Dominic Garrini Explains How His Match vs. KENTA Came Together, Wants KENTA To Hit Him As Hard As He Can

Dominic Garrini discusses his upcoming bout against KENTA. 

On November 24, KENTA comes to AIW in Ohio to take on Dominic Garrini. KENTA is a legendary name in the world of wrestling, but only makes select independent appearances and hasn’t wrestled an independent match in Ohio since he appeared for ROH in 2007. 

Speaking to Jeremy Lambert & Stephen Jensen on The Spotlight, Dominic Garrini discussed his upcoming bout against KENTA. 

“We [Kevin Ku & Garrini] got hit up to do the GCW WrestleCade show and I told Brett [Brett Lauderdale], ‘I have a big one, I can’t really do that one.’ John [John Thorne] will usually consult me before he books a name or anybody. He said, ‘I hit Rocky [Rocky Romero] up, he offered KENTA.’ ‘Oh, really?’ I don’t think KENTA has ever been in this area, nor would he ever come back, so you should take it. Then it was ‘Who should get him?’ We had ideas and some people were like, ‘Do Tom Lawlor vs. KENTA.’ John’s theory is Tom Lawlor vs. KENTA could happen at any New Japan Wrestling show. I honestly thought it had happened on a New Japan STRONG show. It hasn’t. The idea was to do a match where you can’t get anywhere else. Over the last four years, a lot of my style has become the ‘kick the shit out of you’ style, and KENTA really originated that as a junior heavyweight. I watched a lot of KENTA coming up and the idea of getting to wrestle that guy is an amazing idea,” he said. 

Garrini said KENTA’s bouts against Bryan Danielson, Chris Hero, and Roderick Strong in ROH are some of his favorite matches. 

“My hope is to bring it out of him, bring those matches out of him. I want him to come here and literally hit me as hard as he can, and I want to have that feeling. I’m hoping that fans give us the streamer treatment. I’m very excited for it and excited for everybody about it. There are not a lot of guys left for me in terms of the dream match list. KENTA Is one I thought I’d never get to check off,” he said. 

Fans can learn more about AIW Hell on Earth by clicking here. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Garrini commented on Chris Hero’s return to the independents. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

Watch the full interview with Garrini in the video above.