AEW superstar Kenny Omega was recently interviewed by Fightful where the Cleaner revealed that he nearly had to retire from in-ring action due to an injury in 2015. Hear what he had to say below.
Says he almost had to retire from wrestling in 2015 due to injuries:
I remember right before we did the AJ Styles turn. But earlier on in the year before, I had a very terrible herniation in my neck. It was the first time I ever had asked for time off in professional wrestling. I lost all power on the right side of my body and I thought that that was it. I thought that I was going to have to wrap it up and maybe I was already sort of winding down. I was able luckily enough to to turn it around. I think one of the greatest things I can ever ask for is being able to decide what time that is. It’d be great if I could, but unfortunately, as wrestlers, and doing what we do, we sometimes don’t have the ability to choose. In a heartbeat, these things can just fade and or they can be taken away from you. So all I’m trying to do is just kind of dip my fingers and toes as much as I as long as I can. I’m making sure that all these things that that I do take on as responsibilities are things that I enjoy outside of wrestling so that, you know, there’s never a dull moment.
How he has interests outside of wrestling for whenever the day comes to hang em up:
Things that I do in the video game, world anime and, bodybuilding, fitness, all that stuff, these are interests of mine outside of wrestling. So I’m keeping busy. But I just want to make sure that if for some reason something happens in the ring, or outside of it, or whatever, you never know what’s going to happen, that I exit without regrets. Right now. I could not put a number on how long I will be active as a performer. I don’t want to say that I’m going to do it until I just can’t physically do it anymore. It’s a scary thought. Hopefully, I just know when it’s time and until it is time, I’m just going to try to burn the candle on both ends and go out in a blaze of glory rather than just kind of hang around in a ring longer than I should.
Check out his full interview below. (H/T and transcribed by NoDQ.com)
