Kyle O’Reilly Discusses His Current Status With ROH, If He Wants to Go to WWE or NXT, and What’s Special About Working in Japan

– Rolling Stone recently interviewed Kyle O’Reilly. Below are some highlights.

On his current status with ROH: “As of right now, we don’t really have anything confirmed. To be honest, I don’t know what the future for Kyle O’Reilly holds. I’m looking at taking a bit of time away and re-evaluating things. 2017 will mark 12 years in the business for me. It has taken its toll. Traveling, plus being a Type-One diabetic, it’s taken a toll on my health. I’m kind of just needing a bit of a break to reassess my future and weigh my options. Never say never though, I’m certainly not definitely done with Ring of Honor, but I’m just going to see what comes my way and remain optimistic.”

O’Reilly on possibly going to NXT or WWE: “There isn’t anyone who gets into this business without dreams and visions of having that Wrestlemania moment. That’s what’s driven me to pursue wrestling to this degree, overall. It’s naive to think anything else. Of course if that opportunity was to come around, then I would strongly, strongly, consider it. That being said, I don’t have any concrete plans moving forward. But never say never. Ideally I would love that if it worked out. All I ever wanted was to create art and be the best pro wrestler that I can be. So I need to find an environment that is conducive to that and that will allow me to be that performer. You never know what could happen in WWE. I could be slapped with a gimmick that I’m a nanny for all I know. It is nice to see that they’ve started to recognize past achievements in wrestling. It puts you above where a lot of other people are starting. It’s a nice perk. But I just want to go where I’m appreciated, and whether that’s WWE, Japan or the independents, that remains to be seen.”

O’Reilly on what’s special about Japan: “Just their appreciation for pro wrestling. Pro wrestlers are revered, and respected. In the newspapers, there’s baseball results, and then there’s the wrestling results. It’s treated so much differently than it is in the United States. Not to say that American fans aren’t absolute amazing. They’re great, and wrestling in the United States is awesome. And of course there’s great money wrestling in the States. It’s just that there’s something different about wrestling in Japan. I’m not sure that everyone would attest to that, maybe it’s just having the martial-arts based style makes it easier for me. It just seems magical. You watch the old tapes of Japanese wrestling, and something about it feels different.”