AEW’s Kenny Omega Explains His Return to New Japan

AEW’s Kenny Omega made a surprise appearance at the Historic X-Over event this past weekend to announce he’d be returning to New Japan Pro-Wrestling on Jan. 4 to challenge Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship. Omega departed from the promotion — the same where he achieved worldwide fame — back in early 2019 in order to join AEW as an executive vice president and one of its top stars. He discussed his decision to return to Japan in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week. 

“I’m returning to New Japan as an ambassador of AEW,” Omega said. “I’m returning to New Japan as an ambassador of pro wrestling. I’m also returning home. I left to start this new, exciting opportunity, but it’s still home. Now the things Will can do are things I cannot. He’s an athletic phenom. But as finely tuned as he is physically, he still hasn’t doesn’t have the knowledge or experience. I pushed my own physical boundaries in All Japan and DDT, but that’s not what I’m known for. My mind is my greatest asset, not my athleticism. That’s what’s allowed [Hiroshi] Tanahashi to have such a long and flavorful career.

“I needed someone to take my place in New Japan, I wanted someone to take my place–and it was Will, Jay [White], and [Kota] Ibushi. Will is the only one to have a problem with that,” he added. 

Omega has been incredibly critical of Ospreay both in promos and interviews over the past few years, usually calling him out for not properly succeeding “The Cleaner” as the top non-Japanese star in NJPW.

“A guy like Will, who is great at moves and has a list of 20 very forgettable five-star matches. [laughs] I’m going a little too hard on Will. Will is great. I don’t want to say anything bad about Will. Here’s the thing, if we’re being completely honest with each other, I do believe that with the current rating system, and how things are viewed, I believe that Will has earned every last one of those five-star performances that he has had,” Omega told Fightful earlier this year. “I’m digging myself into a hole here, Will is there and Will is great. I’m glad to see him in a marquee match against Orange Cassidy. I’m just saying that I think New Japan made the right choice by going with Jay White. He was the star of the two, is all I’m saying.”