Kenny Omega recently made an appearance on The Taz Show and cleared up rumors and reports surrounding his contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and speculation on his future in the wrestling business.
It’s been reported for some time now that Omega’s deal with New Japan expired on January 31st, which is when contracts for most of the roster were renewed in the past. However, after AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson left for WWE in 2016, “a lot of guys were signed immediately” after Wrestle Kingdom 10 with some signing “special contracts”, according to the Bullet Club leader.
“A couple guys were under unique deals. I was one of them. Even if I were under contract I wouldn’t be on the current New Japan tour, which is the Fantastica Mania tour. Just generally Bullet Club guys aren’t used there. It has essentially given me a time to be free. Right now I’m free to make my own decisions, and I haven’t really put out feelers to anyone, but I am accepting feelers and negotiating for the best scenario for me right now.”
While Omega didn’t explicitly say that he isn’t currently signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling – which would take away any chance of him making a surprise appearance in the upcoming WWE Royal Rumble match – it’s clear he is keeping an open mind about his future.
In 2016 AJ Styles made huge waves in wrestling when he left a top spot in Japan to sign a lucrative contract with WWE, making his debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble. He has since become one of the top stars on the roster, and is the current WWE Champion on the Smackdown brand. Styles has also been outspoken in the past about taking the best financial deal on the table in order to provide for his family, which was ultimately the deciding factor in his decision to jump ship from TNA to New Japan, and again from Japan to WWE.
With Omega, things are slightly different. In a 2016 documentary with New Japan World when discussing his goals in wrestling, he stated that his ultimate goal was to become the best foreigner in the history of Japanese wrestling, to the point where everyone else is in a “race for second place”. He stated, “money has always been secondary for me in wrestling … I can’t fail. I can’t start thinking about, ‘oh I need to search for a wife, or a boyfriend, or I wish I could raise a family.’ I want all those things, but the second I start taking my mind off the goal at hand, and start putting my brain power into something else, that’s that much less brain power that’s going into my creativeness as a wrestler.”
Kenny seemed to back up some of those philosophies during his podcast with Taz this week as well:
“It’s not so much a monetary figure I’m looking for. I really do want to change the business, as much as I can in my own way. Or at least do something with impact.” … “On the Japan side of things, I’ve come so far, to almost having a complete career there. Do I end that now to pursue something else, somewhere else? Now people are talking about me, and now WWE is more receiving of using me in a way that I believe I can contribute.”
So if it’s not the money, what does the 33-year-old Omega have in mind? It would seem that right now he is looking for the promotion(s) where he is most needed, which ultimately comes down to how he’ll be used on the roster, coming off a career-high performance against Kazuchika Okada at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
“I don’t want to just take the pay day, and collect a check. While I’m still at least 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 make new people into wrestling fans, that weren’t 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 jive with that, I would heavily consider that.
