All Elite Wrestling is well known to have reignited the wrestling wars that fans recall fondly from Monday Nights during the 90s, making for some of the most compelling pro-wrestling programming in years, if not decades. But it seems that AEW has also reignited a different kind of war, a war of video game-related signs held in the audience. The latest example, taken from AEW's Dynamite this past Wednesday, was made to start a fight between fans of Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 7.
The sign in question popped up during a segment in which reigning AEW champion Kenny Omega and his faction The Elite were beating up Omega's next opponent, Christian. It was a fun, hilarious segment, but watchful viewers noticed a sign held up by the audience behind the action. The sign read "KEFKA > SEPHIROTH," a comparison between Final Fantasy 6's cackling God of Magic and Final Fantasy 7's sword-wielding summoner of Meteor.
RELATED: AEW Video Game Release Date Could Be Next Year
Regarding the context of the sign, there's not much to it. It's become an inside joke among wrestling audiences, and AEW's in particular, for "hot takes" to be shared via signs. The sign alleging that Kefka is a better villain than Sephiroth is supposed to be all in good fun, but also to stir up some heat among video game nerds at home who feel like arguing the point. "KEFKA > SEPHIROTH" is genuinely one of the tamer signs of the past several months.
AEW fans really are secret SNES RPG lovers. And dude, no arguments here. from
FinalFantasy
There is some extra context to the sign that may or may not have been the AEW fan's intent, however. Kenny Omega is perhaps best known for a heel run in the Japanese pro wrestling promotion NJPW in which his character was based on Sephiroth. Now Omega is doing a new heel run at AEW, a run where he's much more of a comical madman. Because of Omega's Sephiroth character before, some are calling this Omega's Kefka run. It's perhaps unrelated, however.
AEW has become ground zero for signs regarding JRPGs, retro video game, and other hilarious gaming arguments and they only seem to be growing more and more heated. Other signs at this week's show include "The Worst Fire Emblem Game Is Better Than The Best Paper Mario," "#FREEMVC2" in effort to get Capcom to re-release Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and "NERF Sol Badguy" in reference to the Guilty Gear Strive character's current strength.
On tonight's episode of AEW Rampage, the hugely popular wrestler CM Punk is expected to debut. But there will be a portion of the audience whose attention will be focused elsewhere. Instead of watching the action, they'll be watching the audience for new video game signs. AEW's become a destination for video game nerds.
MORE: The AEW Video Game Seems to Be Doing Everything Right
