AEW world champion Kenny Omega recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to hype up his exploding barbed wire deathmatch with Jon Moxley at this Sunday’s Revolution pay per view. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On putting the fans first with their collaborations with other promotions:
We’re putting the fan first. That’s why it’s worked out with Impact, that’s why it’s working out with New Japan. We’re operating in a more exciting environment, and we are now seeing that the industry wins because of it.
How he believes to do the best you have to be able to do everything:
A standard I set for myself is that I can’t call myself the best in the world unless I can do everything. So yes, a huge, long match at the Tokyo Dome, with no restrictions, no agent, I can do that. I can also go on TV and have a performance everyone is talking about, one where I was supposed to have 21 minutes but then I only had 18, plus told a story after the match. That’s part of being the best, too.
Says he loves the anticipation leading up to his deathmatch with Moxley:
I love that anticipation, the waiting. We’re taking a piece from history, from Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki, Tarzan Goto, and [Atsushi] Onita, and some of the North Americans that went to FMW—but those were matches you wouldn’t see on TV. Back then, you had to trade for the tapes. There was the anticipation, followed by that raw fun when you watched. That’s what I want to capture. There is going to be a certain level of excitement and even anxiety watching this match, a level of curiosity that won’t let you look away. This is going to be a more visceral experience, where so many of the senses, ones you don’t normally use when watching wrestling, are heightened. When people see this play out in the ring, it’s not going to be boring. I want to capture the unknown, all that excitement and anticipation.