Legacy Review: Gabriel Kidd vs Kenny Omega

Just a day removed from New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 19, we start in Japan, the Tokyo Dome nonetheless, and this was for Wrestle Dynasty, a cross promotional pay per view between New Japan Pro-Wrestling, World Wonder Ring Stardom, All Elite Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, all companies respectively that had a tremendous 2025!

With that being said, the match that I would like to discuss is Kenny Omega vs Gabriel Kidd from Wrestle Dynasty, 5^th January 2025, a match driven by many overarching factors, for Gabriel Kidd, it was about not only stepping up into the main event scene and proving he can stand equal against a significantly superior and elite legend of the professional wrestling business, but also as a platform to stand up for & defend the honor of New Japan Pro Wrestling as he believed that Omega had betrayed everything professional wrestling stands for and that was highlighted even more so by the ring attire of Gabe having the signature lion mark associated with NJPW.

On the other hand, you have Kenny Omega, a professional wrestler who for many years has been regarded as one of, if not the best wrestler in the world, but had not been seen in just over a year, due to battling Diverticulitis so for Kenny Omega, this match was Kenny’s chance to make a grand return and prove that he still not only can go but also is one of the greatest wrestlers in the entire world. However what makes this return intriguing to me, was the fact that Kenny announced that he would be returning to the ring for New Japan, which he revealed earlier that year and was subsequently confronted  and called out by Gabriel Kidd, Kenny would dismiss and laugh at Gabe’s attempts including flubbing Gabe’s name which led to a brawl between the two and during the build towards this bout, with Kenny claiming that due to the nature of how Gabriel Kidd acts, that he is giant liability to pro wrestling and one that Kenny wants to silence.

To discuss the match itself, it was an absolutely fantastic spectacle with Gabriel Kidd being incredibly aggressive to a slightly rusty Omega, who after trading kicks & chops (as well as a very impressive finlay roll/moonsault) both men do a gnarly suplex spot to the outside, which leads to some crazy brawling with Omega being sent to the barricade multiple times but Omega responding with both a plancha and a wild Powerbomb to Gabe to send him into the table on the other side of the barricade, leading referees to rush to get help, which comically is greeted by Omega punching a now-bloody Gabriel Kidd to set up a dive over the barricade, missing Gabe but bowling pinning the referees behind him but injuring his formerly-diverticulitis affected side. It’s worth noting that during this point of the match, the crowd is split of who they want to win but heavily leaning towards 60:40 for Gabe. As Kenny would begin to get up, he would in very cocky heel fashion would take an ice pack from one of the lions and then hilariously throw it at Gabe laying on the floor, Kidd responds with this by directly assaulting Omega with a chair until both guys make it to the ring. 

After another table bump on the outside, Kidd dismantles the table off and breaks it directly on the dome of Kenny, leading to him also bleeding BUCKETS as they head back into the ring. After Kenny recovers and attempts to climb the turnbuckle, Kidd catches him with a strike and proceeds to hit a superplex onto the pile of chairs, which were thrown into the ring by Gabe’s War Dogs team-mates earlier in the match. 

After some chair shots, Omega would respond with a dragon suplex as well as a V-Trigger/Lariat trading blow spot, they collapse to the floor and about this time, I started losing my mind for everything that Kenny was bringing out of his playbook from Omega hitting a hurricanrana to send him out of the ring to the insane dropkick to the back of Gabe’s head and at this point, it was clear that the Kenny of old was still there and with his valiant opponent set up on the turnbuckle, he hits an avalanche Dragon suplex as well as a Jay Driller, in which Gabe would kick out of. Kidd looks to fire up after many close falls, channelling his second wind spirit, something that was reminiscent of the classic Tokyo Dome main events of the prime NJPW era so he hits a crazed package piledriver, but Kenny uses the ropes to break the pin in desperation of being almost defeated by the self-professed Mad Man. 

After a trade of enziguri from Gabe & knee strike from Omega, Kenny is able to hit two V Triggers, split only by a powerbomb in the middle to get the pin, in which Gabriel Kidd kicks out at 1 whilst sticking his middle finger up at Omega as one last message of hatred but is met by a disgusting knee strike and a One Winged Angel to end a very early match of the year candidate.

In the post-match, Hiroshi Tanahashi, arguably the greatest New Japan wrestler of the past 20 years and for many, all time, was shown bawling his eyes out crying at how fantastic the match he just witnessed in front of him. 

Overall, the match was really fun, and very deserving of being the best match of the first week and a candidate for the match of the year, the event that this match was on, also had a incredible match between Konosuke Takeshita & Tomohiro Ishii for both the AEW International & the NEVER OPENWEIGHT championship which I would also recommend!