Will Kenny Omega Be Back in Time for AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door?
AEW and New Japan officially confirmed on this week's AEW Dynamite that the two companies will have their first crossover event, Forbidden Door, on June 26 at the United Center in Chicago. One name that wasn't mentioned during the announcement was Kenny Omega, a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion whose rivalry with Kazuchika Okada and reign as Bullet Club's leader helped increase New Japan's popularity in the United States and contributed to the eventual creation of AEW. Omega's record-setting reign as AEW World Champion ended at Full Gear last November and he has been out of action ever since, recovering from a handful of surgeries he went through to repair several injuries that plagued him throughout his championship run.
Omega was initially reported to be back by February, but he's since given interviews admitting that timetable was a bit too optimistic. Dave Meltzer gave an update on "The Cleaner's" status on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, stating that "it doesn't sound promising" that he'll be back in time for AEW's Double or Nothing in Las Vegas in May.
He also mentioned that Okada (currently the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion) claimed he might not be able to make the show either due to his wife's birthday being a day later, then noted he might be joking. Meltzer then speculated that Omega, if he's ready by then, might not compete at Forbidden Door but still appear in some capacity in order to set up a match with "The Rainmaker" for All Out in September.
"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."