AEW: Kenny Omega Wrestling First Singles Match Since November 2021

The Best Bout Machine has been exclusive to the trios division for his entire 2022 tenure. Kenny Omega made his return from injury this past summer for the AEW World Trios Titles Tournament, teaming with longtime partners the Young Bucks. The three men, collectively known as The Elite, ran the gauntlet, emerging victorious over La Faccion Ingobernable, United Empire, and The Dark Order en route to becoming the company’s first-ever trios champions. While Omega and the Bucks spent a bulk of the fall suspended, the three men returned at AEW All Out to challenge Death Triangle for the titles they never lost, and have been locked in a best-of-seven series with Pac and the Lucha Brothers ever since.

There is at least one more match in that best-of-seven, but before Match 5 goes down, Omega is getting involved in the singles division once again. Omega is set to wrestle on tonight’s AEW Dark, taking on Hagane Shinno. Shinno has wrestled on AEW Dark on a number of occasions these past couple of months and is known for competing for Japanese promotions Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling and DDT.

Omega’s upcoming AEW Dark match marks the first time that the former AEW World Champion has competed in a singles capacity since AEW Full Gear 2021, when he lost the aforementioned championship to Hangman Page. Following that match, Omega took nearly a year off to recover from multiple nagging injuries.

Beyond that, this one-on-one bout comes just weeks before Omega returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling. On January 4th, Omega challenges IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 in a match that has been building for years.

The full line-up for tonight’s AEW Dark can be seen below…

AEW Dark (12/20)

• Kenny Omega vs. Hagane Shinno
• Angelico & Chaos Project (Serpentico & Luther) vs. Jay Marte, Jarett Diaz, & Richard Adonis
• Parker Boudreaux vs. Gus De La Vega
• Action Andretti vs. Invictus Khash
• TBS Championship Eliminator Match: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Dream Girl Ellie
• The Wingmen (Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth) vs. Jake St. Patrick & Sage Scott
• Julia Hart vs. Sahara Seven
• Kip Sabian vs. Caleb Konley
• Marina Shafir vs. Angelica Risk
• Ricky Starks vs. Cezar Bononi
• Jeff Jarrett & Satnam Singh vs. Dean Alexander & Rosario Grillo

AEW Dark begins streaming on AEW’s YouTube channel tonight at 7 PM ET.