Chris Jericho talks with Kenny Omega about their match at WrestleKingdom earlier this month. The following are highlights of key topics:
-Omega says he’s a fan of improvising and doesn’t think he’s a move guy. He said the crossbody to the table that didn’t quite work or the moonsault spot they didn’t do and improvised something else outside the ring were fun. He also liked the physicality of the match and the fact there was not dead time or rest holds. Those are the details that Kenny likes a lot. He likes the stuff you can’t choreograph but rather happens during the circumstance of the match. He also says even though this is the first time they’ve wrestled, they were creating what many said was match of the night. Kenny said the match also unlocked a new style for him and if he were to do this again he could do it even better. Chris said one of his favorite spots was Kenny jumping on the table with Jericho underneath and the one-winged angel into the walls. Kenny mentions he liked when Jericho took a ringside photographer’s camera and took pictures.
-Chris asks how big this match was with expanding the New Japan product in North America. Kenny says it was a game changer. He says the match he did with Okada opened up a lot of eyes about the New Japan product. The show in the States gave people an opportunity to watch the product live (the U.S. Title tournament). Coming off those two performances, he was wondering what he could do to top that. Sure he could have a good match but instead of trying to do another 5 or 6 start match, Omega would rather go out of his comfort zone and try to tell new stories. He feels that the match with Jericho kicked New Japan into another gear. This match was completely different from his matches with Okada or during the show in L.A. Omega says he’s on a mission to make wrestling cool again and feels it’s not an us vs. them situation (with the WWE) but wants everyone to be open to collaboration. He respects a lot of the wrestlers in the WWE and his match with Jericho shows these two forces can coexist and when they clash it’s amazing.
-They talk about the springboard crossbody out to the floor. Initially, Jericho was going to move and hit Don Callis but when Omega was on the top rope, he didn’t realize how far Don was from the ring. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make the distance so Kenny was going to aim for Jericho (who was going to move), look like he was out of control then crash into the table. Kenny said he decided this literally just as he stood on the top rope about to jump. He ended up clipping Don, crashing into the table and it looked better than he had originally planned.
Read much more from this interview recap by Joe Aguinaldo at our sister site, PWPodcasts.com.
-Omega says he’s a fan of improvising and doesn’t think he’s a move guy. He said the crossbody to the table that didn’t quite work or the moonsault spot they didn’t do and improvised something else outside the ring were fun. He also liked the physicality of the match and the fact there was not dead time or rest holds. Those are the details that Kenny likes a lot. He likes the stuff you can’t choreograph but rather happens during the circumstance of the match. He also says even though this is the first time they’ve wrestled, they were creating what many said was match of the night. Kenny said the match also unlocked a new style for him and if he were to do this again he could do it even better. Chris said one of his favorite spots was Kenny jumping on the table with Jericho underneath and the one-winged angel into the walls. Kenny mentions he liked when Jericho took a ringside photographer’s camera and took pictures.
-Chris asks how big this match was with expanding the New Japan product in North America. Kenny says it was a game changer. He says the match he did with Okada opened up a lot of eyes about the New Japan product. The show in the States gave people an opportunity to watch the product live (the U.S. Title tournament). Coming off those two performances, he was wondering what he could do to top that. Sure he could have a good match but instead of trying to do another 5 or 6 start match, Omega would rather go out of his comfort zone and try to tell new stories. He feels that the match with Jericho kicked New Japan into another gear. This match was completely different from his matches with Okada or during the show in L.A. Omega says he’s on a mission to make wrestling cool again and feels it’s not an us vs. them situation (with the WWE) but wants everyone to be open to collaboration. He respects a lot of the wrestlers in the WWE and his match with Jericho shows these two forces can coexist and when they clash it’s amazing.
-They talk about the springboard crossbody out to the floor. Initially, Jericho was going to move and hit Don Callis but when Omega was on the top rope, he didn’t realize how far Don was from the ring. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make the distance so Kenny was going to aim for Jericho (who was going to move), look like he was out of control then crash into the table. Kenny said he decided this literally just as he stood on the top rope about to jump. He ended up clipping Don, crashing into the table and it looked better than he had originally planned.
Read much more from this interview recap by Joe Aguinaldo at our sister site, PWPodcasts.com.
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