Enzo Amore On Why He Has Beef With NJPW's Tama Tonga
As previously noted, entertainment reporter and AEW backstage interviewer Chris Van Vliet spoke with former WWE Superstar Enzo Amore, also known as nZo. Among many other things, nZo compared showing up at the G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden to WWE's 'invasion' of WCW. nZo shared his thoughts on NJPW's Tama Tonga, who stated nZo is not welcome in the NJPW locker room. Also, nZo talked about whether he has kept up on the professional wrestling scene since leaving WWE in January 2018.
During the interview, nZo compared showing up at the G1 Supercard show to WWE invading WCW.
"I'm into firsts. Do you know what I mean? First professional wrestling show ran in Madison Square Garden in 60 years by a non-McMahon, I'm there. Well, let's say this. If WWE can show up in tanks to a WCW pay-per-view, not a pay-per-view, a Monday Nitro, and then air it on their program, I'm one man, but I'm a brand, make no mistake about it, with a million followers and an opportunity to make money outside of the confines of a corporation, I'm my own brand. If I show up and invade your s–t, sorry. This is pro wrestling." nZo added, "when I came out of the New Japan [Pro-Wrestling]/Ring Of Honor situation, I s–t on everybody. I cut a promo that got terrible, negative response from fans being like, 'f–k him! Who does he think he is? Blah, blah, blah.' I'm the guy who got booked at Madison Square Garden and you're the guy who's mad about it. Do you know what I'm saying? I wasn't like? I saw an opportunity to stir the pot unlike what anybody else was doing in pro wrestling. And people love what's real."
With respect to NJPW's Tama Tonga, nZo stated that he has a real beef with 'The Good Bad Guy' for taking food off of 'The Real One”s plate.
"There's a guy, Tama Tonga, who took food off my plate, so if I ever saw him out in public, same thing with Joey [Janela]. I'm going to walk up to you and put my hands up. The difference is I don't think Tama's going to walk away and I don't give a damn because if you book him on the same thing as me, you ain't getting me because that's his doing. If you're going to blackball me, Tama Tonga, the 'gatekeeper' of New Japan [Pro-Wrestling], throw a hissy fit, got upset, he got worked just like everybody else did that day, that's what we love about pro wrestling. Now, if you're not in on it and you get upset about it, and you have the nerve to throw shade at my name, who didn't do anything to you, except take spotlight from you, alright, that's all I did. If you have a problem with getting over, that ain't my problem." nZo claimed, "that ain't my problem."
Although nZo said he is not entirely current on the pro wrestling business these days, he has tuned in to AEW on occasion to check in on some of his old friends with the company.
"I don't watch enough, but I have watched a few things and a few buddies of mine that wrestle there that I definitely try to stay on top of." nZo added, "I watched Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor at WrestleMania. I watched Kenny Omega and Neville [PAC], which I didn't tell you. I watched Cody and Darby Allin. I watched Cody and Goldust. And every single one of those matches I named were awesome. So yeah, Am I on top of the biz? No. I got more than one foot in. I've got some plans. I've got some things going on."
Check out the interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.