Only one man can claim to have kicked out of Kenny Omega‘s One Winged Angle finishing move – someone closer to him than anybody else in wrestling.
Kota Ibushi has kicked out of the One Winged Angel. He is the only man to have this honor after hundreds of matches and hundreds of victories with the move for Kenny Omega.
Despite facing wrestlers like Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, not one of them has ever managed to lift their shoulder before the three count.
The move seemed to be unstoppable. If you have followed his later career, you will never have seen a single person have the will to raise their shoulder after being hit by the move. /i
Kazuchika Okada did manage to keep fighting after being hit, lifting his foot subtly onto the rope to keep the match alive, but he did not have the will to kick out of the One Winged Angel.
The only man ever able to kick out of the One Winged Angel, when performed by Kenny Omega, is his long-time friend and partner Kota Ibushi.
As the Golden Lovers the pair became one of the best tag teams in the world, with both men becoming IWGP Heavyweight Champions later in their career. They are both considered two of the best in-ring workers in the world and could soon be reunited in AEW.
However, with Ibushi knowing him so well, he knows the power of the One Winged Angel. This is how he, along with his incredibly strong neck, was able to kick out of the move during their match in DDT in 2012.
It was during the pair’s single match against one another in 2012, the last for six years before they battled once against in the G1 Climax in 2018.
Toward the end of the match, Omega (in his classic green trunks) managed to lift the Golden Star above his shoulders and slam him to the mat with the One Winged Angel.
He smiled, thinking the match was over but just before the three count, Ibushi miraculously managed to kick out of the pin and lift his shoulder form the mat. The crowd gasped as something nobody had ever seen before had just happened, in front of their very own eyes.
Since that day, not one man has ever been able to kick out of the move.
While some reports have erroneously claimed that Ibushi kicked out of the move during his victory over Omega in the G1 Climax match in 2018, that is simply false – at no point in that bout did The Cleaner attempt to hit that move.
You can see the screenshot below of the false claim from a well respected sporting site.
The One Winged Angel is rightly regarded as one of the greatest finishing moves of all time. If he hits it – unless your name is Kota Ibushi – the match is done.
It is all building up to the point where someone new kicks out of the move and etches their name in history as the crowd explodes and Omega does not know what’s about to happen next.
Who will be the next man to kick out of the One Winged Angel? Maybe nobody. The likely candidate would be Will Ospreay, if the pair square off in a match at Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Kenny Omega has actually kicked out of the move on occasions. Most recently, he was hit by the move by Adam Page during their AEW Championship match at Full Gear 2021.
However, as it was not done by the master of the maneuver himself, it did not retain its full power so was not as effective.
Kota Ibushi could kick out of the One Winged Angel again, if he wrestles against Kenny Omega in AEW. However, only time will tell.
Who do you think will be next to kick out of the One Winged Angel? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.