AEW's Kenny Omega has paid tribute to AJ Styles and the various ways the WWE star has helped his career.
Omega recently discussed the important role and impact Styles has had on his pro wrestling career.
"I think some people know that AJ has been very influential in my career,"he said on "SHAK Wrestling.""But there weremultiple scenarios where AJ being involved with something that I did really helped my career."
He recalled a time in WWE's developmental territory when he lost his love for wrestling and contemplated retiring. He had the opportunity to wrestle Styles at indie promotion PCW, which he thought was a great way to end his career. But his natural connection with Styles and the way the match panned out made him realize he could pursue and continue his wrestling dream.
"[He thought at that time] A nice good last match would be that one [against Styles] maybe. And I remember wrestling AJ, and I felt like, man, we had never there was no interaction between us at any point ever before. But there were moments inthat match where it really felt that the give and take just felt so symbiotic, like the chemistry was naturally there, and I thought, 'Wow, this is what it feels like to wrestle someone at this level, and I'm not embarrassing myself.'"
The match motivated him to work harder to get to the next level in wrestling. The aforementioned match in PCW came just a little while after his bad experience in Deep South Wrestling, WWE's developmental territory.
Kenny Omega worked closely with AJ Styles during their time in NJPW, which was a period where the former was growing in the business, while the latter had established himself as one of the best. The AEW star remembered wanting to emulate Styles and be in the position he was in.
"It was asituation [in NJPW] where what AJ had and what he was able to harness was something that I wanted. And I wanted to see that path. I wanted to see, what is the making of a champion? How do you do it?" he said. "And I remember AJ, I had his blessing to include me in a match that he had against Kota Ibushi. And from there, wewere able to rekindle and reintroduce fans to the Golden Lover storyline from there."
Omega claimed that Styles also indirectly had a small part to play in the creation of AEW, after the WWE star was kicked out of the Bullet Club by Omega and The YoungBucks.
"The last thing, and the most important thing, perhaps, is when we turned on AJ before he left for WWE. We didn't tell anybody," he said. "And again, like I said, the natural chemistry and AJ just having a keen sense of what's best for business knew how exactly to go along with it. And in a way, by him turning his back and allowing for that moment to happen, whether he knows it or not, I mean, that led to the forming of the Elite, that led to BTE, that led to Hot Topic, ultimately, that kind of led to AEW."
Styles is heading to retirementinWWE, ruling out a possible reunion with his former Bullet Club buddies inAEW.
