Street Fighter 6’s Alex is literally AEW wrestler Kenny Omega, moves and all

A familiar face is returning to Street Fighter on March 17 with the next Street Fighter 6 update. And if you’re a wrestling fan, the way he moves might also ring a bell. Capcom has announced the return of the high-flying Alex to the franchise, as the third character added to Street Fighter 6’s third year of content. Alex first debuted back in 1997’s Street Fighter III: New Generation. In this game, he’s being played by none other than former AEW World Champion and highly regarded “best bout machine” Kenny Omega.

Omega and Capcom revealed the news with a new trailer for Alex’s arrival, filled with a litany of Omega’s signature moves — from the Snap Dragon Suplex to the V-Trigger to his finishing move, the One-Winged Angel. This isn’t just lip service to one of the best wrestlers alive, though. Instead, Omega stepped up to the plate to perform Alex’s motion capture in the game, even sharing multiple photos from his work on social media.

That might come as a surprise to AEW fans, given that Kenny has cosplayed as Akuma for an AEW show before and even got an action figure immortalizing the moment (which is currently on clearance at GameStop).

While Omega serves as the inspiration for Alex’s fighting in the game, Capcom has changed some of his signature move names. The One-Winged Angel has been renamed the Omega Wing Buster, while the V-Trigger is now dubbed the Aerial Knee Smash. Alex’s moveset also includes a powerbomb, a spear, and a variety of rapid strikes to round the character out.

This isn’t the only professional wrestling connection to Street Fighter at the moment, as the upcoming film adaptation stars WWE wrestlers Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns as Col. Guile and Akuma, respectively, in theaters this year. Meanwhile, Mattel currently has a line of action figures that mash up WWE wrestlers with Street Fighter characters.

On March 15, Alex joins the previously released Year 3 characters C. Viper and Sagat across all the game’s platforms. The fourth addition to the list, Ingrid, will arrive in late spring.