Kenny Omega is quite possibly the hottest wrestler on the planet right now, and his main event match with Kota Ibushi against the Young Bucks at Strong Style Evolved was one of the most emotional matches we’ve seen in the past decade. He, like most wrestling fans, is extremely excited about the Golden Lovers being back together, and we had a chance to talk to him about being back with Ibushi, and what the future might hold for him as both a singles and a tag team wrestler.
We previously shared Omega’s thoughts on what was the then-upcoming Strong Style Evolved show and the return of Daniel Bryan, and this, similarly, is just a portion of our conversation with Omega. You can listen to the entire interview in this week’s episode of McMahonsplaining, the With Spandex Podcast, which also has our complete preview for WrestleMania weekend.
WITH SPANDEX: How have you been reacting to the response to the Golden Lovers getting back together?
Kenny Omega: I mean, the response to us coming back together has been more positive than I ever could’ve imagined. Again, I selfishly really wanted the Golden Lovers to come back for us. For a while, there was a situation where we were never in the same room together. We couldn’t travel together. We couldn’t be seen in public together. It was just a very, I wouldn’t say volatile situation. That’s the wrong word for it, but just things are different in the Japanese wrestling culture. We have to stay separate, and for us to finally be ourselves and get back together and sort of reassume this dream that we once had in the 2008 to 2010 where we wanted to be the best tag team in the world together. It’s just been really cool.
Then to see not only that, but when our music hit for the first time at Korakuen Hall, it’s still kind of unbelievable, the reaction that they had for us. We thought we would have to kind of reintroduce ourselves from zero again, but people remember, or not only did they remember, but maybe they went back and studied our history and then became fans that way, but everyone in that building knew who we were and were excited to see us, and it was just such a great feeling, and we don’t want to stop here. We want to go further with it, and we really want to cement ourselves as one of the best tag teams in the world.
Well, with that being said, now that your focus is on the Golden Lovers, does that mean that you’re not going to be pursuing any singles titles of your own for the time being?
I mean, losing the belt to [Switchblade Jay White] sort of freed me up a little bit, and I sort of feel like I can now focus more on one thing. I can multitask, but I generally am not good at it, but when I do focus on one thing and one thing passionately, usually I can get great results, and I would love right now to focus strictly on tag team wrestling with Ibushi, not only because I want to team with him again and I want to show what we can do, but I want to show the potential of what tag team wrestling can be as well, because I think a lot of people have missed the mark on what tag team wrestling is, and especially in New Japan.
We’re in a situation right now where tag team wrestling just … It can’t come close to main eventing a show. It just can’t. The cards are built so heavily upon that one mega singles match, and I want to show that our roster is deep enough and that there is a way to show that we can make people look forward to tag team wrestling as a main event-style match as well, so that right now is my immediate goal, but the year is just getting started, and regardless of how well the tag team does, I know I will be in the G1, so you will definitely see some singles matches down the line for sure.
Your career has tended to be very focused and driven, and in Kota’s career, he tends to just go where his winds take him. If he were to, say, challenge Kazuchika Okada and win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, do you think that that would put a strain on the Golden Lovers?
I mean, make no mistake. I sort of feel like if it’s anyone but me taking the belt from Okada, that it just doesn’t feel right, but I’ve kind of been maybe preaching a little too hard that I’m the best bout machine in New Japan, that there would be no company without me, and I want to be the guy to spearhead the whole worldwide movement that New Japan has taken upon, but if there was anyone that I’d be completely cool with stealing that title of the Best Bout Machine and running with it, being the guy that people say is the best in the world, I would love for it to be Ibushi.
I think he’s maybe the only other guy with the actual potential to do it, realistically, and in my opinion. I kind of want people to challenge it. I want someone else to be the clear and wide MVP of the company, and I think Ibushi can be that guy if he wants to be, and I don’t want to hold him back and force him to focus on tag team wrestling if he wants to go about things in a singles way. I mean, he was in the New Japan Cup, so clearly he does want to leave his mark as a singles performer, and again, he’s also the G1, so we’ll see how things work out, but I want the world for the guy. I really do, and I think he’s been out of the spotlight for far too long.
