Kenny Omega‘s issues getting into Japan came to light through the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and The Cleaner has now commented on them through Wrestling Observer Radio.
Last month, WON reported that Omega was stopped when trying to enter the country to perform at DDT Ultimate Party, the third time that had happened since he stopped working for New Japan Pro Wrestling, and “something happened where there was an attempt to get him banned from going to Japan for ten years.” Omega commented on the story, tweeting “I’m gonna have a lot of wild stories to tell about my 2019 that a lot of people won’t want to believe. But the truth is actually way worse than what’s been rumored and/or reported.” NJPW President Harold Meij later responded to these reports, writing that “there’s no way a company could do that” and NJPW had no reason to interfere with Omega’s visa.
Recently on Wrestling Observer Radio, Omega commented on his visa situation while talking about the benefits of the structure of All Elite Wrestling, where he is an Executive Vice President as well as a wrestler. According to Omega, in AEW, “Everything is really intimate with us. We’re always just a phone call or text message away,” while in NJPW (transcript via Fightful):
Things worked its way so far up the food chain in this New Japan fiasco where it wasn’t even people in New Japan dealing with it. It’s a bunch of other people trying to make my life miserable. I don’t even think people there are cognizant of this stuff happening. I don’t think they’re even aware. But it’s grasping at straws, luckily.
New Japan is owned by game company Bushiroad and its business and creative departments, according to NJPW employees I’ve spoken to, are completely separate. That’s definitely a very different structure than AEW, where the EVPs are also either bookers for the company, or the very least people with a lot of creative influence in their own storylines and those of others. Is Omega claiming that actually people in Bushiroad have created these visa problems for him? It’s hard to say since, like the original report, Omega’s follow-up statement is pretty vague.
