On January 5, 2025, the wrestling promotion New Japan hosted the major event Wrestle Dynasty, where one of the best wrestlers in the world celebrated his return – and with epic boss music like something from a raid in Final Fantasy XIV.
What happened? The long-awaited return of wrestler Kenny Omega was announced for the wrestling event Wrestle Dynasty. Before the event, he announced via X.com that he would not only be wrestling there for the first time in over a year, but would also be introducing new entrance music.
His return was ultimately accompanied by an epic theme written by Masayoshi Soken. He is the long-time composer of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and the action RPG Final Fantasy XVI. The theme is sung by Jason Charles Miller, who has already worked with Soken on the Shadowbringers expansion theme, among other things. According to Kenny Omega, legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu also provided support.
You can watch an excerpt from the enema here:
The One Winged Angel of Wrestling; Now with your own boss theme
Who is Kenny Omega? Kenny Omega has been active as a wrestler since 2000, but started out under his real name Tyson Smith. He had his breakthrough in 2010 with the Japanese wrestling promotion New Japan. In 2019 he moved to American competitor AEW (All Elite Wrestling), where he not only fights but also works as Executive Vice President.
Omega loves video games and cartoons. For example, his finisher, a move he uses to defeat his opponents in matches, is the One Winged Angel – named after the Final Fantasy 7 villain Sephirot.
At the end of 2023, Kenny Omega had to retire from wrestling due to a serious illness. It wasn’t until November 2024 that he appeared again in AEW for the first time. However, he celebrated his return to the ring with his old promotion New Japan – with the new theme.
Masayoshi Soken is known for his epic boss music. You can get an impression of this with the launch trailer for Final Fantasy XVI:
Final Fantasy XVI Launch Trailer
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Boss fights straight out of pro wrestling matches & honey bee gimmicks
What does Final Fantasy have to do with wrestling? The current 8-man raid in Final Fantasy XIV is based on Wrestling: The Arkadion. Here the players compete like wrestlers in promotions against fighters with so-called gimmicks: One boss turns into a cat woman, while another is a cute honey bee.
The players were particularly fond of the latter: a pop song from Final Fantasy XIV is about a honey bee and is currently playing on a loop for MMORPG players
Like real wrestling, each opponent has their own boss music and is introduced by an announcer.
Naoki Yoshida, the director and producer of Final Fantasy XIV, also stated during a hands-on event for Final Fantasy XVI, which he also produced, that the fights in the game were inspired by pro wrestling matches. This came up in an interview with Game Informer that is no longer available. Excerpts can still be read at Gamerant, among others.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently in the patch cycle between expansions. The next big content update with 7.2 will probably be in March 2025. If Square Enix continues to stick to the established rhythm, the second batch of wrestling matches should then go live in the Arkadion.
While the current 8-man raid is really well received by the community, some are still struggling with the story and the new characters in the Dawntrail expansion. Almost half a year after the release of the DLC, one of the biggest Final Fantasy XIV streamers has now spoken out: Big streamer about Final Fantasy XIV on Twitch explains what went wrong in the MMORPG