During a recent appearance on the “Pro Wrestling Illustrated” podcast, Kenny Omega commented on fans choosing sides in pro wrestling, why wrestling isn’t like rooting for sports teams, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the pro wrestling community choosing sides between certain companies: “The wrestling community can sometimes be toxic, and I hate seeing it in sports. I hate seeing it in video games and music and movies, where you have fans divided so passionately. People feel like they have to choose a side, and they feel that once they choose that side, they have to defend that side with every fiber of their being. This isn’t the NHL. This isn’t the NBA. This isn’t the NFL. We aren’t teams playing in the same league. We’re all wrestlers, and a lot of us are, regardless of who we represent or who are working for, a lot of us still feel like we’re family. I have friends not only in AEW, but I have friends in New Japan. I have friends in Impact. I have friends in WWE. I know it sounds crazy. I have friends there, and guess what, I want them to succeed. I still keep in touch with them. I don’t want you to wish ill, or wish harm or wish death upon them, as my fans, and I don’t think that the opposite is true either.”
On wanting a wrestling world where fans can appreciate all types of companies and styles: For me, it’s like saying a broad statement like, ‘I wish for world peace,’ and it’s like, how do you even attain that? That’s impossible, that’s naïve, but as unrealistic as it is, I’m still taking steps because I don’t think it’s wasted effort. I think as long as fans, little by little, see that there’s a wrestling world that is a better place with all of our companies and our top talents working together, then maybe slowly but surely – maybe I won’t be around to see it, maybe I’ll be long gone, retired, maybe even dead, I don’t know. But maybe there will be a world where, even just for one show a year, we get talents that work together on an incredible super show to show everyone the greatest talents of the world doing what we love to do and showing the beauty and the peak art form that is professional wrestling, which includes all styles, which is also why I did things challenging things like lucha libre. It’s why I did challenging things like deathmatches. People don’t expect that from me, but I want to show that there is an art form behind it and that there is beauty in it and you can tell a story. And I’d love to see a world where everyone is accepting to all of those and can find appreciation in all of those.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
