Former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega recently spoke with Sean Ross Sapp about his health, his comeback to New Japan Pro Wrestling, AEW, and other things.
On battling diverticulitis:
“Who knows the amount of matches I had worked in that condition. I had just known that there was something off, and there was something off for quite some time. I had noticed it in my training. I’d noticed it in the results of my training or lack thereof. I always felt low on energy. I felt that no matter what I did, no matter how hard that I would diet, and how hard that I would train, nothing was working in the mid section area, and I was feeling, again, like I said, lack of energy. There was sometimes pain in the midsection area. It felt different than the kind of pain you’d get from, say, working too much or eating something that maybe didn’t agree with you a little bit. It got to a point where I was almost immobile. I just couldn’t really move. I would just summon up everything that I would have and show up to the arenas to do whatever it was that I had to do.”
“I think near the tail end of things, you could really see it. There was one in-ring mic segment in particular that I can remember, and I remember just not feeling well, and I thought like, hey, I need to tell somebody that I’m not feeling good at all. It didn’t feel like a flu. It was different from the flu. It was different from COVID. I tested negative for COVID. So what was it? I wasn’t sure because I couldn’t figure out an answer, or because I couldn’t find anyone who maybe even had an answer. I just thought, Okay, I guess I just got to get it done. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and my face was pale white. My lips were blue. Something didn’t seem right. So I went to makeup, and I said, ‘Hey guys, I know it’s going to sound odd, but can you do whatever you can to make me look more tan because I just feel like I look like a ghost. I don’t look good.’ They did what they do and I looked a little more tan. I thought at the moment that I looked maybe healthy, but when I look back at the footage, I just see myself and I’m just not there. I’m gone. My face is pale. My lips are bluish purple.”
“I remember being in the ring just begging for something on the inside, just don’t collapse, don’t keel over, don’t embarrass yourself, don’t ruin this entire thing, but then by being in that condition, I kind of ruin the entire thing anyway. So a blessing in disguise because that was a big wake up call for me to finally get some kind of help that I really needed, but yeah, it it took quite a lot for me to finally take a step back and then say, yeah, there’s something that needs to be done, and I need to do it now because I can’t keep living this way, and I can’t keep working this way either.”
On how he feels now:
“I have been saying this for about a year, but it still rings true. It’s very touch and go. I’ll have days, and now, luckily, there’s more good days than bad days, but the good days, I feel just like my old self. I feel like I have a lot of energy, maybe not quite as much as I used to. I’m not quite as strong as I used to be, or quite as fast as I used to be, or as explosive, but I’m noticing these improvements, and I’m noticing changes in my body where I’m actually able to make those changes again. Before it was, no matter how much I trained, no matter how much headway that I made in my training, I never saw that visual change, and I’m actually seeing it again. So I feel like something on the inside is actually doing what it’s supposed to be doing, and it’s matching what the person on the outside is doing. So I do feel that it’s great that by putting the work in, that I’m seeing results on the outside as well, and I’m feeling it too. I’ll still have days when if I train too hard for the week, I might get a day where I wake up with some pain, or I’ll wake up feeling like, geez, I can’t do anything, and I just listen to myself. I listen to my body at that point and I think, I’m not going to go against the grain. I’m not going to risk anything. I’m just going to take it easy, and when I do feel like I kick out of this, then I’ll get back to it. Then I’ll start working hard again. Then I’ll start making those steps again to make my comeback. So far, you get the odd day in here and there when you can’t do what you want to do, but I still feel like I’m making progress and I still feel like it’s not too unrealistic to hope for the January 5 comeback.”
On why he made his return for New Japan Pro Wrestling instead of AEW:
“The way I look at it is that a lot of people, not only in Japan, but internationally, never knew who I was until I did big things in New Japan, so I really do owe New Japan a gigantic thank you. I do feel that there’s a debt I have to repay in some way, shape, form or fashion. I think that by performing at the Tokyo Dome, by making my comeback at the Tokyo Dome is a way to help repay that. If it can help something for their business, then I’m more than happy to do that. I’m sure naturally the next question is, ‘Well, why not AEW first?’ That is the company that I helped create. That is the company that I’m contracted to. It makes sense. It’s tough to answer because, why not AEW? There’s nothing wrong with AEW at all. If you watch any of the episodes of our TV recently, everything is flowing like clockwork right now. I feel like there’s a spot for all of the hard working men and women that are on those shows. They’ve all worked incredibly hard to earn their spots and keep their spots. I feel like if I just kind of showed up and said, ‘Hey guys, I’m back, so one of you is going to have to, you know.’ I don’t want to be that guy. I feel like when there’s an opportunity again, when there’s a chance, sure, I’d love to be back if you guys can have me, but right now, I feel like AEW has got a good thing going. I don’t think they need me, so I will make my return to New Japan instead, for now.”
You can check out the interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
