Kenny Omega says he's not interested in numbers or statistics; he is interested in changing the wrestling world and the way in which people think about professional wrestling.
When Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at AEW Winter is Coming on December 2, the landscape of pro wrestling was immediately affected as Don Callis and Kenny Omega revealed a master plan that would see them become the central focus of not only All Elite Wrestling but IMPACT Wrestling as well. As Don Callis has stated many times in recent promos, all of this change in professional wrestling saw its genesis in 2018 when Kenny Omega took on Chris Jericho in the Tokyo Dome at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 in 2018.
Speaking on Chris’ Talk is Jericho podcast, Kenny Omega opened up about biding his time and not immediately becoming the focal point of AEW. He would explain how he felt about the criticisms he would face online regarding his lack of Main Event status with the promotion, why he feels Chris Jericho was the right person to be the inaugural champion, and how it is much more important for him to look at the bigger picture outside of the normal operations of a professional wrestling organization
"The way I looked at it was, I was always confident in my own abilities and it's easy for people to hope for you to fail," Kenny began. "It's easy for people to say that you failed at something and people enjoy doing that people enjoy being able to say you're not as good as my favorite, you know, you're not as good as the guy that I invested in that I've been cheering for people like to choose sides and when you're not on their side or when you're not representing them, they would like to find a way to make their favorite better than you so I knew that I was going to have naysayers. I'm just gonna have critics and what people didn't realize was I knew I could turn it around on a moment's notice and I knew that any time I wanted to make it my time, you know, it was there for the taking, of course. I knew from the beginning if it felt right, you know, maybe I should be the guy that commands the throne of AEW. It wasn't my time. It was yours, Chris and that's fine. I think you being the first inaugural champion of AEW was the best company decision in the best move we could have made and I think you had a lot of respect to that belt."
He continued, "So, for me to do what I did in the tag division for me to do what I did with AEW Games, all of our side ventures, my supplement deal, all the stuff I'm doing with anime and gaming, all that sort of things, I was able to actually take more time and invest into that. I remember someone was telling me it's always good to have a plan B and I thought okay, if I'm not gonna be the champion if I'm not going to be the focus, let's make that plan B, C, D, E, F, all the way to Z and when it's time, I'll take the company by the reins and steer it into a new direction and it took me a long time to do it and knowing that I had to do it in a breakneck pace, I knew I needed help, and that's where you came in. So everything's been going well.
"Again, I always knew that we could do it and I'm just glad I've got [Don Callis] along for the ride and I hope people enjoy it, I hope that people that are tuning in for the first time, or the people that have watched since the beginning are going to enjoy what we bring to the table because it's something you've never seen before or at least something haven't seen in a long time."
Kenny Omega would further say that there are too many people who have preconceived notions of what wrestling is supposed to be and they should arrive at this new era of wrestling with an empty mind ready for anything and everything to be possible. Kenny would even say that the reason Vince McMahon was able to create all of these preconceived notions is that he entered the wrestling landscape with the mindset to wipe away the preconceived notions of a generation prior
"It is the empty cup analogy. You don't arrive to a lesson with the cup half full, come with an empty cup. That way you can learn everything that we're about to teach. A lot of people have preconceived notions about how wrestling should be. They're judging based on what they've seen in the years that they've watched professional wrestling. People that have the open mind that come to watch these shows are the ones that are going to benefit the most out of this. The wrestlers that watch what we do, that study what we do with an open mind, they're the ones who may take our position when we're about ready to pack it in. But it's the ones that feel that wrestling has to be a certain way, that wrestling has to be the way that it was done by one man, Vince McMahon, who had the empty Cup, right? He was the one who paved the way for everything.
"If they're not like that, man, don't expect to change anything! Just expect to be, you know, a cog in the machine of professional wrestling. Don't expect just to be another fan, another number that everyone counts in the big ratings war. It's not about numbers, it's not about being a worker ant to the queen. This is about us doing what we think we're capable of and that's changing the way that you watch wrestling, the way you think about wrestling, the way that you're emotionally invested in wrestling, and also to expect the unexpected, which people haven't been able to do for a number of years now."
Kenny Omega is already announced to compete at the next IMPACT Wrestling pay-per-view, Hard To Kill, in a match that will reunite a portion of the original Bullet Club. Kenny Omega will compete in six-man tag action as he teams with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to face the Motor City Machine Guns and IMPACT Wrestling Champion Rich Swann. You can check out the full updated card for the event at this link.
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