Between Harold Meij’s recent departure as New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s president and Hiroshi Tanahashi’s recent cameo on AEW Dynamite, the speculation that All Elite Wrestling and the Japanese promotion has been reignited in recent months. So far the only crossover fans has seen has been one-sided, with Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley both working New Japan shows up through this past February. Few stars on the roster had a deeper connection to the promotion prior to AEW’s launch than Kenny Omega, and in a new interview with Sports Illustrated “The Cleaner” gave his thoughts on the current status between the two companies.
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“Now more than ever, with the entire world struggling, we could really make lemonade out of lemons by putting forth our best efforts for a collaborative effort,” Omega said. “That’s the great thing about pro wrestling. A lot of people are in this business because they love making people happy. There are a lot of us in wrestling right now that want nothing more than to make fans happy. We get lost in our own fantasy booking talking about how cool it would be to team up, and there are restrictions in the world right now, but maybe down the road.”
Omega was also asked to compare his current rivalry with Jon Moxley to his New Japan rivalry with Kazuchika Okada.
“For me, the reason I’m in AEW right now is because I wanted a new challenge,” Omega said. “What I wasn’t trying to do was create an environment or a situation where I was competing with the New Japan Kenny Omega. I’m not trying to structure things the way I would structure with Okada. I’m not trying to find a new Okada, Moxley has his own qualities that make him special. Stylistically, they are so different.
“When I went to the Okada match at the Tokyo Dome, for me, it was all or nothing,” he continued. “I didn’t think there would be an Okada-Omega II or III or IV. I thought that was my only chance on a stage like that. In AEW, I knew there, even during my ‘Lights Out’ match against Moxley last year [at Full Gear], that there would be another match down the road. I would love for this story to lend itself to the other chapters in the series. Regardless of how this match goes, we’re committed to this project. There probably is going to be an Omega-Moxley III somewhere down the road.”
Omega will challenge Moxley for the AEW World Championship in the main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite.
