By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Kenny Omega spoke about his relationship with CM Punk during a Twitch live stream over the weekend. “Status with Punk right now? Um, I don’t know. It’s just mutual respect. We reached out to each other… I can’t really think of anyone that I dislike or have an issue with, especially an issue with wrestling… It’s not like, hey, we’re good now. It’s we were never bad. Honestly, if it weren’t for a complete other factor, we would have been able to have that talk on the night of Brawl Out. There’s no issue between him and I, as far I know [laughs]. I don’t think there is at all.”
Omega also labeled himself a terrible executive vice president while expressing his opinion that physical altercations in the locker room setting sometimes happen. “Just because I represent a company or because I am an employee at one company over another, does that mean I love every storyline? Does that mean that I agree with every decision? No, of course not. I’m not the booker. I don’t have power, I haven’t had power for more than four years now in that company and I know that’s gonna sound odd because like, well Kenny, you’re an EVP. I’m nothing. I am nothing, and I’ll tell you why, it’s because I’m a terrible EVP. I don’t deserve to be an EVP. If people wanna ask for my advice, I’ll do my best to help them. If there’s a fire to put out backstage, I’m gonna do my best to be that person. But, if we go back and I don’t want to have to comment on it, but I’ll do it, just because it adds context to it.
“I thought my duty as an EVP during Brawl Out would be to enter the situation while there was chaos, de-escalate it and create a peaceful environment for everyone. I was able to create a peaceful environment for most important person in that altercation and that was Larry and I swear to God, honestly, that was my biggest — and that sounds funny but, I look at animals and our pets as people and Dobby of course [Omega’s cat], one of the most important people in my life. So, to get little Larry out of there was the most important thing to me and that was a success. Unfortunately, try as I may, things were too chaotic for me to be able to do anything on my own power…
“I believe it was in that instance when I realized that the way that I wanted to go about things wasn’t necessarily the way that other people wanted to, was also the way that other people necessarily didn’t want to and then it was also maybe not the way that the boss wanted to take care of it and I also thought of myself as a liability because I am, I don’t wanna say old school, I’m not old school. I just played a lot of contact sports and I’ve gotten into jiu-jitsu and boxing and mixed martial arts. I just know that sometimes, when you perform or when you fight, when everything’s on the line, when you give your heart, when you give your soul towards something and you’re in that moment of high stress or high anxiety where you’ve maybe emptied the tank and you’re just physically exhausted…
“But when you’re in an environment like that, sometimes emotions get the best of you and people will wanna throw hands… and I am unfortunately or fortunately a believer of it. I think if it’s decided, hey, this is the best way to solve things and you can shake hands after and move on after, I’m actually a believer of fighting. I am and that sounds terrible to say which is why, like, don’t make me an EVP in 2024. We can’t do that stuff anymore. I just feel that sometimes, that’s how you have to settle things. Sometimes, and I don’t mean you have to settle it and then it has to be shown on-screen to everyone or people have to brag online about who won, who lost. No, it’s not for that purpose. It’s for the purpose of just getting that stuff out that you need to get out, and I’ll admit, there were a number of times, even now with me, where I thought that-that might have been the most appropriate answer. It never came to that.
“We were able to talk things out and we became better friends and there was a level of respect at that point on between myself and these other parties and maybe I’ll share these stories later. It’s crazy. As much as I’ll believe in cooler heads prevailing, sitting down and talking, sometimes there’s just like, hey, I can’t even think straight until I start throwing some hay, you know? Or maybe that I need to be smacked on a little bit, whatever the case might be. I think if it’s a contained scenario and if it’s not a situation where, you know, there’s pulling people’s eyeballs out, low blows, hair-pulling or scratching, you know what I mean? If it’s just like, hey, let’s just hang and bang a little bit. I can see it sometimes being conducive for a positive work environment. Again, this is exactly why I have no power nor should I. So, that’s just how I feel and I’m gonna leave it at that.”
Powell’s POV: Good for Omega on multiple levels. It’s good to hear that he and Punk spoke and put this behind them. I also like that he went against the grain by sharing his opinion that scraps breaking out in the world of sports (and simulated sports) isn’t the end of the world while also conceding that it’s not going to fly in 2024. History suggests that there will be some type of altercation during Jacksonville Jaguars’ training camp amongst teammates (or involving players from another team if there’s a scrimmage) that will make the CM Punk and Jack Perry incident look like nothing. The odds of anyone being punished for a training camp fight are slim unless the players really go overboard. H/T to PostWrestling.com for their transcription of Omega’s quotes.
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