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quicklistenerDisclaimer: This is just my rough notes to remind myself/others what was covered in this interview, it is NOT a transcript, please do not use it as a primary source.(excepting block quotes)
May 26th 2019
Omegaman Q&A
Part 1 on Youtube
Documentary was great. The makers weren't wrestling fans - It captured more about him/ his story than if it had been told exclusively through that lens. Jericho's parts were pretty funny.
1:46 - What goes through Kenny's mind when he's planning gear?
He had an idea for DoN but he wanted to make it less dramatic to give the emphasis for the new music. Says he'll keep the other idea for a later show. Talks about other gear he's had and the various meanings behind them. The half-Ibushi gear was one of his favourites. His gear is special to him.
4:19 - Bullet club was touched on in the doc - Would it be possible to have a BC doc?
It would be interesting but not all parties will play ball. To have a proper documentary it would be preferable to get comments from everyone and that doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.
5:48 - Underrated match in njpw or DDT?
Antonio Honda and the rock and roll deathmatches which Kenny wishes people could see. Also matches with Harashima + Konosuke Takeshita (the latter of whom Kenny says may be seen in AEW in future). Misses tagging with Micheal Nakazawa. Recommends a match with them verses Matsunaga and Hikaru Shida which sounds totally wild.
9:44 - Will AEW have ppv's in Canada? (or Winnipeg?)
Kenny does want to go to Winnipeg one day and also Toronto because the fans there are really receptive and hungry. He hopes they can tour Canada
12:14 - The documentary presents an LGBT story. How important is that to you?
Its easy to get away with not being a quality form of entertainment in wrestling. Kenny says they want to make sure their stories are good and for everyone. Kenny tries to paint in broad strokes so that you can interpret his story in multiple directions.
Everyone was telling Kenny 'I liked your documentary but I think it focused too much on your gay story line with Kota Ibushi.' Kenny didn't look at it that way.
19:24 - Have you had friends or family steer you from doing things that may be detrimental to your career eg: Haruka match
Re: The Haruka match. Around that time Kenny had come under fire online by the Japanese community because the Golden Lovers had just debuted for NJPW and there was an accident in the ring where Jado was hurt and the match had to be stopped. Golden Lovers had an image of being unsafe because of that. Kenny did the match with Haruka partly to try and make up for this. It was a test for Kenny if he could pull off a match that was good and also extremely safe. Kenny needed to prove to himself that he believed that he could do it. It's easy for people to attack wrestlers on the internet. Kenny (and the others) need to be able to filter out the voices that do matter from those that are just trying to hurt. The elite are a really positive and supportive group for Kenny and having them around him helps him not take the internet trolls seriously. Kenny is really excited about their team.
Part 2 on Youtube
4:20 - Dale is here - Thank you to her. Kenny says she's one of his tag team partners. He wants all his tag team partners back: Michael, Riho and Kana. He isn't going to promise but he promises that he will try to bring all his tag team partners to AEW. There are a few missing pieces to complete the masterpiece. It won't feel complete without them.
7:23 - AEW video game????
Kenny talks about video games. Kenny calls Toby Fox one of his 'best friends in real life' He has ties with Capcom. He's a 'gamer guy'. He has some more specific opinions but I don't know video games so watch his answer if you're interested.
10:05 - A fan has come all the way from Japan to ask a question. She asks her question and Kenny gives an emotional answer.
14:10 - Kenny translates the exchange. He was asked if he had any comments for fans in Japan.
He knows that he'll be back there. Before AEW started he knew that he couldn't ask Ibushi to sign, because it was his time and he deserved it.
May 26th 2019
Omegaman Q&A
Part 1 on Youtube
Documentary was great. The makers weren't wrestling fans - It captured more about him/ his story than if it had been told exclusively through that lens. Jericho's parts were pretty funny.
1:46 - What goes through Kenny's mind when he's planning gear?
He had an idea for DoN but he wanted to make it less dramatic to give the emphasis for the new music. Says he'll keep the other idea for a later show. Talks about other gear he's had and the various meanings behind them. The half-Ibushi gear was one of his favourites. His gear is special to him.
4:19 - Bullet club was touched on in the doc - Would it be possible to have a BC doc?
It would be interesting but not all parties will play ball. To have a proper documentary it would be preferable to get comments from everyone and that doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.
5:48 - Underrated match in njpw or DDT?
Antonio Honda and the rock and roll deathmatches which Kenny wishes people could see. Also matches with Harashima + Konosuke Takeshita (the latter of whom Kenny says may be seen in AEW in future). Misses tagging with Micheal Nakazawa. Recommends a match with them verses Matsunaga and Hikaru Shida which sounds totally wild.
9:44 - Will AEW have ppv's in Canada? (or Winnipeg?)
Kenny does want to go to Winnipeg one day and also Toronto because the fans there are really receptive and hungry. He hopes they can tour Canada
12:14 - The documentary presents an LGBT story. How important is that to you?
Its easy to get away with not being a quality form of entertainment in wrestling. Kenny says they want to make sure their stories are good and for everyone. Kenny tries to paint in broad strokes so that you can interpret his story in multiple directions.
Everyone was telling Kenny 'I liked your documentary but I think it focused too much on your gay story line with Kota Ibushi.' Kenny didn't look at it that way.
