During a recent interview with Busted Open Radio, Don Callis commented on his history with Kenny Omega, working with him now in AEW and Impact Wrestling, and more. You can check out some highlights from the show below:
On Omega being able to show a new side to himself since allying with him: “I think it’s — if you think about it, and I don’t want to speak for Kenny. We haven’t spoken about this. But I think if you look at it, being the top guy in Japan is a very different proposition than coming in and being, you know, the face of a brand new wrestling promotion that everyone’s talking about. I think Kenny just, for the last year, didn’t feel totally comfortable and totally like he could be himself. One of the nice things about family is, you know when we get together with family for a dinner, or go to church or whatever we do, we feel comfortable. We feel we can be ourselves. And I think because the bond that Kenny and I have that goes back two and a half decades or more, I think Kenny feels that he can be himself when I’m there. And so I think that we feed off each other.”
On his history with Omega: “You know, I think that in Kenny’s life — you have to understand. Kenny grew up in Winnipeg. His uncle was a wrestler, we’ve talked about this, the Golden Sheik. And the Golden Sheik trained me as a wrestler. And then when I became a young, brash heel that was going on television right away, way too early, the Sheik was my manager. And the Sheik looked after me. Unlike a lot of old school guys, he looked after me and took care of me. And so when I met Kenny, I took an interest in taking care of Kenny. And Kenny grew up watching me on TV in four provinces in Canada as The Natural, as the top heel in the company. So Kenny was actually a fan of mine as a young boy.
“And then when he became a wrestler, I started looking out for him. Trying to get him bookings, those sorts of things. Trying to make sure that he was taken care of, giving him advice. I would get calls in the middle of the night from Japan, ‘Hey boss, what do I do?’ That sort of thing. And so its been a very symbiotic relationship.”
