While Kenny Omega‘s signing on Thursday with All Elite Wrestling was largely expected throughout the wrestling industry, it still represented a major turning point in the career of Omega and the short history of the new wrestling promotion.
Omega has been the number one free agent in the wrestling world this year, and in previous years, and his signing with AEW represents a shift in power when it comes to the non-WWE wrestling landscape. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and New Japan Pro Wrestling star went all in (no pun intended) with his friends Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Adam Page on this new venture.
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Omega reportedly turned down a more than generous offer from WWE right away and seems as if there was never a doubt over which company he would be signing with. As for Omega’s prospects on his future with AEW, he sounds supremely confident.
Omega sat down with Wrestling Observer Radio to talk about the specifics of the deal, which include it being the biggest money contract Omega has ever signed while also giving him freedom to pick-up work opportunities outside of wrestling.
“I remember signing my first contract with New Japan and I was nervous, because it was like wow, a 2 year contract, that’s a lot of time, a lot can change” Omega said. “And now with AEW, I’m signing for 4 years. And I never… it just felt natural. I didn’t feel nervous. It’s a large contract for me, largest one that I’ve signed. But I didn’t feel like I was making the wrong choice and it was cool to feel that way.
“The cool part, too, is like, with the contract, it leaves me very open for a ton of crossover potential, which is always the most important thing for me because I don’t necessarily want to be remembered for what I do in the ring. I want to be able to crossover into all different kinds of media. So, I’m going to be able to do my stuff with eSports, I’m going to be able to do all types of stuff with ESPN and all that, some acting stuff. These opportunities now… there’s no red tape. It’s in my contract where I can freely do those and pursue them, which is great.”
AEW’s first event, Double Or Nothing, will take place on May 25th in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Omega is expected to wrestle Chris Jericho at the show, a rematch of their bout at last year’s NJPW WrestleKingdom event at the Tokyo Dome.
