Kenny Omega defeated Will Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 17 to capture the IWGP U.S. Championship for the second time. Omega sat down with Tokyo Sports to talk about defending the belt across multiple promotions, and names some possible opponents.
You can read highlights of Kenny’s comments below:
Defending the title globally: “Do you want this belt? First of all, prove the strength of your unit. I won’t give it away easily. Come to the United States to find it. I’m the first U.S. champion, so I want to increase the value of the belt, which has fallen. I want to do either New Japan or AEW. When I was the US champion, I did a lot of defenses in Japan. So I want to do it in Japan as well as in the United States.”
Wanting a match against Shingo Takagi: “Someday, I want to try with Shingo Takagi. Kenny & Keisuke Ishii and Takagi & YAMATO, which happened at DDG in Osaka on June 5, 2012 before I went to New Japan for the first time, that was great. It was an interesting match. Ever since then, I thought I would be able to have a good singles match with him. I didn’t have a chance when I was in New Japan, but now Takagi is also on top. I think it’s the best timing.”
Other potential opponents: “El Desperado has been working really hard lately. Then there are other wrestlers who aren’t heavyweights, like Hiromu Takahashi.”
