Gabe Kidd says he won the war, and he wants more.
The feud between Gabe Kidd and Kenny Omega led to a buzzworthy bout at NJPW x AEW Wrestle Dynasty, where Omega scored the win in his first match in over a year.
In an interview with NJPW's website, Gabe Kidd was asked to comment on how he was feeling physically and mentally after the match.
"It doesn't matter how I'm feeling physically. I'm going to keep going regardless. It doesn't matter that I wrestled 31 minutes in the Tokyo Dome and then six days later wrestled another 30 in San Jose with one of the hardest men in wrestling Tomohiro Ishii. That doesn't matter because mentally I feel better than ever. I did what I always said I would do. Kenny won that match in the Tokyo Dome, but I won the war. 'War Ready' for a reason. It's a loss in my column, and I only want to get wins from here- if I was 100% I would have battered Ishii in San Jose in ten minutes- but the answer to your question is I feel great," Kidd said.
When asked to comment on how Omega was in the ring, Kidd said that he was not the phony that he thought he was. Kidd said that Omega was the best of the best, and he wanted a rematch. He noted that the second match would be even harder than the first.
"I'll give him credit. He isn't the phony I thought he was, or that I said he was before. He is the best of the best and that's who I deserve to be in the ring with. He got me, but I do want round two. When the time is right, I do. It'll be harder a second time. Tokyo Dome was his first match back, his first step back into the wrestling ring. A second time and he'll be more confident, he'll have been wrestling consistently. There's no doubt, I could feel and you can see watching the match back that he was nervous in there. It's a credit to him as a wrestler that he was able to beat me, because I was 100%. It's given me things to work on, and that's what I'm doing with my coaches, so next time we face off I'll be 100% better than the 100% I was then," Kidd said.
Kidd was also asked to comment on representing NJPW in the match against Omega. He stated that in his mind, the bout was NJPW versus AEW. Kidd made it clear that he wanted to put NJPW back on the map.
"100 percent. In my head, this was NJPW vs AEW. That company has more money than us, it has stars there that used to be stars for us. So in my mind, I wanted to put New Japan back on the map. New Japan is the best wrestling company in the world, and it has been for a long time, so I wanted to represent, and I wanted to prove this company is the best. maybe it's to my detriment, but I wanted to win that match with simple moves. I wanted to beat Kenny with what I learned in the Dojo. Maybe I should have pushed the boat out a little bit further, but I wanted to win for me. I wanted to beat him in a simple way that people have seen thousands of times. When you're in the ring you're rolling with the punches and some of that thought goes out the window, but was it conscious? Absolutely," Kidd said.
It is not known when Kenny Omega will return to NJPW.
Click here to see what Rocky Romero had to say about the match between Omega and Kidd.
Check out Kidd's comments about AEW here.
