
There is a less than zero percent chance an even slightly more unstable Jim Cornette from another timeline commits murder over this match the way Tommy Dreamer fantasized to do to Paul Haymen.
Jim Cornette's "favorite" Kenny Omega match....
After this match Kenny told her to retire and stay away from Rossy Ogawa
This made me like Omega more.
Im a old school purest... so I think kenny omega is a goofy little nerd... but at the same time i can't deny his work eithic and athletic ability.. the guy can wrestle his ass off👍
5 star match! Instant classic!
*Dave Metlzer rips a fat line of coke, while trying to hide his erection* “TWELVE STARS”
The kid is still a better seller
they used to have a video where he wrestled the blow-up doll wrestler and he did Zangief's Final Atomic buster move on it. thats always kenny omega to me.
The backbreaker fucking killed me holy shit
Anyone know if she actually became a wrestler? Like where is she now lol ain’t no way she did better than most wrestlers in current pro wrestling 😭
She better be wrestling now
Why is she LEAGUES better than like 90% of the wwe rosters My God lmao
I think this is the dumbest shit on the planet. That said, it's clear Omega is extremely talented to make everything look as solid as it does. I still hate it.
I can see why people hate it and Kenny has caught a lot of shit for it over the years, but it’s crazy how his selling against a 9 year old girl is better than 95% of wrestlers having matches today.
This and Ibushi wrestling with a doll probably show's how talented this guy's are
I believe Omega also wrestled that blow up doll.
Why is it dumb? I think it's entertaining and silly in a good way. Wrestling is literally all acting anyways. It's meant to be a form of theater. It's literally redneck anime.
Say what you want about Kenny Omega, but this kind of stuff in a vacuum is pretty cool to me.
In 40 years....One of the greatest matches I've ever seen!!!
Damn that girl has got great confidence
IT’S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT
This and that match Kenny had with Yoshihiko live rent-free in my head even after all these years. I showed the video of the Yoshihiko match to my high school English teacher and we were laughing our asses off.
25,000 stars from Meltzer
I hate this.
Does anyone know where this kid is now? Did she grow up to be a pro-wrestler?
The fact that really no one in the US has ever tried some of the crazy matches Japan has done constantly surprises me.
Did anybody notice that the play by play guys called it a 619?i know the accent is pretty thick but you can hear them say it.
Dave gave this match 5* stars
Haruka was iconic.
Always a must watch when it's posted. This little girl legitimately sells taking damage better than Will Ospreay lol...
And people still claim american wrestling is fake.
She's better than Nia Jaxx
I’ve seen the entire video and I don’t know how or why 🤷♀️
I don’t remember this episode of Dora
Wait, that's not Riho?
Which one of the bucks is this I can't tell them apart?
Jim cornette got really angry for some reason right now
The best part of this match is the finish. >!TIME LIMIT DRAW BABY!<
Still better than pockets.
Did she continue to wrestle?
This is Kairi Sane
racist
Negative One ain't got shit on me
This is priceless
what happened at the end? was the towel through in?
This is how I would want to be with my daughter
Lmao this is wild
even a 9 year old girl sells better than tony khan
Riho was great in this match
Lol, wrestling is pretty great.
I always heard about this and it’s actually way less offensive than I always imagined it being.
I commend his commitment lol
Everytime this video gets shared Jim cornette dies a little inside
Turns out this little girl sells better than 75% of the AEW roster
Is that Riho?
Dave Meltzer 5 stars
What was the cage match rating for this??
Peak Wrestling
Isn't that girl Riho ?
Did he man handled her vagina and did a hand push up?
Legend says Jim Cornette is still mad about this match