Kenny Omega spoke with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated after last night’s Wrestle Kingdom 11 event in Japan, where he was unsuccessful in defeating Kazuchika Okada in the main event. You can read a few excerpts below:
Kenny Omega comments on the successful year he had, despite losing at Wrestle Kingdom 11:
“I have dealt with a lot of negativity over the past year. There are people who would love to see me fail. I’m the guy who supposedly turned down WWE offers and is nothing more than a second-rate, cheap imitation AJ Styles, yet I’m doing things in a matter of a year that nobody did—not AJ, Finn Bálor, or any foreigner or any Japanese guy—and I’ve shut those people up yet also showed something special to the people who have supported me all this time.
“If I ever stepped away from wrestling, I’d have a nice pretty little package with a bow on top if I won the most prestigious title. The IWGP title makes me a legend. I’ve committed half my life to this, and it’s worth all the sacrifice. Not only was it worth it, but it was worth it and then some.”
Omega comments on why he sees more value in the IWGP Championship than the WWE title:
“This IWGP title means more with me than any WWE championship. The WWE belt means nothing, it means absolutely nothing. They pass around that belt like a hot potato. I probably have a neighbor on my block who held that belt at one point. There is no prestige to that belt whatsoever.”
Omega says he wants to be the guy to rely on in 2017:
“I’m a foreigner and someone who was a junior a year ago, and there are still a lot of people who don’t believe I deserve to be in this spot. I want to say something in Japanese, but the first order of business is to assure the people that things are going to change. The company is not going to stroll along. I’ll be on the political end lobbying for the company to have more shows in America and the U.K. I was never supposed to be G-1 winner or a heavyweight or in a ladder match, but the company trusted me. For them to trust me to this point, I want to be the guy to take the company further than it has ever gone. New Japan Pro Wrestling has a time-honored tradition as the King of Strong Style for the past fifty years, but now I want to make it more than that. The smart money for 2017 is still on me. I’m going to move this company forward.”
