WWE Superstar Austin “Xavier Woods” Creed and New Japan Pro Wrestling kingpin Kenny Omega have been trading verbal barbs with each other since 2016. Their feud came to a boiling point Thursday afternoon when the rivals, alongside their respective tag teams The New Day and The Young Bucks, did battle in a Street Fighter V Team Battle exhibition. The event was emceed by Steve “TastySteve” Scott and commentated by James Chen and Michael “IFC|Yipes” Mendoza. The two teams would battle in a best of three set and the winner would finally put an end to this feud for good.
The Main Event
Kofi Kingston, playing Ryu, battled against Nick Jackson, playing as Ken. Kofi defeated Jackson, giving his team the 1-0 lead. Next, Kenny Omega’s Abigail would face off against Big E’s Rashid. Omega, a Super Diamond ranked player online, seemed to be toying with E before finally putting the kibosh on the former Intercontinental Champion.
It was all down to Matt Jackson, the self-proclaimed Street Fighter II Turbo champion at Kookamonga Middle School, versus Xavier Woods. Woods, armed with Ibuki, faced off against Jackson’s Chun-Li. Woods interestingly opted to not show his Birdie, who suffered a defeat to Omega’s Alex at CEO 2016. Woods would seal the game, and the exhibition, with a crouching medium punch, giving his team the 2-1 victory.
Afterwards, the trash talking flew, much like the rest of the set, and Omega said that Woods “ducked” him after three years and didn’t give him the rubber match. Omega then called Woods out to a one-on-one match, to which Wood initially declined, but then decided to “spice things up” with a punishment - the losing team must eat a habanero pepper. Omega upped the ante, saying he wouldn’t use his main, Abigail, but would instead use Cody, the next Street Fighter V DLC character set to release next Tuesday.
The Main-Main Event
Now, pro wrestling and fighting game fans alike got what they came to see: Woods vs. Omega. In the first to five set, Creed continued to use Ibuki, while Omega chose Cody with a gold color scheme, perhaps a nod to the Golden Lovers, his tag team with New Japan star Kota Ibushi. Creed took the first set pretty handily, to which Omega responded, “it’s a learning process...Once I get comfortable, you’re in trouble, Creed.”
After going down 2-0, one of the Jackson brothers took their frustrations out on host TastySteve, but managed to turn that negativity into a win. Then, Omega took it to a whole new level and evened up the set at 2.
When Woods, went up 3-2, Omega admitted he had some time with Cody, but that he was more experienced with V-Trigger II. Omega’s switch to “The Pipe” paid off, as he yet again evened up the set with Woods, then took the lead for the first time in the set.
But Woods wasn’t done yet, and evened up the set to 4-4. It all came down to one game, as Yipes called, “pepper point.”
The Final Game
The set came down to the final round of the final game. After a long, arduous battle, only one man could call themselves the winner.
Omega clutched it out and took the set 5-4. After some trash talking from the champ, it was time for the New Day to “pay the pepper.” But ever the man of honor, Xavier Woods took the blow for his brothers and said he would eat all three peppers (though he only ate two.)
Omega, ever the competitor, would not let Woods beat him at anything and joined the habanero party and ate one of the peppers.
The event ended the way it should’ve - with love, admiration, a hug, and the victor’s hand raised. Omega and Woods both promised this was only the beginning, and that these groups would continue to entertain fans of fighting games and wrestling alike. Whatever happens, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for us in the future.
You can watch the full set in the above YouTube video, by visiting Woods’ UpUpDownDown YouTube page, or the Capcom Fighters Twitch page. For the whole backstory to this awesome event, check out our recap of the history between Xavier Woods and Kenny Omega!
Oh, and if you're wondering how Xavier Woods is doing after eating two habanero peppers, well....
I've puked three times, and I can now feel the heat moving through my intestine like a stone the size of my fist.... the battle on the other end begins. Worth it. This is one of the happiest days of my life. #E3 pic.twitter.com/1LREmQf6UJ
— Austin Creed @ E3 Capcom stage @ 1pm pst (@XavierWoodsPhD) June 14, 2018
