Another day, another round of Kenny Omega free agent speculation. The man who stole the show at Wrestle Kingdom 11 may still be under contract with New Japan until January 31 (ruling out any possibility of a Royal Rumble surprise appearance), the talk about him potentially making the jump to WWE isn’t slowing down. And now Omega himself is sounding much more amenable to the idea of working for WWE than he did before his six-star match.
In an appearance on Taz’s podcast this week, Kenny laid it all on the line (or as much on the line as a guy still under contract to a company and probably kayfabing everyone under the sun for as long as possible, can) as to what he’d be looking for that would lead him to sign with WWE.
“I have come so far to almost having a complete career [in NJPW], do I end that now to pursue something else somewhere else?” Omega asked. “Now people are talking about me and now WWE is more receiving of using me in a way that I can contribute.
“I don’t want to just take a payday and collect a check. While I’m still healthy, while I still have ideas in this crazy head of mine, I want to contribute and I want to do things that are going to make wrestling fans happy and are going to make new people into wrestling fans that were wrestling fans before, I want to contribute in that manner. If a company like WWE were willing to use me in that manner, if they had good ideas for me and I had good ideas that jived with that, I would heavily consider that.”
From Kenny’s point of view, that’s totally reasonable: he doesn’t need millions of dollars, just assurances that he would be one of the faces of expansion and someone upon whose back a company could be carried. Considering WWE will never have the problem of having “too many” internationally verifiable main event stars, it doesn’t sound like a lot to ask. And in the past couple years, especially, they’ve shown a willingness to give a comparable talent (AJ Styles) the top title and a spectacular push and exposure.
But who knows? WWE has been weird about this sort of stuff in the past. According to the most recent Wrestling Observer, there are people who think Omega has already re-signed with New Japan on a multi-year deal and this is all smoke and mirrors. But now that we’re past WK11, it seems like Omega’s requests and desires for an employer are reasonable. And they’re such that, no matter who signs him, he’s going to be one of the faces of that company in short order.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
