"Hard for me to look at myself in the mirror" - Former world champion details why he signed with Tony Khan's AEW despite interest from major promotion
AEW has picked up some of the biggest names in the wrestling industry ever since they first established themselves back in 2019. Arguably one of the biggest names is Kenny Omega, who recently spoke on why he jumped to the American audience in 2019.
While not all American fans were familiar with Kenny Omega in 2019, The Cleaner firmly established himself during his long tenure in Japan. For years, hardcore fans awaited the day Omega would jump to the USA, and when AEW was founded, they got their wish.
During an in-character interview with NJPW, Kenny Omega recalled losing focus of himself:
“It was hard for me to look at myself in the mirror after Wrestle Kingdom 13, after making this company worldwide and not recognizing who was looking back. And I think the part that hurt the most was that after I lost, I could see tears in the eyes of everyone in attendance. And I thought, ‘I know how you feel. This hurts for me too, this is painful’.
Kenny Omega's Entrance at Wrestle Kingdom 13
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Omega continued, claiming that the audience's reaction to his defeat at Wrestle Kingdom 13 convinced him to depart:
But when I looked hard, they were tears of joy. They were happy to see me lose. They were happy to see the belt move on to Tanahashi. That’s when I realized that they didn’t really understand the vision. So I thought ‘yeah. Now is a good time to disappear. Now is a good time for this company to know the true meaning of loss’.” (H/T: NJPW)
Kenny clearly made quite the impression on his US peers, as recently former IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann claimed the two have unfinished business.
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Kenny Omega claimed that there were far bigger challenges in AEW and the USA compared to Japan
So far, Kenny Omega has had one of the most well-received AEW World Championship runs and is currently building up to what seems like a reign with the Trios Championship. Despite this, the star has far greater aspirations.
The first ever #AEW World Trios Champions - Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks!
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During the same interview, Kenny Omega claimed that he intends to run AEW into the greatest American promotion:
“To truly be the best, you have to be the best in all styles. I’d never truly challenged North American professional wrestling. I’m going to take an upstart promotion that nobody knows existed, and turn it into the greatest competition to the greatest pro-wrestling promotion that anyone has seen in America for the past 50, 60, 70 years.” (H/T: NJPW)
The Cleaner has already raked up a considerable number of accolades in the three year old promotion. Only time will tell if he'll elevate AEW to the heights he aspires to, but so far it seems Tony Khan believes he can.