At one point, All Elite Wrestling’s Kenny Omega was the top star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He was at the pinnacle of the promotion as their champion, holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. According to Omega, however, once NJPW learned he intended to leave the company, they did “whatever they could” to paint him in a negative light. He addressed his issues with NJPW in a recent episode of Wrestlers On The Road Ordering Room Service.
Omega’s Problem With NJPW
“Once they knew that I was going, they did whatever they could – they did a complete media blitz – to make it look like I was this terrible person,” Omega recalled. “Once I picked up on that, it actually inspired me to make a video that I made.”
He continued, “Yeah, some of my good friends in real life, Toby Fox, the guy who made Undertale, he helped me write the script for this game idea. I funded the whole thing because I knew it wasn’t going to get cleared [by NJPW]. I was like, ‘okay, we’re clear, here it is. I even edited it for you. It’s all done.’ And they’re like, ‘no, we’re not showing it.’ And I was like, ‘you’re not showing it?’ Yeah. I’m like, ‘well, what do you want me to do then?’ And they’re like, ‘well, the President doesn’t like it. Gedo doesn’t like it.’ Okay. So I said, ‘okay, thankfully, I own it, so here you go, Nick.’ We put it up on BTE.”
“It got a ton of media, press It went viral right away,” Omega noted. “And then, New Japan hits me up like, ‘so if we, like, edited the parts we didn’t like, could we use that video because I’m noticing it’s, like, getting a lot of traction. Could you actually give it to New Japan World?’ And I’m like, ‘oh, I’m sorry, I already gave it to Nick.’”
Kenny Omega’s Contract
Omega noted later in the video how he had requested a specific clause to be written into his AEW contract. This addition would have allowed him to maintain a relationship with the promotion and continue travelling and competing in Japan outside of AEW.
“I think the part that was strange for me was that I had always made clear that being a part of Japan or having roots in Japan was important to me,” Omega explained. “And that I was there to help them, anybody at any point in time for the long run, and I had it written into my contract with AEW to do so.”
Working Relationship
Nick Jackson then divulged how they had included similar additions to their contracts. He shared how the Young Bucks had attended meetings with ROH and New Japan to express how open they were to work together.
Although Kenny Omega may not be appearing on a NJPW show in the near future, two AEW stars recently competed during Wrestle Kingdom 14 earlier in the month. Both Jon Moxley and AEW World Champion Chris Jericho travelled to Japan to be on the show. Despite this, Nick has maintained the “door has not opened up at all.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.