When former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega sat down with New Japan Pro Wrestling for a tell-all interview discussing his return to the promotion for Wrestle Kingdom 17 and his bout against long-time internet rival Will Ospreay, it almost begged for a response from “The Commonwealth Kingpin.” Omega called his British-born foil unintelligent, unstable, and unable to keep NJPW relevant once he defected to America to become an EVP at Tony Khan's company.
Though Ospreay did technically respond immediately following the story's release, calling “The Best Bout Machine” a “F*cking P*ssy” on Twitter, fans had to wait roughly a week for the “Billy Goat” to sit down with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful for a full-on interview regarding the match. How, Ross Sapp asked, did Ospreay feel about Omega's flashy declarations about him online?
“It’s typical Kenny. He oversteps sometimes, and kind of puts his foot in his mouth. I guess that happens with me as well, so I can’t really be that mad, but if you’re going to put my name in your mouth, be prepared for me to respond,” Ospreay said via Fightful. “I went to town on him and embarrassed him in front of all of his little Stan accounts. That’s the thing, all those guys, they’re all tweeting, and they’ll all come at me, but they’re not going to do anything. You don’t know where I live or anything. It’s a fun bit, you guys all know where I’m going to be. Kenny is an egomaniac. He’s a knobhead and thinks he knows everything. Sometimes he’s got to be punched in the mouth and reminded that he’s not above anybody, he is who he is. He’s some bloke that was really good at wrestling. I’m not going to deny his ability or talent, but be all and end all, you’re a knobhead that can be beat.”
To Ospreay's credit, it's hard to really argue with his points; for all of their differences, the duo are surprisingly similar, as both are aggressively online, and have cultivated strong followings for their impeccable work on the indies and in NJPW. Omega is quite possibly the most dramatic “top guy” in pro wrestling today, as his return to NJPW video package clearly proves, and on occasion, that can prove his detriment, as “Hangman” Adam Page proved at Full Gear 2021, when he bested his former tag team partner in a match that ranks right up there with anything Ospreay has ever done.
With a match on the books for the fourth of January, Ospreay and Omega will finally get a chance to duke it out on the biggest stage in professional wrestling, with the bout's final outcome having the potential to be a defining moment in each performer's legacy. And the best part? Considering a five-star rating from The Wrestling Observer is probably the absolute floor for the match, as Ospreay and Omega are probably Dave Meltzer's two favorite wrestlers, the real winners are the fans at home.
Will Ospreay has respect for AEW's “Best Bout Machine.”
Based on their interactions online, it would be easy to assume that Ospreay hates Omega with a burning passion but, surprisingly enough, that isn't necessarily the case. No, much like any other fan of professional wrestling who was privy to Omega's run in New Japan as a solo act, with Kota Ibushi as “The Golden Lovers,” and as the leader of Bullet Club, Ospreay came up appreciating everything Omega brought to the table.
“Kenny is one of the biggest stars in wrestling,” Ospreay said. “We all paid attention to the Golden Era in New Japan. I was there for his first Wrestle Kingdom and I was inspired by that. I’m never going to be able to change his opinion or if he thinks he’s better than me. The only thing that will happen is, when January rocks around, we’re going to see who the better wrestler is. In terms of performances, it’s all subjective. In terms of in-ring, we’re going to find out. It’s going to be your best against my best and there’s going to be no excuses anymore. It’s going to be two of the greatest wrestlers that have ever lived right now, I would happily say that my run in 2022 has been an all-timer, now going against the guy, and it’s oddly poetic that it is going to happen in the Tokyo Dome where, I personally believe, that’s the hype of Kenny.”
“The G1 was cool but when he had that match with Okada in the main event of the G1, that’s when I believed the hype and I believe a lot of others would agree with me on that. Now, to do it in the venue that made you famous, the lights are on bright. How lucky is he that he’s actually going to have a full vocal range of fans. That’s the bit that’s going to interest me more than anything. There is going to be a side that is so happy to see Kenny back and another side that is for me because I’ve been there and have seen it through the all dark ages, the horrible stuff we’ve put up through. Not just the wrestling, it’s the flying to Japan, isolating in the rooms that were no bigger than a wrestling ring, the mental strain of being away from families for months. I’ve done that battle and have been there and done it. I don’t know the language, he’s constantly said it, I try my best, I can barely speak English, let alone Japanese. There is that side, but I don’t need to know the language to beat you. All I have to do is learn how to count to three.”
Though professional wrestling wasn't affected nearly as severely as some other sports by the pandemic, Ospreay's comments on being one of the faces of NJPW during a dark age without fans and or an ability to run typical shows is dead on; he worked 160 matches for NJPW from January 1st 2020 through December 30th 2022 and worked in some of the biggest matches of his career for the promotion during that run. If anyone deserves a match of this caliber, it's Ospreay, who could parlay a win over Omega into legitimate superstardom. Fortunately, Ospreay isn't one to back down from a big match, as his confidence is almost as prolific as his current run.
“I believe, currently, right now, that no one in the world can touch me,” Ospreay said. “I mean in WWE, AEW, NOAH, DDT, All Japan. No one has the pacing I do, no one has the ability to get up and go the way I do, and I think Kenny is slightly threatened by that because the bright lights of AEW have hid what has gone around in New Japan. He’s been so busy with AEW, and the moment he gets suspended, these lights of AEW shut off and he now sees the shadow looming. He knows the shadow, if it gets any bigger, can overthrow him. He needs to comeback right now because if it gets too big, no one is going to stop me.”
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