To promote his new documentary, “Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story,” All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Executive Vice President and wrestler Kenny Omega recently took part in an in-depth sit-down interview with John Pollock of POST Wrestling. Featured below are some of the highlights.
On mixing reality and storylines in the business and the affect it has: “There are times I really enjoy playing a certain role. For example, I had the big story with Chris Jericho and that was a huge blurring of lines and no one really knew what would come of it or what it would become. And for me, it was an exciting, exciting time of my career because we made people believe again and we made people really excited in something they haven’t seen in a long time. So that was one situation where I love this and I could live in this world forever or for as long as I’m a performer. But for the case of me and Ibushi, it’s like we had this – wow – six-year hiatus where we’re not even involved in the same storylines, yet we’re not expected to talk to each other; we can’t be seen in public together. That’s sort of where we could draw the line, potentially, where it’s like we’re not even involved with one another, so why is there this unspoken rule where we can’t speak to one another. Why can’t we be seen in public with one another? But that is the culture. That is the [pro] wrestling culture there and it’s either take it or leave it. And that’s how it is. It’s different from how it is in America or how it is from Canada, but the Japanese wrestling style is a style that I love and I decided to make Japan my home, the base of my career at that time, so you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
On hoping he gets to perform for the Japanese fans throughout the rest of his career and the connection he has with those fans: “I mean, I have a sentimental attachment to the country, and the people, of course, and to the see the amount of joy as something as simple as one of my matches can bring to a person in that country. That’s really important to me and even though I may not be able to accomplish many more accolades, and that I’ve checked off almost every box that there is to check in Japan, that doesn’t mean I want to pack up and move on from Japan. I’d love to keep coming back till I take my last bump, to Japan. But there are things that I feel like I can still do and that I even have a responsibility to do in professional wrestling, and that requires me to take the next step, which is AEW and pursue that to its full extent.”
On the fact that he could have worked the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden in New York City during WrestleMania 35 Weekend and why he didn’t: “I would very much love to be a part of everything, not only [the G1 Climax in Dallas, Texas], but the Madison Square Garden show, the G1, all of those things, but then I’m burning the candle at both ends, and on top of that, sometimes, there may be a conflict of interest. I mean, I could go there, but there are all these storylines in place and I think New Japan, with how they book so long-term, they have a direction and a plan and knowing that we have our hands completely full, overly full, with what we have to do – it’s a huge undertaking – it’s probably best that we focus on our own things for now and just know that on both sides, the door is mutually open.”
Check out the complete sit-down interview between POST Wrestling’s John Pollock and AEW’s Kenny Omega below.
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