Kenny Omega is on the verge of being one of the hottest free agents in the world after headlining New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 11. It has long been thought that WWE will be heavily pursuing him when his contract is up. Omega himself has said he’s long had an open invitation to join NXT, although in a recent interview with UPROXX, he had some disparaging comments about how WWE seems to be signing wrestlers just to sign them, and were in danger of becoming a monopoly if they keep scooping up talent at their current rate.
In fact, the more Omega does interviews, the less likely it seems that he’ll be leaving New Japan any time soon. In an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published shortly before Wrestle Kingdom, Omega went on at length about how he feels about the state of the wrestlers in WWE right now … and more than that, he went in.
“I’m eating, breathing, and s—-ing wrestling right now,” said Omega. “When I’m waking up in bed in the morning and my bones and my joints are aching—and I know that I’m not ‘old’ old, but I know there is a lot of younger talent floating around their roster—I’m wondering, ‘Why in the hell are these guys not rising up? Why are they not doing what it takes to be better? Are they so happy to be a cog in the WWE machine that they’re just happy to be where they are? Are they just satisfied to see WWE as the name on their paycheck every week? Why can I keep getting better and pushing the envelope to have these ‘Matches of the Year,’ but no one else can even come close?’ AJ Styles has been great, but he’s been great forever. Why is there no one else?
“Sometimes I feel like there is no hope,” continued Omega. “There are guys that will get good real quick, and then they’ll stay that way—they’re happy to have a job and they’re scared to lose that job on top of it. Everyone is afraid to stand out, everyone is afraid to make history. They just want to be a normal motherf—– in wrestling, being a wrestler, collecting a paycheck, then telling their friends, ‘I’m a ‘WWE Superstar.’ For me, that’s the worst s— ever.
“I would rather be the legend that never stepped foot in WWE but was better than every single one of them and did something that none of those guys could do in their prime or could ever do if they left WWE and tried. No one is going to win ten ‘matches of the year’ in Japan, no one could. I’ve already won ten. No one could go from WWE and win one – if you did, you’d have to have a better match than me, and that isn’t going to happen. That’s the kind of pride I bring to my work. AJ is the closest guy who could do it, but I’m talking about their roster as a whole. It’s just not going to happen. That’s not just me saying that because I’m a cocky prick. That’s me saying it as a challenge because I’m pushing the barrier every single day. I’ll take all my matches against WWE’s best matches, I’ll put it up against Ring of Honor’s best matches, or whatever promotion you want, and I guarantee people will be more entertained with my matches than theirs. That is the attitude I need to carry with me. If I lose my confidence, then I’ll lose my way. And yes, I’m saying controversial things, but I’m not purposely saying them just to be controversial. I’m just one of the only guys to be speaking my true feelings.”
There’s a whole lot of truth packed into a few short paragraphs, but most important is that it appears to be Kenny Omega’s truth. WWE higher-ups have long insisted that they want wrestlers to reach up and grab that brass ring, but people both inside and outside the company have seen that the nails that stick up tend to get hammered down unless they’ve been pre-selected for a big role in the company.
Of course, it’s very possible that Omega’s comments about wanting to be defined by not being in WWE are just him speaking in character as “The Cleaner,” or maybe even sowing the seeds for a storyline when he comes in. But given his open invitation to come to NXT and his insistence that he wants to help make New Japan a global brand, maybe he will end up being the legend that never takes that contract. And it makes sense that, given his fears of impending monopolization of the wrestling business, he prefers to remain on the outside, fighting the good fight and blowing everyone’s minds with what an independent wrestler is capable of.
Sometimes it’s very hard not to be a selfish wrestling fan and just want our favorite wrestlers to be where it’s easiest for us to watch them every week. But Omega’s opinions are a breath of fresh air, and it’s good that someone is using their current high profile to voice them.
