In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Kenny Omega discussed his upcoming match with Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12, wanting to see WWE and NJPW work together more in the future, and his former rival Shinsuke Nakamura. Specifically, he had quite a bit to say about the sub-par run the King of Strong Style has had since arriving in the land of the giants.
“I’m happy for the response that he’s getting, and all of us in New Japan knew when he left that he was going to get over with his charisma. But when I see Nakamura in WWE, it’s hard for me to say he’s done anything compelling in-ring since he’s been there, which is a shame.”
Omega would go even further in depth, talking about Nakamura’s booking at Survivor Series. Omega was not a fan of how the former NXT Champion was presented, feeling that WWE’s “over-booked” style doesn’t blend well with Nakamura’s fast paced “work as you go” style.
“Even to another degree, everything in WWE is super over-booked. Some people in WWE even need the steps and their footing in the ring choreographed. They have to pace their breathing before they even go through with a match in the ring. When you’re used to dealing with people who need that match management, who need to have that much choreography in their matches before they go out there and perform, then when a guy like Nakamura–who is this new age ‘strong style,’ and a lot of that is based off emotion and feeling and fighting spirit–wrestles someone who needs marks on the ring so that he can get his footing right with a set of instructions, that’s where Nakamura’s style gets lost in translation. Everything starts to come across as soulless, if that makes any sense.”
