Gabe Kidd has made a name for himself within NJPW as one of the most unhinged and aggressive personalities in the company today.

Earning the nickname “The Mad Man”, the current NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion has become known for his violent outbursts of rage. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when he decided to confront AEW star and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega backstage at the Power Struggle event on November 4 after their exchanges on social media.

Most recently, Omega did an interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling in which he mispronounced Kidd’s name while calling out some of the promotion’s younger stars ahead of his recent return.

“Look, I went to see him backstage. I didn’t try to interfere in anything that was going on.” Kidd said Withdrawal. “I knew where he was going to be after I hung up the mic, I knew where he was going to be, so I waited for him, and them fucking little rats from the press staff, they were waiting on the corner, they got us heard of it.

“I was just trying to have a conversation with him, but I was pissed. Look, I told him this before everything, before pro wrestling, I’m a man, very mad, so if you disrespect me like That, I hate when these people like MJF and Kenny try to act like they don’t know my name because they’re not cool and they try to act cool in front of these other people, wrestling fans, who don’t It’s not cool either. group of uncool people trying to act cool and it’s not a good look, you get slapped for it where I’m from. So I was just trying to have a conversation with him about what’s going on. ‘happened, what happened.’

On November 7, Sean Ross of Fightful posted a sent-out video of Kidd’s altercation with Omega and words exchanged between the two before the physical encounter.

“So I think you know my phone has been blowing up in the last hour, everyone, all these little nerds on the internet, they’re wondering ‘who is this guy, why is he turning to the GOAT ?’ I don’t care about you little nerds, I don’t care what you think about this guy, you love this man and I slapped him backstage after he got rude So you can. Don’t tell me anything, this guy you adore was made fun of by me. That’s all I have to say about that.

Kidd’s issues with Omega date back to a Twitter exchange the two men had during last summer’s NJPW G1 Climax 34 tournament, where the former AEW World Champion called out the promotion’s new stars.

“I don’t care if you want to talk shit behind the scenes, put it up. I saw him talking shit on Twitter during the G1, saying ‘go win the G1, maybe I’ll give you the Kenny Omega’. I don’t need anyone, I have it, it’s me, I’m the craziest, no one has professional wrestling experience like me, I’m violent, destructive and all that aggressive words to which. you may think, this is me, this is my fighting style, this is what I stand for.”

After his backstage fight with Kidd, Kenny Omega spoke with Sports in Tokyocalling the NJPW star’s actions “unprofessional.” Referencing the infamous “Brawl Out” incident backstage at AEW All Out 2022, Omega compared Kidd to current WWE star CM Punk, calling him “that other guy.”

“What I found funny was he immediately ran out of the building, ran towards Tokyo Sports, said I pushed him and got into a fighting stance and said he got the first hit Well if you did I didn’t feel shit because everyone heard that slap I gave you in that video.”

“Look, I don’t care about any of these other guys, any of these stories.” » said Kidd. “Have you seen the video of Jack Perry and ‘He Who Must Not Be Named, Little Phil,’ we’ll call him? Little Phil, that was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen and they announced to broadcast it on television, it was the It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life I’ve seen better leftovers at daycare, it was embarrassing, so I. I don’t care if he has compared that to that.

All Elite Wrestling drew criticism in April 2024 when it decided to air footage of CM Punk’s backstage altercation with Jack Perry from All In London 2023 on AEW Dynamite. This backstage incident led to Perry’s suspension and Punk’s subsequent firing from the company.

“I’ll tell you that guy couldn’t hit him as hard as me because you got slapped and had both legs put in a bunch of chairs. So I don’t care about those other people . He was disrespectful. Me and him were settled, to me that’s all that matters.” Kidd said in reference to Omega.

Before starting All Elite Wrestling alongside Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and Tony Khan, Omega became a mainstream star in NJPW as the company’s top foreign talent.

Through critically acclaimed fights against Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho, “The Cleaner” became one of the most beloved gaijin stars to compete in the promotion. This fact is not lost on Gabe Kidd, who believes that Omega abandoned NJPW to start AEW.

“You left New Japan and these people love you, you left New Japan, you abandoned it to start this new business and now you want to come back here like you don’t have a job anywhere else. You came back here because you know New Japan is the best, you came back here because you know New Japan is number one.”

During Omega’s in-ring promo at NJPW Power Struggle, he teased his in-ring return after being out of action since December 2023 at Wrestle Dynasty on January 5. The event will be co-promotional with stars from AEW, NJPW, STARDOM, CMLL and ROH.

While many New Japan stars might want to get that match with “The Best Bout Machine” at Tokyo Dome, the company appears to have only one option after Power Struggle. After his backstage meeting with the AEW star, Kidd officially declared that he has his sights set on the huge Wrestle Dynasty spectacle to settle this score with Omega once and for all.

“So don’t talk to me about ‘oh, who’s going to step in and have a match with me?’ I slapped you backstage, what do you think I can do in front of 50,000 people at the Tokyo Dome, I’m going to kill you, Kenny So of course I’m up for that January 5 match, am I? don’t think about anything else, it’s up to this little slut to decide whether he accepts it or not.

Gabe Kidd will defend the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship against Kosei Fujita in the main event of NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed from Lowell, Massachusetts this Friday, November 8th. Fans can watch the show on njpwworld.com And Triller TV.

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