Kenny Omega’s reign as the AEW Champion is considered to be one of the best, with the quality of his matches some of the highest ever. He is considered one of the best AEW Champion’s in the company’s history, and was one of the reasons they were able to become a real competitor to WWE and sell 80,000 tickets for one show in Wembley Stadium.
In this article, we’ll look at every title defense Kenny Omega had in his AEW Championship reign. This is so far his only reign with the title, and with his recent loss to MJF (which we will talk about later in this post), it does not look like he will regain the belt any time soon. We will give our own star ratings for Kenny Omega’s title defenses, as well as reveal Dave Meltzer’s star ratings, and the fan-voted match score from Cagematch.
Kenny Omega had six successful AEW Championship defenses, starting with his clash with Rey Fenix on AEW Dynamite.
Kenny Omega vs Rey Fenix (AEW New Year’s Smash 2021)
Kenny Omega kicked off his AEW title reign with a title defense against Lucha star Rey Fenix in a five-star match at AEW New Year’s Smash 2021 (a special episode of AEW Dynamite).
The match was a pure wrestling match, with the only story being the one told in the ring. Fenix sold well on Omega’s offense, treating his flying knees and big suplexes like he’d been shot. However, he soon found the will to fly around the ring and hit the kind of offense that nobody else in wrestling can do, nearly shocking Omega in their title match.
After 17-minutes of wrestling at breakneck speed, Omega picked up the win to establish him as a competent champion, and not somebody who needs help to win his matches (as he did when he beat Jon Moxley for the championship). This was Rey Fenix’s best singles match ever, and rightfully earned five-stars from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 8.87
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Jon Moxley (AEW Revolution 2021)
The Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley at AEW Revolution 2021 is considered one of the worst AEW matches ever by some. However, this is not really fair. The match itself if fantastic, one of the best matches in the genre ever, but is heavily let down by the post-match shenanigans, which had nothing to do with the wrestler.
Moxley and Omega fought in a bloody and brutal bout in the show’s main event. The ring ropes were replaced by barbed wire, weapons were plentiful and the outside of the ring was rigged with explosives. There was a clock counting down from the start of the match, with a huge explosion set to go off when the match ended.
Death match fans will love the match, even though it ended when The Good Brothers itnerfered to help Omega to win. He left left Moxley to die in the ring, before Eddie Kingston ran out to save him, coving him with his body and saving him from the explosion.
The explosion, which ended up being a slight bang, a bit of smoke and a few sparklers. It made AEW a laughingstock, and definitely affected how fans view this title defense.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating –
- Cagematch Rating – 7.63
- Atletifo Rating – 4 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann (Impact Wrestling Rebellion 2021)
One of Kenny Omega’s title defenses as the AEW Champion that AEW fans likely haven’t seen is his clash with then-Impact World Champion Rich Swann. Luckily for them, it is probably Omega’s worst title match, and not one he’d want most people to look over again.
Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann competed in a winner-takes-all match at Impact Wrestling Rebellion 2021, a Impact (now known as TNA) show that had the AEW star in their main event. Despite being greatly hyped, the match failed to live up to expectations.
The pair clearly lacked chemistry, and something was just off about the bout. Swann looked out of his depth again an Elite talent like Omega, and as such made a number of botches and looked generally sloppy in the match. This did manage to tell a simple story fairly well, but we were generally happy to never watch it again once the match was done.
Omega retained his title in the match, while also winning the Impact World Championship in this title-vs-title match. This was part of his “belt collector” gimmick, which also included holding the TNA World Championship and AAA Mega Championship.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 4.5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating –
- Atletifo Rating –
Kenny Omega vs Orange Cassidy vs PAC (AEW Double or Nothing 2021)
Orange Cassidy has so far only received one chance at the AEW Championship, but when he faced off against Kenny Omega and PAC at AEW Double or Nothing 2021, it produced one of the best matches of his career.
While the match wasn’t given the chance to main event Double or Nothing 2021 (the Stadium Stampede match went on last that night), it definitely won the honor of the “match of the night”, as Kenny Omega defended his AEW Championship against PAC and Orange Cassidy.
At multiple points, AEW had you believing that Orange Cassidy was going to become the AEW World Champion. The match had a big fight feel, and really felt like the culmination of Omega’s run as champion. I was on my feet at home watching, willing the referee to count to three and hand Freshly Squeezed his well-earned championship title belt.
Cassidy almost got pinned by PAC after being hit by his Black Arrow finishing move, but Kenny Omega broke up the pin at the very last second. This was just one of many incredible near falls, in a match that was filled by exciting moments.
Later on in the fight, Orange Cassidy almost became the AEW Champion. He hit Omega with his Orange Punch finisher, but Omega rolled up Freshly Squeezed for the flash pin fall victory. It was a shock ending to a brilliant match, and left the door open for more title matches between all three men.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 4.5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 8.86
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Jungle Boy (AEW Dynamite 26/6/21)
One of the most forgettable matches in Kenny Omega’s AEW Championship reign was when he defended against Jungle Boy (now known as Jack Perry) on a special Saturday Night episode of AEW Dynamite. Jungle Boy earned his title shot by winning a battle royal at Double or Nothing 2021, last eliminating Christian Cage.
Despite being forgettable, that doesn’t mean it was a bad match. It actually told a great story about an eager up-and-comer being beaten by the wit of an older, more experienced champion. The bout definitely showed how good Jungle Boy could be in the future, despite losing clean to the AEW Champion.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 4.5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 8.47
- Atletifo Rating – 3 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Christian Cage (AEW All Out 2021)
Many fans were disappointed when Christian Cage was announced as Kenny Omega’s opponent for All Out 2021. Adam Page was the obvious choice to finally beat Omega for the championship, but with the recent birth of his son was forced to miss the show.
Thus, Christian Cage was brought in, and put on a great performance. He only came out of retirement to sign for AEW six months prior, and fans were excited to see what he could do after nearly a decade out of the ring (Christian retired after suffering a concussion in WWE in 2014). He did not disappoint, putting on a fantastic performance before being put away by a top rope One Winged Angel, getting pinned by Omega for the win.
This match has been slightly overshadowed by the debut of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson immediately afterward, but did show Christian Cage’s first foray into the AEW main event scene. Kenny Omega also wrestled Christian Cage on the debut of AEW Rampage weeks prior, where he lost the Impact World Championship to the Canadian.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 4.25 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 8.17
- Atletifo Rating – 3.15 Stars
Did you know? – Only one wrestler has ever kicked out of the One Winged Angel finishing move.
Kenny Omega vs Adam Page
The match where he finally lost the AEW Championship was actually one of Kenny Omega’s best, despite the mounting injuries deeply affecting his work. By the end of his reign, Kenny Omega could not lift any weight about his own shoulders, which normally would have severely limited a wrestler and what they could do in the ring.
However, Omega is simply not normal. He worked around his injuries to finally pay off his story with “Hangman” Adam Page, one year after he beat him to earn a shot at the very same title. The pair worked around Omega’s injuries to put on a fantastic match (both in work rate and story) that saw “Hangman” Adam Page win the AEW Championship for the first time in his career.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 5.5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.26
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars
Learn more about why Kenny Omega left WWE to wrestle for NJPW and AEW.
