Jim Ross Comments On The Elite Potentially Leaving ROH & NJPW

On the latest episode of The Jim Ross Report, Good Ol’ JR gave his take on the likelihood of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks leaving the ROH and NJPW promotions in January.

“As I said early on, the card for the Ring of Honor Madison Square Garden Show, with New Japan, will probably look entirely different then, compared to what one would assume it look like if it was booked today,” Ross said. “I think there’s gonna be a lot of movement with some of the biggest stars in the game.”

While not betraying anyone’s confidence, Ross implied that his opinion is informed, and not just speculation. “Just picking up a little bit here, a little bit there, and I’ll keep you apprised,” Ross said.

“I’m talking to a lot of these cats that have opportunities to do other things, casually… I think some people’s motors are running and the wheels are turning,” he said.

Don Callis On Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho Potentially Going To Impact Wrestling

Don Callis is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega match at the Tokyo Dome this year. All three are from Winnipeg and Callis also has his own podcast through the Chris Jericho podcast network.

At the Slammiversary press conference in Toronto recently, Callis indicated to me he’d love to bring Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”

Callis recently doubled-down on his comments during his appearance on Jim Ross’ podcast.

Callis explained his history with Omega. “I’ve been on this journey with Kenny Omega since he was a 16-year-old kid who I booked,” Callis explained.

“I gave him his first break wrestling for the promotion I had in Winnipeg [Canada]. And his uncle, The Golden Sheik, who was an indie wrestler in Winnipeg helped train me in the [pro wrestling] business in 1989, so my roots with Kenny go back many years. I’ve been on this journey with him, and specifically since I’ve been in New Japan and we have a very close relationship. We talk about ideas, we do things, I helped put together the match between him and Chris [Jericho] for the Tokyo Dome.”

Callis continued to say the chances of Omega and Jericho appearing in an Impact Wrestling ring are less remote than they seemed not too long ago.

“I kind of say, ‘never say ‘never” and I think that one of the things that we’ve been doing under Ed Nordholm here at Impact is breaking some longstanding paradigms of pro wrestling,” Callis said.

“The intellectual property stuff that we’ve talked about before, but also we’ve been working with multiple people now and now recently announced by Chris Jericho and I know [Ross] will be on that cruise, so that’ll be cool, get to have a beer together. It’s going to be Impact and Ring Of Honor on the same cruise ship, so there’s some stuff that’s probably going to happen and I don’t think you can have those talents in a closed environment like that, so we are working, in a sense if you take that, with Ring Of Honor right now.

We’ve got Taiji Ishimori coming in for our pay-per-view and our TV in July. The Bone Soldier just started with New Japan, so we’ll see what happens. How many people would’ve thought that Chris Jericho would’ve headlined the Tokyo Dome with New Japan Pro-Wrestling? I was so sheepish when I pitched it to him because he always told me, ‘I will never work for anyone except Vince McMahon and I have a deep respect for Vince.’ Obviously, he took Vince into consideration. Vince is the first guy he told about it. Nevertheless, it shocked me that Chris was on a New Japan show, so I’ve learned to say, ‘never say ‘never” in this business.”

Can Don Callis Bring Kenny Omega To Impact Wrestling?

Impact Wrestling recently held a press conference in Toronto to promote their upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view.

During the conference, Callis was asked about Canadian wrestling prospects he might be interested in signing. His answer surprised me. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”

Chris Jericho likely isn’t working for an English language-based company other than WWE anytime soon. The potential for Kenny Omega ending up in Impact Wrestling somewhere down the line, however, is far greater.

Impact recently announced Taiji Ishimori will be returning to the company. Following Ishimori’s debut in NJPW, it was believed he was done with Impact. Ishimori was recently announced as competing at Slammiversary, however, indicating a deal has been reached for him to work for both companies.

Ishimori working for NJPW and Impact Wrestling is an interesting development. NJPW has talent-sharing agreements with CMLL and ROH. Impact Wrestling, in TNA form, previously had such an agreement as well.  After Kazuchika Okada’s excursion to the company went poorly, however, there was said to be a falling out between the two companies.

While one bridge between Impact and NJPW had been burnt, NJPW’s color commentator being hired as Impact Wrestling’s new co-Vice President built another. The Ishimori signing indicates Impact has at least cracked the door open for a talent-sharing arrangement with the talent-rich promotion. If that door opens fully, Kenny Omega will be the first one Callis brings in.

While it’s unknown if ROH and NJPW’s talent-sharing agreement is exclusive in the United States and Canada, it has worked out that way ever since TNA and NJPW had a falling out. ROH and Impact Wrestling don’t seem to mind sharing talent, however. They have already done so with Austin Aries.

To make things even more interesting, Chris Jericho recently announced Impact Wrestling will be apart of his cruise later this fall.

Kenny Omega Responds To Jim Cornette Burying His Work

Jim Cornette is not a fan of Kenny Omega. As he does with all of his opinions, Cornette has made this one perfectly clear.

While previous rivals of Cornette’s have gone so far as to take out restraining orders against him, Omega believes a good hard-handed Tweet is enough to get the job done.

Cornette sent out the following response to a video of Kota Ibushi giving repeated Canadian Destroyers to a dummy:

To which Omega responded with:

Kenny Omega really has warned Cornette about tagging him in his posts before. Omega has said Cornette can bury him all he wants but would rather he didn’t tag him in the comments so that they appear on his Twitter timeline.

Omega first made these statements to Cornette last year:

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho at one time thought Cornette would make the perfect manager for him while he feuded with Omega.

Cornette’s old-school no-nonsense approach to pro-wrestling is unwavering. As a result, he is not in favor of highspot-centric wrestling which he feels is exhibited by many of today’s modern wrestlers.

In some cases, Cornette believes this wrestling is too dangerous and at other times he feels it hurts the credibility of the sport.

In response to a question about why he continues to tag Omega in his posts, Cornette posted the following:

Kenny Omega probably isn’t too concerned about Cornette at the moment, however. One of the biggest matches of his career is upcoming at NJPW’s Dominion show on June 9th, 2018.

Omega will challenge IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, in a best 2-out-of-3 falls match. Should Omega be victorious, he will only be the second member of Bullet Club to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.