"Even though that story was important to me personally and I brought a lot of my real life into that story and [it was] something that meant a lot to me, and in a way meant everything to my career, it was more about, you know, not only (sighs throughtfully) the relationship between, you know, two people of the same sex, but how that relationship can help someone thrive in the workplace and thrive in real life and how it can inspire you and how it can make you a better person, to be at one with your feelings. It's not about 'hey, you gay, man?' you know, it's never about that, I'm not trying to paint this mysterious picture, that shouldn't be the takeaway from what Ibushi and I are. It was, you know, how can the person that you love help you take the next step, and how being together and being at one with someone, with yourself, can make you the best person that you can be. And that's why that story was really important to me, to tell to the people but also even just for myself because there was a part in my life, you know, without Ibushi when I felt that I was better off alone and that I was going to use the negativity and my own jealousy to fuel the character that was the Cleaner.
"And I felt that I had high points, and I felt that, you know, through the evil character that I had portrayed, that there was entertainment to be had, but I had only found my true success when I threw away the feelings of jealousy and hatred and anger, and when I started to look on the flipside of it and started to embrace, you know, the love that I'd felt for the people around me, my pillars of support, that's why you start to see, no matter what the storyline was, you'd see the Young Bucks with me every big match--I couldn't have done any of those matches with Okada or otherwise, with Ishii, if I didn't have the Young Bucks with me, if I didn't have Ibushi with me--and in the end it took not only for the Young Bucks to be there but for me to train with Ibushi and then have Ibushi with me almost on a daily basis to get myself in the condition, to get myself in the headspace, and to feel almost ready to empty my heart in the ring for a match that I knew was going to last over an hour. I know that sounds maybe strange to some people because sometimes wrestling is fake, it's a performance, but for me it has kind of become my life and if I don't involve my life, my real feelings and my real emotion, and if I'm not true to myself then my performances themselves will look kind of hollow. And I just hope that at some point--cause, you know, I don't really get out much, and now that this whole thing has consumed me, this new product, my only worry is that I'm going to have a lack of life experiences to help fuel the hamster wheel in here to power this thing forward.
"But every day these interesting things are happening. Even today is going to be a memory that I'll never forget. And these are all things, these feelings that I feel when I'm watching myself onscreen, these feelings that I feel when I'm in front of you people, these feelings that I feel, you know, when someone from a rival company shows up and then throws me ten feet through a stage and I'm sitting there like the Joker from the original Batman movie, that (Joker laugh with arms outstretched). These are all things that inspire me, and they will fuel me, and thus you will get more unique, original stories. And they're not going to be necessarily for everyone, but they will be for someone, and I think that's what's going to make AEW the perfect variety show, and why the last three matches [of Double or Nothing] were a complete different extension of us as people and characters. The Cody vs. Dustin match was extremely different from the Young Bucks vs. Lucha Brothers, which was extremely different from myself vs. Chris Jericho. We believe in all styles of pro-wrestling, we believe all of them can thrive, however, we will never feel the need to copy one another, or feel that we have to remain in a certain pro-wrestling archetype. It's always going to be a variety show, and there's always going to be so many types of emotions and things you can take from our shows and we just hope that, you know, even if you don't like everything that you'll be entertained with most of what we have, and it'll be different every time." (transcription credit to Myrica-rubra)
19:24 - Have you had friends or family steer you from doing things that may be detrimental to your career eg: Haruka match
Re: The Haruka match. Around that time Kenny had come under fire online by the Japanese community because the Golden Lovers had just debuted for NJPW and there was an accident in the ring where Jado was hurt and the match had to be stopped. Golden Lovers had an image of being unsafe because of that. Kenny did the match with Haruka partly to try and make up for this. It was a test for Kenny if he could pull off a match that was good and also extremely safe. Kenny needed to prove to himself that he believed that he could do it. It's easy for people to attack wrestlers on the internet. Kenny (and the others) need to be able to filter out the voices that do matter from those that are just trying to hurt. The elite are a really positive and supportive group for Kenny and having them around him helps him not take the internet trolls seriously. Kenny is really excited about their team.
Part 2 on Youtube
4:20 - Dale is here - Thank you to her. Kenny says she's one of his tag team partners. He wants all his tag team partners back: Michael, Riho and Kana. He isn't going to promise but he promises that he will try to bring all his tag team partners to AEW. There are a few missing pieces to complete the masterpiece. It won't feel complete without them.
7:23 - AEW video game????
Kenny talks about video games. Kenny calls Toby Fox one of his 'best friends in real life' He has ties with Capcom. He's a 'gamer guy'. He has some more specific opinions but I don't know video games so watch his answer if you're interested.
10:05 - A fan has come all the way from Japan to ask a question. She asks her question and Kenny gives an emotional answer.
14:10 - Kenny translates the exchange. He was asked if he had any comments for fans in Japan.
He knows that he'll be back there. Before AEW started he knew that he couldn't ask Ibushi to sign, because it was his time and he deserved it.
"Anyway I knew that if I asked for him to come here he would, and if I begged for him to come that he would. But, I knew that his dream before anything that we ever did was to win the IWGP Heavyweight belt and I really want that for him and everyone really wants that for him, and sometimes you have to not be selfish and...
You don't want, in any relationship to have feelings of regret and you don't want people to... I remember being in Ibushi's shoes. I was that guy and I didn't want there to be... I didn't want for us to recreate the feelings from 4 or 5 years ago. Where one was following in the other ones shadow. And I said it every interview. He's better than I am. He's got more potential then I do, and he just needs to go out there and take that spotlight and now he's gone and us being apart is going to be a great thing for both of us in the end. Once we can finally... and work is work right its a business but we'll be back, and I feel that when we're back, back on the same page, it'll be a whole new chapter for the golden lovers story, and it might be the best one yet."
