Will Ospreay on His Online Feud with Kenny Omega & Match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Fightful held a recent interview with Will Ospreay. One of the topics discussed included Ospreay’s thoughts on his recent online feud and banter with AEW’s Kenny Omega.

“It’s typical Kenny. He oversteps sometimes and kind of puts his foot in his mouth. I guess that happens with me as well, so I can’t really be that mad, but if you’re going to put my name in your mouth, be prepared for me to respond. I went to town on him and embarrassed him in front of all of his little Stan accounts. That’s the thing, all those guys, they’re all tweeting and they’ll all come at me, but they’re not going to do anything. You don’t know where I live or anything. It’s a fun bit, you guys all know where I’m going to be. Kenny is an egomaniac. He’s a knobhead and thinks he knows everything. Sometimes he’s got to be punched in the mouth and reminded that he’s not above anybody, he is who he is. He’s some bloke that was really good at wrestling. I’m not going to deny his ability or talent, but be all and end all, you’re a knobhead that can be beat.

It’s about him trying to take a shot. There is always that category of the best in the world and I always like to throw my name in there, but it is always subjective to the fans. It’s different in comparison to what style of wrestling that you enjoy. For me, being the best in the world is consistently putting yourself in different situations and different opponents that aren’t located all in one promotion. I like to test myself against all the AEW guys, I think I’ve wrestled there eight times and I’ve stole the show in all of them, which says everything. Then you go New Japan, I always steal the show there. Any of these, what he says, ‘no name Indie guys,’ I test myself against those guys and they automatically become better. My whole thing is, to be the best in the world, you have to travel to each continent and prove it. It’s easy to do it on the bright lights and big arena, but consistently putting in those five-star matches, if you want to go down that road, and always being able to shine and being able to say that you’re the best in the world by consistently doing that, that’s the harder job. Kenny has never done that.”

Ospreay also gave his thoughts about his upcoming match with Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at this Wednesday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 event.

“That’s his opinion. I can never combat…Kenny is one of the biggest stars in wrestling. We all paid attention to the Golden Era in New Japan. I was there for his first Wrestle Kingdom and I was inspired by that. I’m never going to be able to change his opinion or if he thinks he’s better than me. The only thing that will happen is, when January rocks around, we’re going to see who the better wrestler is. In terms of performances, it’s all subjective. In terms of in-ring, we’re going to find out. It’s going to be your best against my best and there’s going to be no excuses anymore. It’s going to be two of the greatest wrestlers that have ever lived right now, I would happily say that my run in 2022 has been an all-timer, now going against the guy, and it’s oddly poetic that it is going to happen in the Tokyo Dome where, I personally believe, that’s the hype of Kenny. The G1 was cool but when he had that match with Okada in the main event of the G1, that’s when I believed the hype and I believe a lot of others would agree with me on that. Now, to do it in the venue that made you famous, the lights are on bright. How lucky is he that he’s actually going to have a full vocal range of fans. That’s the bit that’s going to interest me more than anything. There is going to be a side that is so happy to see Kenny back and another side that is for me because I’ve been there and have seen it through the all dark ages, the horrible stuff we’ve put up through. Not just the wrestling, it’s the flying to Japan, isolating in the rooms that were no bigger than a wrestling ring, the mental strain of being away from families for months. I’ve done that battle and have been there and done it. I don’t know the language, he’s constantly said it, I try my best, I can barely speak English, let alone Japanese. There is that side, but I don’t need to know the language to beat you. All I have to do is learn how to count to three.”

Ospreay also gave his thoughts about the similarities and differences between himself and Omega’s wrestling careers.

“I do feel like we’re in similar situations entirely, the only thing that differentiates it is that he kind of embraced the Japanese culture. While I respect that, it was a case of, I’m here to wrestle and embrace the professional wrestling side and working side of things. That’s where we differentiate ourselves a little bit. For me, when I wrestled Kenny in PWG, my memory was him wrestling sex dolls and nine-year-old girls. For him to grow from that into what he’s become, no one would have been able to tell you after he attacked AJ Styles that’s what he was going to become, but he believed that. As long as he believed it, that’s what mattered. I believe, currently, right now, that no one in the world can touch me. I mean in WWE, AEW, NOAH, DDT, All Japan. No one has the pacing I do, no one has the ability to get up and go the way I do, and I think Kenny is slightly threatened by that because the bright lights of AEW have hid what has gone around in New Japan. He’s been so busy with AEW, and the moment he gets suspended, these lights of AEW shut off and he now sees the shadow looming. He knows the shadow, if it gets any bigger, can overthrow him. He needs to comeback right now because if it gets too big, no one is going to stop me.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com