What’s the story?
Wrestle Kingdom 11 is less than 24 hours away, and headliners Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega are putting the press miles into hype up the Tokyo Dome show. Okada recently gave an interview about his main event opponent to the NJPW official website, which Chris Charlton has kindly translated into English over on Twitter.
In the interview, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion spoke about the similarities between Omega and current WWE World Champion AJ Styles, referring to both of them as ’all mighty wrestlers’, but conceding that Omega had the edge because of his craziness.
Okada also spoke of Omega’s claim that the current Champion is ‘manufactured’. In Okada’s words:
’Everyone that wrestles me complains that I’m manufactured. To me, that’s obvious y’know? The office wants a star, finds the best they have and pushes them. That’s me’.
In case you didn’t know...
Omega usurped AJ Styles as leader of Bullet Club immediately following Wrestle Kingdom 10 and has been on a tear ever since. The comparison between Omega and Styles have been constant, as both started out as junior Heavyweights before making the transition to the Heavyweight division.
Okada acknowledged this in the interview, stating that both men can work with a lot of power, whilst retaining the ability to fly. Omega is far more unhinged than Styles, however, and it is this X-Factor that makes The Cleaner arguably Okada’s biggest challenge to date.
The heart of the matter
One of the issues New Japan has had ahead of Wrestle Kingdom 11 has been convincing the Japanese audience that Kenny Omega has a genuine chance in the main event. One year ago Omega found himself losing the junior Heavyweight title to KUSHIDA, and this will still be fresh in the memory of many viewers.
Okada’s words continue to lend legitimacy to the leader of The Elite, planting uncertainty in the minds of fans who see Okada as a lock tomorrow night.
What’s next?
The Wrestle Kingdom 11 main event is almost guaranteed to be a top quality affair, and NJPW has done a great job of making either outcome seem like a real possibility. All that is left now is to ring the bell and see just who is the better man.
Will the office-chosen ace continue his dominance, or will January 4 end with a gaijin on top for the first time in Wrestle Kingdom history?
Sportskeeda’s take
This interview will have been intended for Japanese eyes only, as most western NJPW fans believe that Kenny Omega has a better-than good chance at winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship tomorrow night.
The past year has seen Kenny Omega receive a huge push, and it would be unusual for the first gaijin winner of the G1 Climax to subsequently fail to stand tall at the end of Wrestle Kingdom. Despite this, NJPW isn’t the most predictable of promotions. Whatever happens, the main event may well be the first MOTYC for 2017.
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