00:00you know a lot of people felt like this you know on-screen journey here maybe needed to be more
00:06true true baby face make them the biggest baby face you can but obviously we took some you know
00:10darker turns with with joining the death riders and and seeing that side why did you feel like
00:16this was the story you guys needed to tell to to get you to you know maybe get you to
00:21the best
00:21position going into all in now uh great question uh it is one of those ones where it just fit
00:29right
00:29there for me it was something that like i i kind of wanted to experiment with and the idea of
00:35like
00:35learning from the guys that done the harm it was this kind of for me was like uh batman and
00:42the
00:42league of shadows and i wanted to like experiment along those lines with like trying to give my
00:49character a little bit of an edge and give it a little bit more tools to work with and because
00:53of that it was it was really good to have those pieces now that go into my ground game that
01:00go
01:00into my character's development um i could because as much as it is good being like the plucky baby
01:07face like i don't ever want to be like a pushover either so it was one of those ones where
01:11i i wanted
01:12an edge and i wanted a little bit of like darker tones to going towards it but like obviously it
01:18never
01:18changes my personality my personality is like bright colors and uh and and making sure people
01:25have the best time watching like a wrestling event that only i can put out you know it was either
01:32kind
01:33of feeling like hey it was going to be kenny it was going to be max maybe for this match
01:36um obviously
01:38knowing you and kenny's history why did you feel like maybe that he was the best opponent for if i'm
01:44going to win the aw world title it should be from kenny omega because that's been my story for the
01:50last 10 years my story has started the moment i walked into new japan it was the start of the
01:56rise
01:57of kenny omega from that moment i knew what i wanted to be as a professional wrestler i knew how
02:03i wanted to
02:03present myself i knew how like i have taken great inspiration from kenny omega i followed him to a
02:10complete different country that's how much i wanted this this has been for me this has been a 10 year
02:16chase uh he's been a hero he's been an icon he's been a rival he's one of these people that
02:23i get great
02:25joy from wrestling and getting to learn as we go i'm now in a position where i feel like i'm
02:36ready for
02:36that responsibility and i'm ready for that torch to be passed kenny's now i think 42 years old um and
02:44this could potentially be one of the last times that he he has a world championship match this could
02:48actually be one of the last times that me and kenny actually share a ring together it's one of those
02:54things where it's been written in the stars for so long and it just feels so right that we had
03:01we had one
03:02match in recita california in the united states we've had one match in the tokyo dome in japan
03:08we've had one match in the scotiabank arena in toronto canada it just feels right that now it comes
03:15back to my home when when you come into this match obviously with the two of you there's there's this
03:20expectation of hey this is going to be like a six-star classic like this is you know going to
03:24be like
03:24the greatest match we've ever seen how do you guys deal with that pressure when when you know what
03:29the expectation is you know coming into something like this i feel like people think that they know
03:36what they get when it comes to a kenny omega and will osprey match and then the moment the bell
03:41rings
03:42it could go anyway like no one knows what steps that we're going to take no one knows the the
03:48movements
03:48that we're going to make and no one knows the stories that we're going to tell but in every situation
03:53that we have found ourselves in when it is myself and kenny we have passed with flying colors
03:58um there are so many people now that are looking for simplicity when they come to the wrestling and
04:06they're looking towards the beautiful g1 final that just happened uh between oyua and yuya and it was
04:13such a fantastic phenomenal match with simplicity but i'm not a simplicity wrestler i'm an extremely
04:19complex wrestler i'm one of these people that you know a lot of people will be like i don't fear
04:25the
04:25the wrestler that has a thousand moves i fear the wrestler that has one move that is practiced a
04:30thousand times i'm a wrestler with a thousand moves that i've perfected a thousand times and perfected
04:36a thousand stories that have gone into it with me and kenny we are two of the most influential wrestlers
04:43of this generation uh and i say that with a lot of pride and a lot of confidence there is
04:48no arrogance
04:49when i say that it comes from a place where i have seen the the impact that we have made
04:55in the
04:55wrestling sphere and when you have an iconic stadium like wembley stadium it needs to be filled with
05:03an iconic match and every time we've wrestled one another it's been a classic so now if this is
05:10generally where the best wrestle you put two of the best wrestlers in the main event and you see who
05:15comes
05:15out on top before even the surgery happens just how much you know pain were you you know wrestling
05:20in and what maybe limitations did that put on what you could do or how often you could wrestle
05:27so there wasn't any like i say there wasn't any limitations right because i just wrestled the same
05:34way like no matter how much pain that i was in i just kept doing what i was doing but
05:42there were
05:43signs and moments in the match where i i generally think uh i was in a lot of trouble um
05:49where i would
05:51fall on my back like it'd be mad i would land on my head and i'd be absolutely fine i'd
05:56be able to like
05:57fire through any of the pain but i would land on my back and i would lose my left arm
