Why did Kenny Omega wrestle a 9-year old?
Many Kenny Omega detractors point to some of his comedic stuff in Japan to put him down. One of those instances includes him wrestling a 9-year old Japanese girl named Haruka back in 2011.
Why did The Belt Collector, being a top talent, wrestle a 9-year old?
Your assumptions aren't reality. Every non wrestling fan I've shown @KennyOmegamanX's matches against Haruka and Yoshihiko to, they've laughed their asses off. I've been getting one into AEW and Omega and they love how he erases toxic masculinity from a very male dominanted field
Stardom, a wrestling promotion in Japan, puts a lot of emphasis on developing youth talent. The development of young wrestlers starts as early as 9 years of age, and Haruka was one of them. Kenny Omega took her on in a singles match as part of Stardom's vision of pushing extremely young talent.
The pressure was on The Cleaner, but it was Haruka who stole the show. The sold-out crowd reacted favorably as Kenny Omega did a wonderful job of executing every move as safely as possible. On one occasion, Omega dropped Haruka with a backbreaker that looked extremely painful but was a testament to her ability to sell even at that young age.
The match polarizes opinions as many people, including wrestling historian Jim Cornette, believe it was a mockery of the wrestling business. While people are entitled to their opinion, the crowd in attendance had a great time.
For Haruka, it was a moment of a lifetime. How many others can claim to have wrestled a bonafide legend like Kenny Omega, let alone at the age of 9?
Kenny Omega was worried about the match
Today a letter addressed to me was found at the NJPW office. A challenge... After 4 years of silence, HARUKA WANTS THE REMATCH! 😱😱😱
Kenny Omega was worried before the match, and it's hard to blame him. As the veteran, Haruka's safety was in his hands. The world-class performer that Omega is, he did his work to perfection. Speaking about the match, he said the following:
"They had said, 'okay, well, on the day of your big show, we're hoping that you could do an exhibition with her' and it felt like time had moved to a standstill because I saw this grand opportunity in front of me where I could show everyone something special and something real fun and funny. But at the same time, it's a huge risk because that's a permanent black eye on your career. It's possibly career suicide. If you hurt a girl in front of a huge, sold out crowd and then that goes online and you know how things work. And then, I just become a laughing stock if I wasn't already. Do you know what I mean? But I think the positives outweighed the following."
Haruka delivered a 619, a suicide dive, an enziguiri, and a spinning hurricanrana. While the match's ending was flat as the referee called for the bell, it was a unique spectacle.