AEW: Kenny Omega on Tiger Driver 91 Criticisms, Ricky Starks on CM Punk Match, More News

Kenny Omega Comments on Criticisms of Tiger Driver 91 Spot During His Match with Will Ospreay

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Kenny Omega. One of the topics discussed included Omega’s thoughts about the Tiger Driver 91 spot that Will Ospreay performed on him during their match at this past June’s Forbidden Door II event and the online criticisms by certain people over the move.

“There are people who want to complain and put themselves on a pedestal by saying what we did was dangerous. Well, you think? So I’ve been asked, why did we do it? It made sense in the match and evoked emotion. And we both knew I would end up coming out of the move unscathed. Is there a risk? Sure. There’s always a risk.

Look at the way Mike Tyson boxed. His style was so dangerous, he stayed so close to his opponent. What was he doing boxing in-style? Shouldn’t he have fought more stick-and-move and waited for the counterpunch? Wouldn’t that have been better for his brain? Didn’t he understand how dangerous it was? But that’s what made him Mike Tyson.

Don’t tell me not to wrestle the way I know how to wrestle. Is there a risk? Was there a risk when Mike Tyson was fighting within inches of space between another championship-level boxer throwing power punches? Of course. But Tyson was confident in his abilities, and he knew he was the best. So don’t tell Mike Tyson how to box, and don’t tell Tyson Smith how to wrestle. You aren’t even close to being qualified. Just shut the f— up.”

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Ricky Starks Comments on His Upcoming Match with CM Punk for Owen Hart Cup Finals

A recent episode of Sportsnet’s Big Show with Rusic & Rose radio show featured Ricky Starks as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Starks’ thoughts about his upcoming match with CM Punk for the Finals of the Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament.

“There are people who look at certain figures in wrestling as, ‘Oh, this guy.’ They put them on a pedestal, basically. To me, I am shoulder-to-shoulder with CM Punk in my head. We are equals. One thing that I do want to get across to Punk and everyone else. Regardless of what has been done in someone’s career and what has been done in AEW, the fact will remain is that I am a person that can stand on my own. I can stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone and I can go toe-to-toe with any single person, microphone or in the ring, and I feel I’ve proven that with MJF and with Chris Jericho. I don’t see this being any different with Punk.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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AEW News & Notes

MJF recently reflected on Twitter about his notable body slam moment to Big Bill during their tag team match at this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Saskatoon, Canada. MJF stated “I’ll never forget the day I body slammed the 500 pound Big Bill in front of 90k screaming fans in the Saskatoon Silverdom with my brochacho Adam Cole, Brother.“

Jim Cornette and Matt Hardy recently were involved in a heated online argument on Twitter that originated over Hardy’s praise of The Young Bucks and Dark Order and his dig at Cornette’s fans for being a “toxic Cornette cult.” This led to Cornette responding claiming that Hardy sold his soul if he’s defending the Young Bucks’ work and verbally fellates them for his pay check. Cornette’s podcast host Brian Last later joined in defending Cornette and claiming that Hardy is just an untalented wrestler and an enabler of his brother Jeff’s problems. This led to a heated back-and-forth exchange between Hardy and Last and more bashing from Cornette.

Toys manufacturer Jazwares recently announced that they will be holding their first ever Jazwares Spotlight Panel at this Saturday’s San Diego Comic Con 2023 convention in San Diego, California. It was announced that they will be officially debuting new AEW figurines as part of their announcements at the panel.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that AEW officials still have plans for a singles match between Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee to take place at some point in AEW.

As noted before, Jamie Hayter has been out of action for AEW since this past May due a shoulder-related injury. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Hayter has not been in attendance backstage at any of AEW’s show since this past May’s Double or Nothing 2023 during her injury-related abscense.

Tony Schiavone’s son Matt reportedly has been part of the vignettes for QTV in recent times, according to Fightful Select.

This past June’s Forbidden Door II event for AEW and NJPW featured the main event match of Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Okada gave his thoughts about a potential rematch with Danielson in the future. Okada stated “I don’t think it’s right for me to play the card that everyone was excited about so much, and to play it again. I don’t want to get there easily. But if there is a time to return the favor, I’d like to win even if I have to break one or two more arms firmly. I hope I can do it at the right time.” (English translation via Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with Fightful’s The Wrestling Perspective podcast, Chris Hero gave his thoughts on his belief that the Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega match from this past June’s Forbidden Door II will be the type of match that will get some people to want to peruse a career in professional wrestling. Hero stated “It’s like you just had that Osprey vs. Omega match, right? There are polarizing thoughts in it, but I guarantee there will be wrestlers that broke into the business, you know, five years from now that, that is the match that they saw that made and think, fuck, I want to do this. We’re not even talking about the wrestlers that are in the locker rooms. Now, we’re talking about the wrestlers that are going to be in the locker rooms, that will be main eventing shows and opening shows, and coming up with new characters and concepts that we probably aren’t hip enough to understand yet. Still, we’re going to try; we’re going to try.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with Under The Ring podcast, Madi Wrenkowski stated that Thunder Rosa was the person who helped get her, Vert Vixen, and Jazmin Allure a chance to work in AEW during the coronavirus pandemic. Wrenkowski stated “Yeah, so Jazz had a heavy hand in my training, she and Thunder Rosa kind of came together and they were training and helping people and mentoring people. I initially met Thunder [during] my first match ever, I worked for Mission Pro Wrestling, which is still around today as an all women’s promotion here in San Antonio. But I worked my first match there, so that’s when I first initially met Thunder. So meeting Thunder there and kind of growing my relationship with her over that time, she was the one who helped me, I like to call [myself, Jazmin Allure, & Vert Vixen] the Texas Trio, she kind of helped us get our foot in the door and was like ‘Hey, I think you could do well at this, contact this person’, and that’s what we did and they invited us out. I always like to say that Thunder knocked on the door, but us three, we kicked it down and they kept bringing us back.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)