Teddy Long Explains Why Kenny Omega Would Beat Kurt Angle In His Prime

WWE Hall of Famer Theodore Long thinks that AEW's Kenny Omega would sneak out a victory over Kurt Angle, mainly because of his background.

"I'm not taking anything away from Kurt Angle," Long told "WrestleBinge" and Bill Apter, "but I'm telling you about Kenny Omega, a guy that's come from Japan, where you learn there or you get beat up every night. So Kenny Omega has got experience." 

Long believes both men have decent tools in their toolkit, but ultimately it would be Omega squeaking out the win. 

"It's gonna be real close, but Kenny, he'll come out on top on that," Long concluded.

Such a contest is unlikely to actually occur, as Angle retired after losing to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, though he has said the door is open for one more match. Both Omega and Angle are former IWGP Heavyweight Champions, and Angle has more experience with Japanese wrestlers than Long's comments would suggest, as Angle held the Inoki Genome Federation version of the title around the same time that he was Impact World Champion. The IGF version of the IWGP Title was eventually unified with the traditional NJPW IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which Omega won in 2018.

Well known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Omega cut his teeth in DDT, where he and Kota Ibushi became instant fan favorites as the Golden Lovers. Omega has been a longtime proponent of the hard-hitting style of which Long spoke, notably hitting such a vicious V-Trigger recently that it sent both him and Jon Moxley through the wall of a steel cage.