06:03completely or if i i
06:04would get hit from behind and my neck would jump back i would completely lose my left arm but like
06:11i
06:11never thought that it was anything to do with my nervous system i thought maybe i just had a stinger
06:15and i just needed to work through it it was only when it kind of came to like may june
06:20time i was
06:22really really struggling and like there would be points where i would be shopping with my now wife
06:27and my son and i would get horrendous shooting pains down my left arm um so then getting the surgery
06:36was
06:37like it was mind blind to me because it was a uh 10 years ago that was it like uh
06:43right cope had
06:45that surgery and had his career taken away from him brian had that surgery had his career taken away
06:49from him do you know what i mean yeah like there was a genuine fear that i don't know what
06:55i'm going
06:55to look like on the other side of this like am i actually even going to be able to wrestle
06:59ever again
07:00is there going to be limitations and and there are limitations like i can't look back all the way
07:06like i like like i used to like especially doing like a shooting star press i need to be able
07:11to throw
07:11my head back all the way i can't do that anymore but like i don't let that stop me from
07:18still being
07:19able to present people with the aerial assassin that they knew before it was a crazy feeling knowing that
07:25the surgery was done i woke up i saw my wife and the first thing i did was try and
07:32like move
07:32my hand and just feel my fingers again it was the first time i felt my my fingers and my
07:38hand
07:40in mumps like honestly i think about like eight months i hadn't like had the sensation
07:47in my in my fingers in my left hand for like ages and then to wake up and to have
07:52that sensation back
07:53was truly like a blessing like i've never felt more happy in my life like i had tears coming down
07:59my
07:59eyes just because i got for ages i thought there was something wrong with me and i didn't want to
08:04accept that there was something wrong and then to finally have that relief was was something i can't
08:10even describe with the joy that i felt now more than ever like coming back from this surgery i i
08:16feel like
08:17it is now and it is my time to be in that main event and it is it is so
08:23appropriate to now be in
08:25the main events and have these matches where i can go against a kenny omega or i can go against
08:30a john
08:30moxley or i can go against an mjf and i have so many people that i could work with and
08:36to create
08:37top programs with along the way speaking of mjf he's he's walking around to call himself the one
08:43true champion here what do you think about that and you feel like that's something if you do you
08:48know when at all and it's gonna have to get nipped in the bud pretty quickly here i think he's
08:52delusional
08:53being honest with you mate like i think honestly he's finally cracks like he's the type of person that
08:59like like he brought his own ball to school uh but he would change the rules like you know what
09:06i mean like you'd be playing football and he was like no the goalkeeper's not allowed to use his
09:10hands it's like yes he is and he's that kid like who's never been told no he's super insecure
09:17he's he's no like he's so talented and so confident yeah he he needs to feel like we are owed
09:27like we
09:28owe him our careers and we owe him this attraction and we owe him that and i'm being honest it
09:33was one
09:33of those things where like the moment that bell got taken away from him like i had a slight bit
09:37of joy
09:37the fact that he's running around with a championship that tony and the governing bodies
09:43of aew haven't taken from him i think that just shows how spoil and how um how what's the word
09:53i'm
09:53looking for entitled that is the word i'm looking for entitled that he is in aew like this isn't the
10:00mjf vanity project this is where the best wrestle do you know what i mean have you thought about what
10:05that moment is gonna could be like when the bell rings and you're handed the aew world championship
10:11and what that could but that's gonna mean in that moment for you i don't want to think too much
10:18about
10:19it because like i feel like i want to let every bit of emotion come out if that moment does
10:24happen
10:25because for me this for everyone else maybe this has been like a journey but this has been such a
10:33long
10:33time coming for me like i and like for my mum and my dad especially like my mum and dad
10:40saw that i was
10:41getting in trouble at school and i was being a little bit of a menace and they said how can
10:47we keep him
10:48off the streets and keep his mind occupied well he loves wrestling she knew like a fabricator and a
10:54welder and they made a wrestling ring and put it in my back garden and i came off the streets
10:59like
10:59honestly all of my mates like all of my little troublemaker mates all came to my garden we all
11:05just like done wrestling shows that we filmed and edited ourselves and like created our own storylines
11:11and and everything along those lines and from there to the independents from the uk and europe
11:18from there going over to japan and finding who i am as my as my own self and as a
11:27wrestler to now coming
11:29over to aew it's been a a 19 year journey in finding myself and finding the things that i love
11:43about this
11:44sport i don't want to think too much about it i'd rather just have that moment flash before my eyes
11:53well i appreciate a couple minutes i know we're all you know looking forward to what you and kenny
11:59give us and like you said our our expectations are high and i know you guys will will probably
12:03find a way to exceed them uh and obviously congratulations on all the success to to you
12:08know like you said after 19 years to to get this moment for yourself hopefully
12:13man god bless you thank you very very much mate
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