5 Independent Wrestlers Who Should Stay Away from WWE

2. Kenny Omega | PWI Rank: 3 | Age: 33

Kenny Omega is PWI’s third best wrestler in the world, and he deserves it. His matches with Kazuchika Okada were the best 2016 had to offer, and is already at the top of the list for 2017 as well.

If these matches were taking place in a WWE ring, they wouldn’t be as great.

If Omega and Okada were in WWE and were wrestling each other, the matches would be significantly worse. Not because of the men in the match, but because of the lack of freedom WWE gives their talent to be able to do what Omega and Okada can do in NJPW.

New Japan has complete faith in Omega to put on a five-star match each time he goes out in that ring. They know that he can do it, so they let him. They give him the freedom to do what he wants in the ring.

As a part of New Japan Pro Wrestling Omega is guaranteed a spot at the top of every card. His name will be on all the marquees, as the main event guy, and fans will come in droves to see him. Omega made his name in NJPW. Because of this, like many others, he feels a connection with the promotion. He loves it there.

Omega was in WWE from 2005 to 2006, and spent that time in Deep South Wrestling – WWE’s developmental brand at the time. Omega described his time in WWE developmental on Talk is Jericho, and said that he enjoyed his time there, but he felt like if he went to Japan, he could become a bigger star, and make WWE better when he came back.

But he is on top of his game in NJPW. He’s doing his best work there and seeing the treatment of other New Japan stars in WWE can’t be a boost of confidence for anyone there to want to come to WWE, let alone Omega.

As of this writing, Omega is 33 years old, while that’s not too old for wrestling, his career will be coming to a close sooner rather than later. His body is in great shape for how old he is and how long he’s been wresting, so he probably has close to another decade worth of wrestling left in him, maybe more if things keep going right for him.

But the question he has to ask himself is: How does he want to spend the rest of his career?

Would he rather be in the biggest promotion in the world, but always be in the middle of the card? Or, would he rather be in the second largest promotion in the world, but be guaranteed a spot at the top of the card?

WWE has to seem tempting to Omega. But, as I mentioned before, Vince appears to have a vendetta against wrestlers who make their names in places other than WWE.

For proof of this, you need to look no further than Shinsuke Nakamura, who left NJPW for WWE in early 2016. He debuted on NXT the night before WrestleMania 32 to a raucous NXT crowd and put on the match of the weekend against Sami Zayn in Zayn’s final match in NXT.

Nakamura enjoyed a stellar year-long run in NXT taking on guys like Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship. Fans were eagerly awaiting his main roster debut the week after WrestleMania 33 this year.

When his music hit the Tuesday night after Mania the SmackDown fans went ballistic, he then would go on to not wrestle for almost a month in a televised match. Instead of helping his stock to rise in the eyes of main roster fans, people began to sour on one of the hottest NXT “products” in the last couple of years.

Fast forward a few months, and he is challenging for the WWE Championship. So, I know what you’re thinking, WWE isn’t wasting him then. But they are.

He’s already challenged once for the title and lost to Jinder Mahal after one shot from Jinder’s weak finisher. In a match that Nakamura had controlled, and taken very little damage in.

Things could change at Hell in a Cell, and they should. But WWE has such a poor track record for treating foreign stars, that Omega should be wary about joining the company.