On the April 22, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite, Kenny Omega defeated Alan Angels in a competitive match that many people thought should have been a squash.
The argument against the match was that Omega, one of the top stars in AEW, should have easily defeated Angels, a relative unknown.
Appearing on Missing The Marks, Angels reflected on the bout and what it meant for his career.
"One time, Cody Rhodes told me, he doesn't think he would know who I was if it wasn't for that Kenny match, which, kind of an insult, but at the same time, he's not wrong. It's definitely the match that put me on the map and I still get people coming up to me all the time, literally, last night, three or four fans came up to me and told me how much they like that match specifically, which was two years ago. It's crazy how it totally changed my life, it really did. That was when the pandemic first started, there was no wrestling at all, it was just AEW and WWE, they were the only things running in the whole world. The whole wrestling world was watching that match. It was also the first match....eventually, AEW Dark kept going and everyone would have a competitive match with everyone, but I was the first one for that to happen where somebody had a competitive match against a big star. I lucked out and that was the first one that happened to. It totally changed my life," he said.
The bout took place early in the pandemic when AEW would tape matches at Daily's Place and marathon tapings the Nightmare Factory as AEW tried to bank as much footage as possible with the uncertainty of the pandemic.
Speaking about learning of the match, Angels said, "There were definitely some nerves, for sure, we did two days of filming at the Nightmare Factory. The Wednesday show, we did a live Dynamite, then we filmed a few dark matches. On Thursday, we were literally there all day, from nine in the morning to 12 at night. The first day, I wrestled on Dynamite and it was me and Preston Vance, we were in Dark Order masks, we had the full body suit on. We wrestled Dustin & QT and it went fine. QT came to me after and said he thinks I'm going to wrestle Kenny the next day. I had plenty of time to think about it. Sometimes, I wish, they came up to me and were like, 'You're wrestling Kenny in an hour,' then I wouldn't have time to think about it. I had to go home, sleep, the nerves kind of got to me. I'm so nervous before matches but then you get out there and don't feel nervous. All the gyms were closed so I felt I looked like shit. I have a little gym in my basement and that night at 2 am, I had a little workout. I also couldn't tan, so that sucked."
The match is recorded as going six minutes and 19 seconds with Omega picking up the victory.
Speaking about the match time, Angels revealed that the bout was originally slated for four minutes but Omega kept adding to it.
"Everyone says (it was 10 minutes), it was actually like six minutes and 30 seconds. The funny thing is, we were actually slated for four (minutes), which is the crazy part because we went way over, but if anybody can go over, it's him [Kenny]. I met up with him, we started talking about the match, originally, we planned a four minute match, but then he kept adding stuff that he wanted to do and I was like, 'I don't think this is going to be four minutes,' but I'm not going to say no because this is my chance. Once we planned it all, we went out there and just did it. It went about six minutes and 30 seconds. Everybody says, 'he went ten minutes with Alan Angels,' it was only six minutes, guys, come on. He was super giving that day and I owe my career to, I have four people in mind that I owe my career to, and he's definitely on the list," he said. "A lot of negativity towards that match, but a lot of positive stuff, too. I definitely got more bookings out that and I got a job out of it. I'm not mad about it."
Angels and Omega would rematch on the November 3, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite, which Omega won in eight minutes.
Angels most recently competed on April 18 episode of AEW Dark: Elevation, losing to Andrade El Idolo. Fans can find results and the stream for the show by clicking here.
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