Kenny Omega Says He Was Told He’d ‘Never Be Anything’ in WWE’s Abusive Developmental

Kenny Omega just peeled back the curtain on what life was really like in WWE’s Deep South developmental system—and it wasn’t pretty.

Speaking on a Twitch stream, Omega got brutally honest about his experience under then-trainer Bill DeMott. He described the environment as mentally and physically punishing to the point of emotional exhaustion.

“He toughened us up,” Omega said, before describing what that looked like. “He allowed for me to develop a palette to eat shit on a daily basis over and over again, get the fuck beaten out of me on a daily basis over and over again. Be told that you’re nothing, that you’ll never be anything, that you’re not good enough, that everything you do is wrong, that you suck.”

Omega said enduring that treatment built a mental toughness that helped him survive the independent scene—but it didn’t make it okay. The wrestling star admitted he often questioned whether DeMott was simply playing the same harsh persona fans saw on Tough Enough. “I always had a theory that he was just trying to continue the character that he was famous for.”

And yet, despite the abuse, Omega expressed a complicated respect for what he went through. “If you can endure that, you emerge as a better person, a tougher person. For that, I would love to shake his hand or buy him a meal.”

Omega’s account echoes years of allegations from other wrestlers who claim DeMott’s methods crossed the line. WWE cut ties with DeMott in 2015 after several former trainees came forward with stories of abuse.

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