Kenny Omega wants to remind everyone that he’s still very much a heel. After dropping his AEW World Championship at Full Gear to Hangman Page, “The Belt Collector” stepped away from AEW programming in order to undergo a number of surgeries and repair the injuries that plagued him throughout his world title reign. His return was initially reported for February, but even he later admitted that was too optimistic. On Monday night a wrestling fan tweeted out that Omea could miss the first half of 2022 and still walk away with Wrestler of the Year awards. Omega took it a step further, “The bar is shockingly low in 2022. I could show up in December and still win via landslide.”
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The former champ gave an update about his recovery during a recent interview with the Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer noted last week that Omega likely won’t be cleared in time for Double or Nothing next month, leaving many to wonder if he’ll be back before AEW’s first crossover event with New Japan, Forbidden Door, in June.ย
“I was perhaps a little too optimistic. I was hoping to be back by February, and it’s not looking that way anymore,” Omega told the Observer earlier this year. “And that’s not to say that there was a huge snag or that you know there’s something that is terribly wrong. It’s not that. It’s just when you’re trying to get appointments and things fixed, you have it in your brain that oh yeah, I can just call a number, and I’ll get in the next day.
“I’m still feeling a little bit better as time goes by and that’s without even having to do a lot of the major procedures that need to be done. That’s just myself working with trainers and doing the proper rehab. I was leaning too heavily into my strengths as a performer and as an athlete. I guess over the years there were either just natural strengths that I had or things that I had overdeveloped and I was relying too much on those things,” he continued. “Now that the knees are gone, the neck’s going, a lot of stuff was going on.”
Who do you think are the frontrunners for Wrestle of the Year so far in 2022? Tell us your picks down in the comments and stay tuned for full coverage of AEW Dynamite tomorrow night!ย
