Don Callis Discusses his On-Screen Role with Kenny Omega in Impact Wrestling & AEW
IMPACT executive and lead commentator Don Callis was the latest guest on Busted Open Radio to talk about his relationship with AEW world champion Kenny Omega, and how the two feed off one another while appearing on-screen. He also commends the creative team at IMPACT for all the work they’ve been doing as of late. Highlights are below.
On his on-screen relationship with Kenny Omega:
If you think about it — I don’t wanna speak for Kenny. We haven’t spoken about this but I think if you look at it, being the top guy in Japan is a very different proposition than coming in, being the face of a brand new wrestling promotion that everybody’s talking about. I think Kenny just, for the last year didn’t feel totally comfortable and totally like he could be himself. One of the nice things about family is you know, when we get together with family for dinner or to go to Church or whatever we do, we feel comfortable. We feel we can be ourselves and I think because of the bond that Kenny and I have goes back two decades or more, I think Kenny feels he can be himself, when I’m there and so I think we feed off each other and Dave Meltzer has described it over and over as a Heenan-Bockwinkel type of dynamic where both parties feed off the other one and it’s made to be a superior tandem and I think that’s what we’ve seen is Kenny, I think Kenny’s comfortable and he’s comfortable being himself.
Praises the IMPACT creative team for the job they’ve been doing:
Look, the team at IMPACT does a great job. Everyone from Ed Nordholm to Scott D’Amore, myself, guys like Tommy [Dreamer], D’Lo [Brown], many other people, people on the creative team do a great job and I think Scott and I have always said, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ and we’ve tried to make those sorts of changes and tried to put on a product and you don’t hit on everything obviously, but it’s a process and I think that I’ve been excited about IMPACT Wrestling for a long time and I think you’re right. I think the people, once they find it, they realize this is a great show. In terms of the trending and the accolades and the metrics around Tuesday night which are huge, I guess I would say the same thing to fans of AEW, you’re welcome.