Since the Golden Lovers got back together, there’s been a lot written about the subtext of the history of the Golden Lovers, and in ROH and being in The Elite. That subtext has sort of become text. Do you feel like wrestling fans in general are a little bit more accepting and enlightened than they were perhaps five or 10 years ago?
Oh, certainly. I definitely think so, and I love that what we are doing hasn’t been sexualized by our fan base. It’s accepted, and people are judging us, if they judge us at all, just based on our performances and based upon our positive message, and I think that’s really important. Of course, you’re gonna get the riffraff come along every now and then, and tweet obscenities and such, but generally speaking, everyone has been super cool and accepting, and really kind of restores my faith in just humanity as a whole. Wrestling fans these days, especially, are just really cool.
I feel like I have some of the greatest fans out there, and everyone has been super kind, and nothing but love I’ve felt thus far, with the odd bad apple, but that’s it.
I don’t know how up-to-date you keep on international women’s wrestling, but if New Japan were to ask for your advice on if they wanted to do a women’s exhibition match, who would you recommend for that?
I mean, I have thought about this actually a lot myself. I’m a big fan of joshi Wrestling in general, and I thought about if we ever implemented women’s wrestling into New Japan, who would be the representative, or who are the right representatives for that style? For me, it’s tough to say ,because I’m such a huge fan of all different styles of wrestling.
I mean, an easy go-to answer would be Io Shirai. She is great, sort of like a jack of all trades, shows her passion. She’s very, very good. I mean, I’ve always been a huge fan of a girl named Riho in Japan, but that’s sort of a different style. It’s more fun. That’s sort of like … It’s different. It’s not as hard-hitting as what Io Shirai does, and yeah, there’s also great freelance joshi wrestlers like Hikaru Shida who can do it all.
They can do the entertainment style, or they could have a competitive athletic match, and that’s kind of what Asuka was like before went to WWE. She was sort of the jack of all trades. She could have that serious match, or she could absolutely off-the-wall goofy if you wanted her to be, and I think that’s what’s most important, is all-around players and all-arounders, and yeah, I would love to see the inclusion of it, and I would just hope that if we ever did that, they might ask for my advice and input, because I really am passionate about that sort of stuff.
What do we have to do to see Kenny Omega and Kris Wolf in the ring together?
Oh, yeah, Kris Wolf. What a very pleasant human being, so fun. That’s another person that knows how to have a heck of a lot of fun, just a ball of charisma. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love Kris Wolf. For sure, I would love to see her in the ring representing New Japan or just … I mean, I guess she has been in ROH, so there’s a working relationship there. There’s a possibility.
Beyond the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which I’m sure is on the top of your list, what are your remaining goals for wrestling?
I mean, it’s such an opinionative thing, but the tag team that I’ve … Ibushi and myself, the Golden Lovers, I really do want to sort of change the general opinion of tag team wrestling through how we put together our matches, and I don’t know if I necessarily mean that generally speaking, but I definitely mean that in the sense of how New Japan fans view our tag team wrestling.
Up until now, kind of tag team wrestling is sort of second, third match, maybe before intermission style wrestling. You can’t put that match high on the card. It can’t be a main event, and I want to show that tag team wrestling unlocks this whole other layer of what wrestling can be when two people work in harmony with each other, and I want to show how the synchronicity and the beauty of tag team wrestling can really show something that a singles match can’t.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s strong suit, of course, is their big money match singles matches. It always has been, and especially lately, that’s what it has been, but I do want to show that we can get the crowd excited and jacked up for an awesome tag team match as well. So, it’s not so much a material thing. It’s not about belts or whatever, but I do want to show that we can put together a main event-style tag team wrestling match that will steal the show and will be talked about. That’s my goal.
