Kenny Omega knows how successful both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have been in making themselves huge stars, and he looks forward to potentially calling them opponents if they were to join AEW.
Kenny Omega was a recent guest on Wrestling Observer Radio and was asked about the potential of both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan showing up in All Elite Wrestling. WOR’s Dave Meltzer prefaced the topic by stating that as of now it’s all just talk, but if Bryan and Punk showed up they would be potential dream opponents for Omega, who is arguably AEW’s top wrestler right now.
Omega took time to praise both Punk and Bryan, and said that although they are different wrestlers, they’ve been very successful in making themselves huge stars in professional wrestling.
“Like you said, they’re two very different athletes, very different performers. Similar, but different in several ways. Danielson—I still call him Bryan Danielson—Daniel Bryan, I always knew he was incredibly intelligent. He’s ridiculously smart,” Omega noted, “especially as it relates to professional wrestling. And for him to kind of create a movement, an actual, legitimate movement with the ‘Yes Movement’ and all of that, for him to come up with that, he created it.
“And there’s no way, absolutely no way [they planned it]. And you could find documented evidence [from WWE] saying that ‘Oh we always planned to have you have your WrestleMania moment and be the champion.’ I wouldn’t believe it. Even if I saw it in front of my face, I don’t think that was ever the plan, but he made it the plan because he’s just that smart. There was no way it was,” Omega stated, “but he was able to kind of turn everything around and emerge as a mega-star, because he is smart enough in a wrestling sense and a business sense.
“And just like in Ring Of Honor, how he was able to have those fans in the palm of his hand, he’s able to have the entire WWE Universe in the palm of his hand with one word. No matter—and really, the only other person I can think of that did that was maybe [Steve] Austin with the ‘What?’ [chants]. There’s really nobody else I can think of who had that much power with one word. And you know, wrestling ability? Of course, second to none,” Omega explained. “One of the most crisp, one of the most technically sound athletes to ever step foot in the ring, especially in the current age.”
Omega then put over CM Punk as someone who could rally people behind him and praised his attention to detail for his own brand.
“And CM Punk, a guy who, again, he probably has a different line of thinking than your current day performer, your average performer. And he has this incredible reputation of, and he has fans to this day who would follow him to the ends of the Earth. [It’s] a very dedicated fanbase and that fanbase believes he’s the best in the world and will be the best until the end of time. And if you’re able to have people like that, who follow your career so passionately, you probably have something very special about you. It just goes to show you that the way he presented himself, the way he spoke about himself, the way he spoke to his opponents, how he performed in the ring, entrance music, his image,” Omega explained, “it was all very meticulous, and he was very intelligent about how he went about it.”
Omega closed by saying both Punk and Bryan were able to break free of the restrictions placed upon them in WWE and said they’d both be great potential opponents for the in-ring work as well as the storytelling part.
“Two extremely intelligent people who found a way to sort of—I don’t want to say cheat the system, but it was a system that was not created for them there [in WWE]. And they were able to break every ceiling that was placed in front of them and emerge as an actual legend that will never be forgotten. So it’s cool for me to think that I’m going to be able to get in the ring with these two—possibly. But I think because they were so prominent in the WWE, and a lot of that is featured with segments, angles, character work. For me, as exciting as the wrestling part is,” Omega said, “the ability to tell a story is more exciting for me.”
If you use this transcript, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
CM Punk is reportedly in talks to make his return to wrestling as an in-ring performer, with AEW being touted as a “likely landing point” for the former WWE Champion. Daniel Bryan, however, is reportedly already on his way to AEW, as it’s been reported that he’s signed an agreement with the promotion and they already have plans for his debut.
WATCH: STARZ Takes Fans Inside the Wrestling of ‘Heels’ With Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
