Kenny Omega on Lead Up to All Out Brawl, WWE Career Rumors, & Wanting to Help Next Gen Wrestlers

A recent episode of The Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast had Kenny Omega as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Omega’s thoughts on the “strange atmosphere” backstage in AEW leading up to the infamous All Out backstage brawl incident this past September.

“I was happy that we were moving forward in a direction that didn’t necessarily require me. I felt that now was a good time to get the stuff taken care of. Then I felt like, eight months had passed and it was time to come back and it was kind of like the GIF of the dude walking in with the pizza boxes and the whole room was on fire. I didn’t get it. What’s with this strange atmosphere? What’s with this strange aura? Why does something feel so ominous right now? I didn’t know and I couldn’t figure it out. Next thing you knew, there was more stuff happening. It’s so surreal because it’s almost like it never happened. It happened, of course it happened. I hadn’t even gotten familiar, or unfamiliar, with my surroundings backstage with the new AEW because there were new people in the locker room. A lot happened in eight months. To come back and see old faces and be like, ‘Hey,’ but then feel this eerie, to feel like I was in Eerie, Indiana for a second. Then, stranger things started happening and I was like, ‘Oh man, what do I do? This isn’t right. Someone needs to be the voice of reason. This is silly.’ Things fell off the rails and we were involved in a very silly situation that people are probably going to be talking about for months and possibly years to come, I don’t know.

I’ve been involved in competitive sports, contact sports, at the highest level. Some people on our roster have, some have not. I feel like, if you have, you’ve probably been in a spat or two with a teammate and maybe, sometimes, it might come to blows. It happens. Coming from that sort of background, there was a point to it all when I felt like, ‘This just happens, we’re going to get over it, let’s just calm down and talk it over, we’re all doing okay here. We’re getting it out of our system, no problem, but let’s just maybe stop.’ We just don’t live in that world anymore, I suppose. Especially now, when you’re in a multi-billion dollar industry when there are sponsorships on the line, TV deals on the line, it’s not like high school football or a little tiff you might have with someone on your amateur wrestling team or someone held a submission too long in jiu-jitsu training, it’s not that. These things shouldn’t even be happening. It’s a shame that the general public and a lot of people aren’t ever going to know what went down and how it could have been prevented or how it could have ended differently. That’s just how things go in a big business operation. I don’t think anyone is happy that it happened or is proud that it happened or anything like that. Across the board, I think everyone thinks it was a terrible situation that was unnecessary.”

Omega also gave his thoughts on if this “strange atmosphere” within AEW has cleared up since the infamous brawl incident.

“Yeah, I really do. There was a while where, and I can understand the confusion. ‘We know this thing happened, we heard this thing happened, it’s all over the dirt sheets, why don’t we know what happened?’ We’re gone, we’re kind of sworn to secrecy, we can’t say anything, legally. That was the poopy part where it was, ‘why doesn’t anyone tell us what’s happening?’ Then you’re forced to form your own opinion or come up with your own theory as to what exactly happened.

Of course, especially when it’s like, ‘I’m more of a fan of one person than the other, so here’s the way I’m going to create this story so it puts this person in the best possible light.’ It might be that, chances are, it’s something else, or it might be a combination of various theories and we might never get to speak about it. What’s important is that no one else was seriously injured, emerging from that, I’m so thankful for that, and we’ve moved on with life. I’m completely fine, it doesn’t dictate what I do, what I say, I’m sure the Bucks are in the same boat. I can’t speak to the other parties, hopefully they are doing well, and I mean that.”

Omega also gave his thoughts about the recent rumors of him potentially leaving AEW for WWE once his contract expires. Omega also gave his thoughts on wanting to help the next generation of wrestlers develop into big stars.

“Sometimes, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably how you really feel. The first thing that came into my mind wasn’t a title, wasn’t some kind of accolade. I feel like whatever I can contribute to wrestling, I want to be able to help people in the next generation realize their potential as quick as possible or quicker than I was able to. If I can help give anyone advice or push them into a certain direction that can lead to something good for them, career-wise, down the road, that is where I like to see myself. I don’t feel like I have too many goals or aspirations of my own anymore.”

Omega also gave his thoughts on how this has weighed on him in terms of his mental health.

“I feel like, am I wasting my time here? Do I not even deserve my position if I’m not looking for some sort of measure of success for myself, am I being ungrateful? Those thoughts still fill my head a little bit because I felt that when I was motivated to win the G1, when I was motivated to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship or win the Match of the Year award or win Wrestler of the Year award or a random thing like ‘wouldn’t it be nice if I could win PWI 500.’ It got to a point where I was kind of creating goals to achieve, just to have something. As the checklist started to fill up, and I’m so thankful and grateful that I was able to (achieve those things), it became so much less about me and became more about ‘well, I’ve got this resume now,’ and I know that I’m breaking down and I know there are people that have 10-15 years on me and they can much easier, and with much less of a struggle, get to where I am today and maybe I can save them some mental anguish or being away from their family a couple more years if I can help them. That’s the position I feel I’m in right now.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2