Kenny Omega Presents First Look New AEW Video Game

Well let me tell you something, brother: It’s been a while since the last truly great wrestling video game was released. While many would argue the long-running Fire Pro Wrestling series has consistently provided a quality alternative, the most famous western wrestling promotions have struggled in recent years to match the heights of classics like WWF No Mercy, WCW/NWO Revenge, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. With the mainline WWE 2K series taking a break following the disastrous release of WWE 2K20 and the tepid response to last year’s Battlegrounds, it seems like there is an opening in the market for someone new to make an impact. Ironically, Impact Wrestling has seemingly abandoned the very idea of releasing a follow up to 2008’s TNA Impact! (handheld port Cross the Line notwithstanding) so the opportunity to cash in has fallen to newcomer All Elite Wrestling.

Since AEW’s debut in 2019, executive vice president and international wrestling superstar Kenny Omega has clearly been eager to jump into the video game business. No surprise, given that his finisher is named the One-Wing Angel (a nod to iconic Final Fantasy villain Sephiroth) and his Wrestle Kingdom appearances in New Japan Pro Wrestling have included entrance videos and gear inspired by Undertale and Destiny. It’s probably also unsurprising, given Omega’s enthusiasm for the medium, that AEW’s gaming division would pair with classic wrestling games developer Yuke’s and No Mercy director Hideyuki Iwashita to produce its upcoming foray into the realm of video games.

The game may not yet have a release date, much less an actual title, but on a recent episode of AEW Games’ 2.Show on YouTube, we got our first look at the game in action with a spotlight on one of AEW’s most promising young stars, Darby Allin. It’s a brief clip (narrated by Omega himself) but still gives us a hint at what the gameplay might look like, and while it isn’t entirely accurate to call it a total throwback to the N64 era of wrestling games, there definitely seems to be less of a focus on the simulation aspects that divide fans of modern WWE games.

Hopefully this brief tease is just the prelude to something more substantial that will be coming soon. With live crowds returning to wrestling shows for the first time in over a year, now seems like an ideal time for AEW Games to give fans of both pro wrestling and video games something new to get excited about, and a more in-depth preview or at least a release window would provide exactly that.