The MMA India Show had a great time speaking to Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Rich Swann ahead of his career-defining match against AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega at Impact Wrestling: Rebellion.
About his ways to better Kenny Omega, known to the fans across the world as one of the best wrestlers in the planet, Swann said: “Kenny Omega, he is revered as one of the top wrestlers in this whole entire industry right now. What is see Kenny Omega is someone that goes out and just exerts all of his heart and shows the love of professional wrestling that he has and, you know, he goes out and displays the art that he has learned all over the world, all over Japan, all over Canada, all over the states. The one thing that is going to have me best Kenny Omega at Rebellion is his attitude and his ego that he has been displaying to the world after he became AEW Champion.”
He goes on theorizing that Omega, being a talented professional wrestler, will not be able to convince himself to use the assists of The Good Brothers and his other friends for this historic match, and that is an advantage for The Impact World Heavyweight Champion.
“And the thing is, in every single situation when Kenny and I went one on one, I bested him. It’s one on one, not a six-man tag. There will be no one to help Kenny Omega through the fire that I have and the determination that I have to be the best,” he adds.
About the pressure created by the prestige of Impact Wrestling being effectively on the line for the match, he says that he has battled adversity all his life. It is the biggest match of his career and he feels the pressure. However, it excites him as well.
“And now have the whole entire roster looking at me. Friends and foes, they’re wondering if I can do it. Some of them are downing me, if I can do it and beat the man whom everybody looks at as the best in this business. The pressure is on, but when the pressure is on, that’s when I perform the best,” Swann says.
About the difference in the working styles of WWE and Impact Wrestling, Swann comments that WWE is a gigantic machine with a lot of people as expected from a multi-million dollars company. He enjoyed his time there and is proud to have held the Cruiserweight Championship. Impact is more tight-knit, with less people. He is fortunate enough to have received many opportunities at the promotion and will never let them go out of his mind.
About the budding relationship between AEW and Impact Wrestling, he says that while he is not a party to the inner workings of the company, he thinks it can only be a breath of fresh air for the industry.
“Now that you’ve some of the greatest minds behind the scenes at Impact Wrestling and some of the greatest minds behind the scenes at AEW and now they’ve come together, it’s something that we needed. It’s a breath of fresh air… a great alternative to the fans and I think the people are enjoying it, as I am myself,” he says.
Swann spoke of retirement a couple of years back and now finds himself a World Championship. About his revival, he says that there are people who cared for him and told him not to hang up his boots and stayed at his side at all times, leading him to this revival. He loves the professional wrestling industry and is proud to be a part of it.
About the chance of Impact Wrestling letting fans inside their arena anytime soon, Swann says that while he is not privy to company information, he hopes that not only Impact but all promotions in the world can let fans be a part of their shows as soon as the pandemic weakens and regulations loosen.
On the challengers he will like to have a match with provided he wins his mega-bout against “The Cleaner”, Swann has some interesting names.
“I think the next challenger for the Championship, for Impact Wrestling, because I don’t think I would want to defend the World Champions of two different companies at the same time… On the Impact side, I’d love to defend the World Championship against somebody who I think is one of the hardest working dudes in this business, and that’s Eddie Edwards… And also I’d like to say Willie Mack as well. It’s a toss up between these two for the Impact side.”
“On the AEW Side, I’d like to defend the Championship against Darby Allin because I think our different styles of wrestling, our clash would be a clash for the lifetime. We may have different styles, but we’re the same in fire, heart and determination and that’s why I think that we’ll just kill it,” he states.
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