Cup of coffee in the big time: Kenny Omega’s legacy won’t suffer from never working WWE

Kenny Omega is an incredible talent. He is one of the best in-ring performers alive and would be a benefit to any wrestling promotion on Earth.

Of course, this means we’ve entered another needless argument in the world of pro wrestling: Is Kenny Omega’s career diminished if he never wrestles in WWE?

Hulk Hogan recently stirred the debate up again discussing Omega never wrestling in WWE as his free agency draws near:

“It’s tough to go your whole life without eating at McDonald’s or riding in a Chevrolet,” said Hogan. “If you don’t touch on the WWE, the story’s not complete. But maybe Kenny could be the exception.”

Of course, the McDonald’s / Chevrolet analogies are entirely meaningless. No one would say a life failed to reach meaning without a Big Mac passing through your lips or because you never sat in a Chevy.

But the idea of legacy in pro wrestling does often include the demand a star wrestle on the biggest stage possible. Despite Sting being well past his prime and certainly past the point where he could have a “great” match, there were years of calls for him to compete at WrestleMania in service of his legacy.

Omega is a different case. He’s not at the end of his journey and his career has not taken place in the shadow of promotional rivalries.

Omega is also an artist — to whatever extent you’re willing to apply the label to a professional wrestler. His legacy will be built around the stories he tells bell-to-bell. A filmmaker does not need to direct a summer blockbuster to have best served his art. A musician doesn’t have to have a #1 single to have made truly great music. Commercial success is far different than success in service of art.

Knowing that, he does not need WWE for his story to be “complete.” He simply needs to continue finding homes that let him do the things he is best at. That almost certainly means the best thing for his legacy is to stay away from the world of piss angles and tipped over ambulances.

Plenty of wrestlers have come and gone leaving incredible legacies without stepping foot in a WWE ring. And legacies are not one-size-fits-all.

Kenny Omega’s legacy will be just fine should he choose to never eat at the McDonald’s of WWE.

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