Posted on 5/30/125 by Colin Vassallo
WWE Superstar Omos joined Chris Van Vliet on the latest
episode of Insight for an interview where he talks about
realizing he was much taller than average, his run in Pro
Wrestling NOAH, wrestling Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and
more!
On when he realized he was growing faster than average:
“Not until I got to college in the States. It took me years
of playing basketball, and then the doctor realized that
what’s going on with you is not normal. Just thought I was a
growing kid.”
On what would have happened had the doctor not realized:
“I’d have been dead. So it’s kind of similar to what Andre
The Giant had. It’s called acromegaly. I think Big Show has
it as well. But mine is kind of unique, because I have
acromegaly, I also have gigantism, just means that you just
grow really, really tall, and I have what you call Partial
Cushing’s disease. I don’t know how to explain, it’s kind of
complicated, but I have all three combined, and it was the
first time in endocrine history that they found a patient
that has all three combined. So I’m a really, really rare
case, to the point where they had a journal published about
my case. Yes, it was a treat for endocrine doctors to say we
have read about this in textbooks, but you’re the first
person to admit that actually has this condition.”
On competing in Japan:
“What happened was I saw Tavion Heights of NXT and Josh
Briggs go to Japan. I was just watching the videos and
everything. Then, as they were doing shows in Japan, an
interview came out with Great Muta, they asked him who would
you love to have in Japan? The first name he mentions is me.
I’m like, Oh, wow. That’s great. I didn’t think he would
remember me, but he did. So I kind of threw the idea to a
couple of guys about Japan. I remember seeing Road Dogg at
the PC, ‘Hey, do you have a couple of minutes to chat? Not
really busy right now, but I would love to go to Japan.’ He
said, ‘You know what? Let me think about it.’ And then a
couple months later, he was like, ‘Hey, you have an
opportunity to go to Japan. Do you want to go?’ I was like,
Yes! I want to go to Japan. To be honest, I am glad I did. I
needed to go to Japan.”
On his style in Japan:
“I would say a little bit [different]. I took a lot of
things that I learned while I was working with MVP. There
were a lot of things that we talked about when we were on
the road together, because he taught me a lot. I just took
all that style. When I was there, I called him, because he
wrestled in Japan. I called him. I called Shelton Benjamin,
and they go, ‘Hey, in Japan, you’re a heel, be a heel. They
love it, be the nastiest heel.’ I’m like, Oh, really? So I
really got to embrace that. And they loved it.”
On whether there were concerns Brock Lesnar could not German
suplex him:
“No, Brock, he’s a specimen. I wasn’t worried at all. People
forget he’s a farm boy. He throws hay for a living. So him
picking me up at 300-400 pounds. I knew he was gonna be able
to do that. If Bobby can pick me up, I knew he could. That
was my first time ever taking a suplex. Never taken it in
training, never done it in the PC, not from anyone. That’s
the first time I ever took it in German suplex was during
that match.”
You didn’t do it the day before?
“No. He’s such a great dude. Because I remember during
rehearsals, he just goes, ‘Hey, how many Germans do you want
to do?’ I’m like, ‘Brother, it’s you, Brock. However much
you want to give me. You’re doing me a favor with this
match. So however many Germans you want that makes you look
good, we’re gonna do it.’ He goes, okay.”
On the F5:
“That F5 was easy. The German suplexes sucked. But for the
first time in my entire life, I never felt someone hook me
that way, and I could feel the muscles contract when he
picked me up. For the first time I felt that oh sh*t, I
can’t do anything.”