Kenny Omega has revealed how his one singles match with a current WWE star changed his life.
The Best Bout Machine recently had an interview with CBS Sports. Among other things, he discussed the impact AJ Styles has had on his career. The AEW star recalled the very early days of his run, when he was signed to WWE’s development territory Deep South Wrestling.
Kenny mentioned that he had lost his passion for wrestling during this stint. Omega had become so disillusioned with how things were done at the professional level in that period that he requested his release from the development territory and was thinking about switching careers :
“I thought, ‘Maybe this isn’t for me because it isn’t fun anymore. I don’t feel like the creativity I have access to on the indies is viable on that level. Everything is micromanaged.
Even the micromanaged stuff is micromanaged from there. I felt I couldn’t be me, and being me was fun.”
I Can Reach This Level: Kenny Omega
Kenny Omega had started competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and was contemplating an MMA career after leaving DSW in 2006. He hadn’t left wrestling completely behind, however, and he got booked for a match with AJ Styles by indie wrestling promotion Premier Championship Wrestling.
The former AEW World Champion went into the event thinking that a match with Styles was the perfect way to end his career. The experience in the ring actually ended up changing Omega’s outlook completely, and he started thinking about improving his skills once again:
“We had no interactions ever before, but there were moments in that match that really felt like the give and take felt so symbiotic, The chemistry was naturally there.
I thought, ‘Wow, this is what wrestling someone at this level feels like. I’m not embarrassing myself. Maybe I’m not exactly keeping up, but I’m not embarrassing myself. Maybe if I push myself harder, I can reach this level.'”
AJ Styles would continue influencing Kenny’s career. The Canadian star crossed paths with the former WWE champion again in NJPW in 2015-16 where he learned how to carry himself as a world champion from the former TNA star.
The leadership of the Bullet Club would also pass on from Styles to Omega, which Kenny believes is another pivotal moment in his career. Without it, he would not have formed such a close friendship with The Elite and there probably would not be an All Elite Wrestling.