During a recent appearance on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, AEW star Will Ospreay reflected on his epic rivalry with Kenny Omega and compared their iconic runs in NJPW.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his NJPW run: “I was mad that like [Omega] put me down quite a lot of the time because Kenny gave me the whole shtick when he left New Japan being like, ‘Look, you need to take the ball on your shoulders, they’re gonna depend on you,’ and I felt like I’d done that in New Japan and done it in a way Kenny never could do it.”
On the COVID-19 era of New Japan: “I was struggling, man, like New Japan, at that time, it was like having your hands shackled and thrown into the bottom of the ocean, but somehow during those matches, I was able to breathe life back into New Japan.”
On how he felt about Omega putting him down: “So, for Kenny to come in and to like ‘A lot of people, like so many casuals came back to see Kenny Omega?’ I wanted to say to him, like, ‘Listen mate? While you was coddled over in AEW and you got to be in Jacksonville, where like, you guys got to do all the things you do, you got to socialize, we didn’t.’”
On listening to the fans and criticism: “I’m constantly listening, and I’m constantly trying to evolve because I don’t know the answers. The reality is I don’t know the answers and I’m just learning on the job, and this is the first time I’ve been on weekly TV; it’s been my first year on weekly TV.”
