AEW superstar Kenny Omega was recently appeared on the Wrestling Observer Radio where the Executive VP discussed the promotion’s women’s division that has drawn criticism from fans for not being featured enough. Omega explains that the plan now is to expose their audience to the Joshi wrestling-style that was made popular in Stardom, and has slowly been exposed in the U.S. thanks to stars like Io Shirai and Kairi Sane. He also promises that 2020 will be a bigger year for the division, as some bigger names are expected to join.
We have talent from all corners of the globe. One of my main focuses from the beginning is, I wanted to show some of the Joshi talents from Japan that haven’t had the opportunity to be seen on a global scale. There hasn’t been much exposure of Stardom on a worldwide scale, but people know who they are, mainly due to Kairi Sane and Io Shirai. Since their NXT debuts, people have dug a little deeper and gone back to the roots and seen what Stardom is all about. I’m sure they’ve gained fans through that, but there are other styles of Joshi wrestling and other talent that people haven’t seen, that don’t wrestle for Stardom. These are the people I want to introduce to the world.
That’s what I’m trying to shoulder and the responsibility I want to take. Not only show the kind of style that someone like Io has shown the NXT Universe, which is fantastic wrestling and great high-flying and everything that makes exciting wrestling. But it’s not the be-all, end-all because there are all sorts of flavors of wrestling. I want to be the one, as best as I can, to show the variety in that. 2020 is going to be a very exciting year because we have a lot more names jumping on board, and I hope once we increase our talent pool, people will be excited, and we’ll set the stage for hopefully a number of great performances that people can see.
You can find Omega’s full interview here with a subscription. (H/T and transcribed by Uproxx)
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