Danny Limelight Defends How Much Offense Kenny Omega Gave Him On AEW Dynamite

Fresh off his AEW Dynamite appearance against Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers, Danny Limelight sat down with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman on a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Limelight talked about how he prepared for his big match against The Elite where he teamed up with Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison of The Varsity Blondes.

"The week before, I had hopped the rail trying to get The Good Brothers out of the ring when they invaded the first time," Limelight recalled. "They beat us down and put Fuego [Del Sol] through a table. They beat up The Varsity Blondes, and I think they announced that there was going to be six-man tag in a promo, Don Callis and Kenny. Twitter started saying, 'Limelight and Varsity Blondes. We hope this is who they're gonna face' because there was no major announcements.

"I guess people were expecting it to be people that were in the ring, and so when they told me, 'Hey, it's you and The Varsity Blondes that day,' I was like, 'Let's go.' I felt like I was ready. Was I nervous? Yeah, I felt the spider senses pulling up my damn arms and my hair. I'm like, this is not a shot at anybody else, this is the biggest match in my life. Nothing I've done before in my eyes is bigger than being on TNT, national television, wrestling who's arguably the best wrestler in the world and part of this huge angle in professional wrestling right now with Kenny, and The Elite, and The Bucks and the invaders from Impact, The Good Brothers.

"To me, this is a huge angle in all of professional wrestling, and it's about to kick off in this six-man tag. And this company trusted me to be in the ring with Varsity Blondes, who's a young, up-and-coming tag team as well. It felt like a big spot, and it 100% was a big spot. And I knew that once I stepped into those ropes, I need to show out, and I need to make sure that I show this company that I could be an asset to them."

Wrestling Inc. Daily and Wrestling Inc. Podcast co-host Justin Labar, like many others, critiqued the match saying it was too competitive especially for champions going up against competitors who have not been featured on TV too often. Limelight addressed those critiques and gave his reason for how the match played out.

"Kenny Omega, he's one of the best in the world for a reason," Limelight stated. "I've seen the tweets. I've seen people say, 'Oh, he was selling too much for that kid.' People can interpret things however they want. They're opinions. I don't get mad at that, but for me, I looked at it as somebody who's at the top of the game adding value to the company by showing a group of people that can be future stars in the company. It felt like he's at the position where he can make stars. Look at what happened on Twitter immediately after the match. I was in the match with Kenny Omega, and I was trending.

"That wouldn't have happened if I was just wrestling a regular match. No disrespect to any of my opponents I've had before but that right there is proof that what he did added value back to the company because now there are people that want to see me wrestle Kenny Omega one-on-one. They don't want to see me just wrestle on Dynamite again, and I want to be there. And for me, it was an ultimate test for me. One of the first real tests I had in wrestling was the first time I had wrestled the Lucha Brothers on the independents. It was my first real big independent match and then wrestling Rocky Romero in New Japan. That's a test for me. Rocky Romero's one of the best junior heavyweights ever in my opinion. That was a test for me.

"I need to show that I can keep up with him and wrestling Rey Fenix on Dark. Now I got a singles with one of the best luchadors in the world. I need to show people that. So wrestling Kenny on national television in front of, I think the numbers were almost 800,000 viewers that night, was me showing the world I can hang with Kenny Omega. If I can show the world that I belong in the ring with Kenny Omega, people want to see me wrestle Kenny Omega, then I can be in the ring with anybody else in professional wrestling. That was the pressure I put on myself."

Limelight talked about tagging with The Varsity Blondes. He said that while he did not know them from before, they welcomed him into AEW with open arms and helped him out when he needed it.

"I've never worked with Brian Pillman Jr. or Griff Garrison. I've known Pillman for a while on the independent scenes, and Griff I had just met when I went to AEW the first time, but they were definitely two of the first dudes that kind of showed me love and was super friendly to me," Limelight revealed. "It was cool to share that moment with those two guys because they're young.

"They're trying to make a name for themselves as well, and they're great human beings. I think that both of them are fun people, and it was awesome just sharing that. Even talking to them after the match like, 'Whoa, bro. We did that man. That was dope.' So it was a cool little bonding moment with both those guys, and I wish both of them the best in all their endeavors."

Recently, Limelight tweeted that he was "the hottest free agent" in wrestling. He talked about why he tweeted that and the things he came over in wrestling.

"I know I ruffled some feathers with that tweet man," Limelight admitted. "There was a couple of feathers being ruffled right there when I sent that tweet out, but for me, I was being Danny Limelight. I was talking my s–t, and I think that I am one of the hottest free agent in professional wrestling right now that has never been signed anywhere else before, no other company backing me previously with a major contract. I've never had one. This is my time right now. I feel 2021, it's my year.

"I know for sure I'm the hottest free agent coming out of SoCal, probably going to be the rest of the year, and for me, what more do you need to see? What more does any company need to see of Danny Limelight they haven't seen, that I haven't shown on a consistent basis. I can add value to a company if I was signed. Right now, I'm very blessed and fortunate that I'm able to wrestle for New Japan, I'm able to wrestle foe AEW [and] I'm able to wrestle for Primetime Live, and I love it. And I'm not closing the door on any other company either. I didn't tweet that to try to get people talking like, 'Oh, he's gonna end up over here or there.' I'm just proud of everything that I've done this last year and now in the middle of a global pandemic. I'm proud of how hard I've worked.

"I had a shi–y start to my wrestling career. My school had kicked me out [and] told me I'll never wrestle again, now, look at me. That to me is years of hard work, years of overcoming adversity. My first year outside the Marine Corps completely betting on myself. No other job besides the acting stuff and that's just as hard as professional wrestling. It all culminated to me. That was the culmination of all f–king year of hard work on Wednesday. I do believe that the way the internet was talking about me that right now, I'm hot. When you hot, you hot."

You can follow Danny on Twitter @DannyLimeLight. Limelight's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.