Kenny Omega Says WWE Developmental Made Him Consider Giving Up Wrestling
Though not nearly as closely associated with that time as his stints working everywhere else, Kenny Omega was once under contract to WWE for about a year over the course of 2005 and 2006. He's always been blunt about not enjoying his time there, feeling that his creativity as a performer was suppressed while in then-developmental territory Deep South Wrestling. So it's no surprise that, when the topic came up again, in a new interview with "Monthly Puroresu," he didn't mince words about his experience.
"[I]t wasn't for me," Omega said. "At that point I had thought maybe wrestling isn't for me because I was thinking at the highest level, when it becomes more of a business rather than a passion. Maybe I'm not the businessman that I thought that I was, maybe I was never meant to be at the highest level. Things are meant to be micromanaged. Maybe it isn't what made me fall in love with wrestling to begin with."
'You're not your own person'
Omega added that it made him second-guess his understanding of pro wrestling as well, feeling that most of the greatest wrestlers of all time succeeded because "they were so unique and special athletes in their own way and were in charge of their own character." In WWE developmental when he was there, though, the company's attitude was the opposite.
"But when you go into the developmental system, at least it's sort of drilled into you, 'No, you're not your own person. You're our person! And we own you! And you do what we tell you to do! You say what we want you to say. And If you think that you should say something else or do something else, guess what, you're wrong!'" he continued. "And my worry at that point was if this is what wrestling is, or if this is what it's become, maybe this isn't what I fell in love with. Maybe this isn't my childhood dream anymore. Maybe I just need to consider doing something else. Or just give it up."
Omega last wrestled on last week's "AEW Dynamite," retaining his and The Young Bucks' AEW World Trios Titles by defeating A.R. Fox and Top Flight.