On the latest episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett was asked whether the AEW World Championship has taken over the place the IWGP Heavyweight Title once held for hardcore fans, ahead of Kenny Omega defending against Will Ospreay at All In. You can check out his comments below:
On how these things shift:
“There is one thing in life, not just professional wrestling, that is a guarantee — things change. When you were going over that analogy, I immediately went back to, in that day, the best wrestler in the world in a lot of ways was going to be the Intercontinental Champion. In a lot of ways that had the cachet. And look, I don’t want to dismiss WCW, but before that, you almost have to say the touring NWA champion.”
On the New Japan era:
“I don’t think the IWC — I think they just picked up a ball that was already started. And I definitely agree with you that the New Japan champion, even before Okada, when you look at the classic matches. I’m going to throw Tanahashi in there.”
On where the belt sits now:
“I sound biased, and yes, I work for AEW. But when you take a step back and really look at the amount of butts in seats that CMLL is doing, and the work rate in that promotion — and then New Japan. But with Kenny being the champion right now, and if you look over the last seven years, and it’s hard for me to even say AEW’s been around seven years, when you look at the trajectory of that championship, I think without question it represents the best in-ring performer going today. I think that’s Tony’s style of booking.”
On whether it’s a torch-passing:
“I do see a guy that’s probably at the end of his peak-peak performing years, and I think Will has got into that groove — I use my basketball analogy, kind of Michael Jordan ’91 through ’93, when those were his championships. He’s right in that era. So will the baton be passed? Not saying Kenny can’t get it back.”
On why he’s calling Omega as good as ever at 42:
“Kenny had a life-threatening illness that could have put him in the category of, he’ll just never get back to where he was. Sometimes that happens to athletes — Bo Jackson was never the same after the hip injury. I think Kenny, although he’s 42, you could make an argument, and I’m going to lean into that, that he’s as good as he’s ever been. Does that mean he’s as fast or innovative? Maybe you say no. He might have barely lost this and that. But anything he might have lost, I think he’s picked up in age and wisdom, because nothing replaces experience.”
On the Messi comparison:
“I don’t know if you caught some of the Messi statistics in the World Cup. All the players have meters on them, and they have the amount of miles they’ve walked or run on the field, and Messi’s team went to the finals. You can look at the goals he scored and all the metrics — and he walks a lot out on the field. He understands when to exert energy and when not to. When I saw that in black and white, that he moved considerably less than most of the players, but look at his output and goal scoring. To me, I look at Kenny that way. He’s smarter. Instead of thinking three or four steps ahead, he probably thinks many more steps ahead.”
On where the pressure actually sits:
“You want to talk about pressure, Conrad? I can relate to this. He’s the main event, and he’s the veteran, and he knows the stakes that are on the match — and I’m talking about more than the championship, more than the belt, more than the title. It is Omega delivering again, that people walk away going, that’s the best match I’ve ever seen in my life. That’s the pressure Kenny has, not Will.”