Kenny Omega breaks it down.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Omega discussed his rivalry with United Empire’s Will Ospreay. First, he noted that they view the business, and wrestling itself, in different ways before getting into the other reasons why Ospreay has not captured the success he’d hoped.
“We look at the business in two very different ways. The way we go about our matches is different, and even what we want to leave behind in wrestling is different. We’re both shooting to be the top performer wherever we go, but we go about it in very different ways,”
“There may be some tense moments between myself and Will. I’d like to test him, and I’m sure he’d like to test me. I also would like to test myself and see if I’m really in a position where I can hang with the best. I’ve had one match [since returning from injury] to feel it out, which was a very unique scenario. I came back to AEW after a long hiatus and wrestled against three of the top luchador wrestlers in the world in a four-sided ring. Normally when I am testing myself against top luchadores in AAA, we’re in the six-sided ring. I’m still determining where I am, but I am going to push myself as far as I need to in order to keep up with him—and I am going to push myself hard enough to send a message to Will Ospreay that he’s just not quite there yet,”
“Will has this false sense of self. That’s reinforced partly by some people in the wrestling media, like Dave Meltzer, who I believe overrates his matches just a little. I can take blame for that—I broke the [ratings] scale. Since I broke the scale, the ratings have been all over the place. It’s hard to make heads or tails of how good a match really is, and that’s creating a divide. The rating system used to be something that was prestigious. Now, should I be proud of a four-star match? Or should I be proud of a five or a six? If Will gets something that’s over a five, and I didn’t enjoy my experience watching the match, do I want a match like that?
“For Will to put so much stock into that is a sign of his age, his experience and his maturity level. If he focused more on where he needs to evolve and grow, he’d come closer to becoming what he wants to be in wrestling. Essentially, that’s me. He’s just not close enough yet. And I’m still here,”
Kenny Omega to Sports Illustrated
Omega and Ospreay are set to clash as part of the AEW Trios Title Tournament on tonight’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
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