AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will take on Bryan Danielson in the main event of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. Omega spoke with Tokyo Sport this week to help promote the event, and the topic of the WWE came up on more than one occasion. At one point Omega directly named WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns as someone he’d love to face, saying it would give them the chance to prove who the “real” world champion of wrestling is.ย
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“There’s been quite a few already, so I’m not lacking in opponents. I don’t exactly have anyone I have in mind but….if I must say I’d love to go against (the current WWE Universal Champion) Roman Reigns,” Omega said (Japanese translation via Hige Channel). It would be a great opportunity to show who’s the real World Champion.”
“The Cleaner” also made the bold claim that 90% of WWE’s roster would love the chance to jump to AEW. The young promotion’s roster already has a large percentage of former WWE talent, though most of them either asked to be released from WWE or allowed their contracts to expire and opted to not sign new deals (Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole being the latest examples).ย
“There will definitely be a lot more of them coming over in the future,” Omega said. “I feel that about 90% of the wrestlers in WWE would want to jump over to AEW.”
He later said he’d love the chance to come back and wrestle in Japan when the opportunity presents itself, and named Japanese stars (mostly from New Japan) that he’d love to see in an AEW ring.ย
“Obviously, I have to put up (Kota) Ibushi. If he flies over to US, I know for sure (Kazuchika) Okada will be very happy,” Omega said. “The fans have been very receptive to Takeshita (Konosuke) so I’d love to have him come over again. Personally, I’d love to wrestle (Will) Ospreay and Jay White. They are two people which NJPW wanted to make as “the new Kenny Omega”. They’re nowhere at my level but, they’re two outstanding names in the current NJPW roster. If I could wrestle them, I can show the world the difference between their levels and mine.”
Check out the full lineup for AEW Grand Slam below. The show will continue with a two-hour edition of AEW Rampage from the same venue this Friday.ย
Dynamite (Wednesday)
- Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson
- AEW Women’s World Championship:ย Dr. Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho
- Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black
- Sting & Darby Allin vs. FTR
- Brian Pillman Jr. vs. MJF
Rampage (Friday)
- The Superkliq vs. Christian Cage & Jurassic Express
- CM Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
- Suzuki-gun vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
- The Inner Circle vs. Men of the Year
- Lucha Brothers & Santana & Ortiz vs. Private Party, The Butcher and The Blade