Wrestling

Fictional Characters: Kenny Omega, Lacey Evans And Blending Reality With Working

SeanSeptember 23, 2019
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We could all take a lesson from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Fictional. Characters.

That’s what Tyson Smith and Macey Estrella-Kadlec portray as Kenny Omega and Lacey Evans, respectively. Pro wrestling, however, is the most unique stage of performance art (sorry old-timers), and the stage never really ends, as long as there’s a camera on. Sometimes, even when they’re nowhere to be found, too.

Both performers drew the ire of fans over the past week, but to much different follow ups.

Estrella, in full Lacey Evans character, posted a manufactured and scripted exchange with a Canadian police officer. Acting as an entitled Southern Belle, Evans would berate the officer for not knowing who she was, constantly referring to herself by her ring name.

You can see the video below.

Several media outlets picked up on the squabble, with some claiming that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stating it wasn’t planned. Evans sounded off on some of the backlash from the clip, selling it.

By Monday, the reaction was too much. Evans posted an extensive message on social media admitting that the entire interaction was in character. You know, the interaction that saw her constantly mention her ring name, and was posted on her Twitter account that still bears said name. Either way, Evans clarified to everyone that was upset by the situation.

The magician revealed her classy secrets. We don’t know why. Maybe she felt the heat, worried about image, or was asked to. Maybe she wasn’t “gotten to” at all and just felt like it, which is within her right whether it be under the veil of Evans or Estrella.

Understandably, there is a gray area. Eric Bischoff, once President of WCW was a real person. Eric Bischoff, WCW President was also a fictional television character. Even when the names match up, these people have very real interactions in and out of character. From interviews, to tweets, pro wrestling is that unique form of entertainment that encourages reality blending with fiction, and sometimes utilizing both to draw interest. We’ll not even get in to the specifics of “how big Hulk Hogan‘s penis is compared to Terry Bollea’s.”

Actually, let’s. I mean, I don’t want to talk about it, but I do want to encourage you to watch the clip. Those who get it, get it.

That being said, Kenny Omega took a much different approach.

Kenny Omega spoke with Sportskeeda last week, and as EVP of AEW, was naturally asked about the battle with WWE and specifically NXT. He didn’t exactly hold back.

You wanna call that a war, you wanna call that competition? Go ahead. Maybe it’s fun for you to do. That’s cool. But we’re different planets. And you’re going to see that right away, when you see 10000+ arenas sold out. You’re going to see smiles on fans’ faces. You’re going to see real stars. Not developmental talent but real stars appearing on your television sets, every week. And yet, we are going to war. And yet, when I sit back and look at the grand picture, I’m going to war with these dudes that, if we were on the same show together, the same promotion…let’s pretend there were no borders. Let’s pretend there were no promotions. Let’s just pretend there’s just one big promotion. If these guys were in the same show as me, they’d be in the dark match. They’d be in the opening match of my main event match. You wanna call that a war, you wanna call that competition? Go ahead. Maybe it’s fun for you to do. That’s cool. But we’re different planets. And you’re going to see that right away, when you see 10000+ arenas sold out. You’re going to see smiles on fans’ faces. You’re going to see real stars. Not developmental talent but real stars appearing on your television sets, every week.

The comment didn’t sit well with many. Omega walked back the claim a little, noting that NXT star Matt Riddle was his “bro,” which birthed a 2019 meme of the year candidate in “Cleaner I got this.” So already out of the gate, we have one piece of history made.

Anyway, back to those who didn’t take it well, notably, Donovan Dijakovic. He took to Twitter to put over himself and perennial rival Keith Lee. Their series of matches have been nothing short of epic, and the feud continues to this day.

The vitriol drew comparisons to Seth Rollins putting over the WWE roster on Twitter earlier this year, both the definition of making a mountain out of a mole hill. Kenny Omega’s comments were easily more colorful, controversial and definitive. They were also largely as Kenny Omega, not Tyson Smith.

On a recent episode of Being the Elite, Omega — in character — “didn’t know” cameras were still rolling, and followed up on the comments. While he mentioned being in said character, he doubled down in a unique way.

“(Tony Khan) is FUMING. I’m not supposed to say stuff like that. I’ll tell you one guy, and I’ll give him a little bit of credit. He’s some sort of ROH guy. Tall, lanky guy. Donovan. His name starts with a D– I don’t even know what it is. He’s not even used, okay? But I can see him. Donovan Dickhead. Right? Sitting there,‘now Triple H will push me. I’m going to get the TV time now! I’m gonna stand up for the team.’ I speak a promo in-character, okay? Is he mad that I said bad things about Jon Moxley? No! How many fans do you think came to me and said, ‘Kenny, not cool bro! You really want to hurt Jon Moxley? You’re not sympathetic to his injury!’ How many people do you think f-cking said that?! No, its these children, these people that barely have a grasp on the English language and they’re tweeting at me saying, ‘How dare you say that these guys are developmental talent! They’re not developmental and they’re better than you actually! They did more for the business than you!’ Okay!”

You want f-cking reality? You know how many match of the year awards I have? You know how many records I f-cking broke? I shattered, and no one is ever gonna re-break them. People in Japan are still trying on a daily basis to be the next Kenny Omega. They’re trying so hard. Every last word I said. They knew. They could sense it. Right? They know when I’m in character, but they also know when I’m dishing it out a little bit. Ok? So, whatever. Jesus Christ.”

No payoff? Sure. Probably not. Omega won’t be facing Donovan Dijakovic for a while, if ever. Smart? Probably. Kenny Omega got people talking again, rallying his AEW faithfuls while delivering a hilarious (or infuriating based on how you look at it) response to a clear number 1 company in the wrestling world.

These are different companies we’re talking about. Different responses. Different situations. Ultimately, workers work, and usually they’re pretty good at it if we already know their names and stories. Part of the challenge is telling a story that hasn’t been told. Why does that have to be within the confines of a couple hours per night, inside the ring, or even within their own company? As things stand, Raw and Smackdown have Executive Directors in Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff who constantly took shots at competition, and worked them into story lines. Vince McMahon ran “Billionaire Ted” skits. They’re entertainers in the entertainment business, and this generation’s entertainers are going above and beyond to create content and headlines.

They’re doing it, and there’s nothing wrong with getting worked. It’s one of the beautiful parts of pro wrestling.

SeanSeptember 23, 2019

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