Will Ospreay kicks out of Kenny Omega's finishing move at Wembley Stadium. Credit: AEW
By Tyler Lauletta on

All Elite Wrestling, better known as AEW, put on its biggest show of the year at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

The main event featured champion Kenny Omega, arguably the greatest wrestler of his generation, up against the United Kingdom’s favorite wrestling son, the “Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay.

This was as good a matchup on paper as you can set up in the world of professional wrestling, and from the phenomenally produced entrances to the action in the ring to the thrilling finish, it lived up to the billing. Ospreay won the title on home soil, sending the crowd home happy and positioning him as one of the top faces of AEW for years to come.

While there’s plenty to talk about regarding the match, one moment stands out above the rest, and it wound up serving as a litmus test for fans’ preferences on how announcers handle the biggest moments in sports.

The most stunning moment of the match came after Omega hit his finishing move, the One-Winged Angel, on Ospreay in the middle of the ring. As the crowd and referee counted in unison, “One, two,” Omega threw a fist in the air in presumed victory. But Ospreay kicked out.

The pop from the crowd was absolutely outrageous. Watch below.

You might be wondering just why the moment got such a loud reaction. Sure, this was the main event of the night and a title fight, but kicking out at two is hardly uncommon in professional wrestling — it is, in fact, the most tried-and-true method of building tension as a match edges towards a conclusion.

But Ospreay’s kick out was different, because the One-Winged Angel is different.

Omega’s One-Winged Angel is probably the most well-protected finisher in all of wrestling — when it lands, it lands, and it ends with Omega winning on a three count. While a few notable wrestlers have been able to scramble their way out of defeat after taking a One-Winged Angel from Omega by touching the ropes or some referee shenanigans, just one man has kicked out of the finisher clean — Omega’s longtime tag-team partner Kota Ibushi, who did it in 2012.

You may be thinking that such context is silly to consider, as the endings of professional wrestling matches are planned out in advance, and thus such a memorable moment can be manipulated into existence. This fails to appreciate the art that goes into making such a decision. This is a moment that was literally 14 years in the making, and it’s a bullet that Omega can only fire once for maximum impact. Giving it to Ospreay in this spot is an incredible gesture.

That context is important, and it raises the question — why wasn’t it brought up in the broadcast? Instant reactions to the moment online showed that some fans were disappointed that a bigger deal wasn’t made out of the fact that, in the reality of professional wrestling, the near-impossible had just happened.

But plenty of others loved how the broadcast handled the moment. The stunned silence and letting the moment breathe, allowing the audience reaction to tell the story, resembled what you might see on a more traditional sports broadcast.

There are merits to both sides of the argument. Watching the longer cut of the moment that AEW posted to YouTube, you might wonder why the commentary team didn’t mention more about just how shocking it was to see Will Ospreay kick out once they had given the audience the microphone for a bit.

It’s also worth noting that heading into the match, it was widely expected that Ospreay would win, and many fans anticipated that he would kick out of the One-Winged Angel as a part of the match. In the context of the moment, it was simultaneously shocking to all and expected by some. This does not take away from the moment, but it does add another wrinkle to the question of how to call the action.

Ultimately, letting it breathe feels like it was the right move. In another reality, Excalibur or another member of the commentary team jumped in and screamed, “OH MY GOD! HE’S DONE IT! HE KICKED OUT OF THE ONE-WINGED ANGEL!!” and the sides of the debate are flipped — in fact, chances are that more people would be mad about stepping on the moment than those currently frustrated with the silence.

Regardless of where you land on the debate, the moment is an interesting litmus test regarding what you, the audience member, value out of commentary.

One of my favorite moments in modern broadcasting is Joe Buck’s call of the Minneapolis Miracle.

“Diggs! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Vikings win it!”

After that succinct summary, he lays out and lets the cheers of the crowd tell the story.

There is a balance to these things, and when the crowd reaction is fantastic, it’s probably best to err on the side of letting that reaction explain the gravity of what just happened. Commentators can always add context to the moment while analyzing the replay, but the moment itself can only happen once, and in the moment, the crowd is more important than anything a commentator can say.

On Sunday, the moment was literally 14 years in the making, and a culminating act of two of the greatest performers of their generation. The AEW audience is not as casual as the WWE audience, and the wide majority of fans tuning in likely knew the full significance of the scene that was playing out and the buildup of Ospreay and Omega’s careers to that particular moment in time.

The pop they got from the crowd was earned, and the fact that we have that reaction clean on tape forever is a good thing. Commentators can talk over the replay now as much as they want, but the moment belonged to Omega, Ospreay, and the Wembley crowd.

About Tyler Lauletta

Tyler is a editorial contributor at Awful Announcing, with previous stops at Sports Illustrated and Business Insider during his career covering sports in digital media. He is, begrudgingly, a Truster of the Process and general Philly sports sicko.

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