Beneath six foot of hulking muscle along with a career in pummelling fellow wrestlers in to the ground, AEW legend Kenny Omega is a big nerd. It’s no secret: his signature relocate the ring, One Winged Angel, is really a homage to Final Fantasy 7‘s iconic villain Sephiroth. Finally month’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, Omega entered the arena dressed as Sephiroth (complete with his theme song blaring) before winning the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
When he isn’t beating other wrestlers into submission, Omega is a big fan of Japanese role-playing games (JRPGS) like Final Fantasy. Talking with NME, Omega says that some of his other favourite games include Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, and explains he’s “always been fascinated with the culture and just about everything that’s originate from Japan.”
“It felt such as this place was calling me,” recalls Omega, who says that beyond those JRPGs, he owed his because of Japan for from his favourite anime to wrestling promotions was. As Omega grew older, he found his passion for Japan’s professional wrestling scene only grew stronger, and that he remembers thinking “somehow, some way, I have to try to Japan.”
However, Omega wouldn’t get to tour the country until 2008, years into his wrestling career. Before that, Omega says he found solace from an unlikely source: Sega‘s Yakuza series, an open-world action game that tells the story of Yakuza member Kazuma Kiryu because he brawls his way through an intricate criminal conspiracy.
“Before I was capable of making those dreams become a reality, playing [the first] Yakuza when it was released for that PS2 was my method of artificially residing in that world, of living vicariously through the characters,” says Omega, who loved jumping in to the game “to walk the town streets and seem like a dude struggling to make ends meet, just trying to make something of myself.”
Fast-forward, and Omega – now a bonafide legend in Japan’s wrestling scene and beyond – will be starring in the upcoming remake of Yakuza spin-off Just like a Dragon: Ishin. Omega will feature like a Trooper Card called ‘Essence Of The One-Winged Angel’ (of course) in Ishin‘s Battle Dungeon side-game, and also the wrestler is fine singing their own praises.
“Whether you realize me or don’t, or like wrestling or don’t like wrestling, [Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio] crafted up a Trooper Card that’s just all-around useful,” says Omega. “I don’t determine if I can say it’s busted, however i mean…it’s great for crowd control. If you guys want a card that’s reliable and may carve down foes, you’re gonna want the Kenny Omega Trooper Card.”
Though the cameo appears like a match made in heaven, Omega isn’t entirely sure how it came into being. “There’s no specific answer – I don’t even know what I did,” laughs Omega, who says that getting to tour Ishin publisher Sega’s headquarters might have shown off his “deep and profound” passion for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Of course, the wrestler also shot his shot and told Sega how long he’d desired to use the organization. Eventually, Omega was invited to star inside a promotional video for just one of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s showcases, which resulted in his appearance in Ishin. However, it’s likely Omega didn’t mention the one-sided grudge he held with the developer while he was wrestling within the New Japan scene.
“We did collaborations with Bandai Namco as well as other animation companies,” Omega explains. “There is a moment when a lot of our guys in New Japan turned up in Yakuza 6 and when it was announced and I wasn’t involved, I did the mature thing – the adult thing – and said I’m gonna boycott your series. I’m not gonna play it, since you should know how much what this means is in my experience, gosh darn it.”
Omega’s personal crusade didn’t last long, and he admits to getting into the series with 2023’s Yakuza: Like A Dragon. “I had been like oh man, I’m so silly – why did I actually do this to myself? I love this series so I said forget it, water underneath the bridge, I still adore you,” Omega recalls, adding that he “pretty much yelled to whoever would listen that ‘everyone’s reached be playing this series because it’s so incredible’.”
Getting to star in Ishin is a “dream come true” for Omega, whose lifelong love of gaming means he takes his PS5 on any trip longer than two days. “It takes up our backpack space and weighs like 300 pounds” he laments, though admits he’s currently “pretty deep” in to the much lighter mobile card game Marvel Snap. As for his own card in Ishin, Omega couldn’t be happier. Beyond making them look “a minimum of Ten to fifteen years younger,” the process is a delight for Omega: “It had been a really cool collaborative effort where i was kind of capable of working on it together – the skill they've crafted is amazing.”
Interview by Jake Tucker.
Like A Dragon: Ishin launches on February 22 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
