Kyle O’Reilly Reflects On Facing KUSHIDA In NJPW Best Of The Super Junior XXII Final: He’s One Of My Favorite Opponents

Kyle O’Reilly reflects on the finals of NJPW Best Of The Super Junior XXII. 

In 2015, KUSHIDA defeated Kyle O’Reilly in the finals of NJPW Best Of The Super Junior XXII. Prior to Kyle becoming Ring of Honor World Champion and joining NXT where he would headline multiple NXT TakeOvers, this was one of Kyle’s first major main event singles matches. 

Speaking with Sean Ross Sapp about the memorable match, Kyle would say that he originally felt like he didn’t live up to expectations with that match and would say that he was concerned about KUSHIDA being knocked out during the contest. 

“In the time, I was mortified coming back. I thought it was awful,” he admitted. “KUSHIDA got knocked out. A bunch of stuff went a little hairy. I was like, ‘We shit the bed completely.’ You put so much pressure on yourself. This whole tour had been building up to where it’s this finals match, and I put a lot of stress on myself and had such high expectations. This is before I learned, it’s 2015, so it’s before I learned that there is always going to be curveballs thrown at you every single time. Every big match I’ve ever had, something unexpected has happened. That’s just the nature of wrestling and performing live. You never know what to expect. That match, in the moment, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ 

“Looking back, I’m extremely proud of it and KUSHIDA is one of my all-time favorite opponents,” he continued. “Sometimes, you come across guys who you have such amazing chemistry with right off the bat. Before we even wrestled, I could tell, ‘Me and this guy are going to work really well together.’ Obviously, the New Japan office saw that as well and gave us the opportunity to face each other in the finals. I’m extremely proud of that moment because it’s a huge moment in my career to have main-evented Best of the Super Juniors. It’s really cool.” 

Kyle O’Reilly also has chemistry with Roderick Strong. Fans can read Kyle’s thoughts on working with Roderick after he returned from injury at this link. 

Check out the full interview with Kyle embedded above