Top AEW star Kenny Omega appeared on SHAK Wrestling to discuss various topics, including Andrade’s appearance on the sixth anniversary episode of Dynamite this past October and his subsequent absence from television.
Omega said, “To see him back in AEW was a happy moment for me because I felt that he really wanted to be there and do well. Now that he’s been sidelined for a little bit, I can imagine that when he comes back, he’ll have the same motivation. I think everything will be alright. When things happen, whether it be injury or otherwise, you have to pivot. The show must go on. That’s the way it is. That’s the nature of the beast. That’s professional wrestling.”
On Kota Ibushi’s recent career-altering injury:
“Ibushi, another example of something terrible happening that no one expected. That one was really rough on me to kind of do the ‘the show must go on’ sort of… It was hard for me to accept that. But the truth of the matter is, it must go on. It just… that’s life. Life goes on, and the show goes on. And so you have to take the lemon sometimes and begrudgingly make lemonade. And that’s what we’re doing here for sure.”
On finding his new normal with his condition:
“Yeah, that’s the million-dollar question. It’s very difficult to test your limit and find your limit when what I have affects me kind of day-by-day. Some days I feel great, some days I don’t. So not only do I have to find my limit and how far I can push myself on the days I feel good, but I have to find that limit for on the days when I feel bad. Because like I said earlier before, the show must go on… I’ve got to go out there and I’ve got to give my best. And not only do I have to do that but I’m trying to do that without making it very clearly obvious that there are bad days and good days for Kenny Omega. I just want to do the best that I can. I don’t want people to have to worry about me, and I want to be able to do a performance that I can be proud of and that my opponent can benefit from without people having to worry and without even further endangering myself too, on top of that.”
On his current health:
“In terms of my current health, the odd part about that is, is as much wear and tear as I have on my body, that’s not what’s preventing me from performing at the level that I want to be at. It’s a sickness, and I could not have prepared myself for it. I never saw it coming. I’ve always been trying to strive for the best physical health that I could possibly be in. You know, I don’t miss my vitamins. I make sure to take all my vitamins and supplementation to keep myself healthy. Not to get big; not to look like a bodybuilder. To keep myself healthy and to keep myself in a state where I can perform at a high level. So for that to just happen, that’s just probably bad luck. You can never know when when something like that will happen to you. So if anything, it’s — I didn’t learn to regret any decisions that I made. Maybe I learned to appreciate the moment more. Because you never know when something might swing by, when something might appear in your life that changes everything.”
On what he hopes for his retirement:
“I would like to be in a situation where I left the ring not having any regrets and not feeling embarrassed or that I tarnished my own reputation. So I would like to leave when I have some semblance of athleticism left in my body. I don’t want to completely work until the wheels fall off, and that the person who leaves wrestling is one that barely resembles the Kenny Omega of old. So I’ve been thinking a lot about when that timing would be. And one important thing for me too, is that when I finally do leave, whenever that may be. This might sound odd, but I don’t want people to be sad. In fact, the best-case scenario for me would be that they don’t realize I’m gone at all. I would love to build people, or have the peace of mind that the company has built enough stars so that their star is shining bright enough to distract from me stepping away from the scene. That would make me the happiest.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
