All Elite Wrestling has always been Tony Khan’s baby, but a massive part of the company’s identity is directly tied to Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. These four men, collectively known as The Elite, fostered the professional wrestling revolution that swept the industry throughout the 2010s, elevating promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling to mainstream status. That same spirit was the lifeblood of AEW upon launch. While Rhodes has since moved on to WWE, Omega and the Bucks remain crucial pieces to the AEW puzzle, even if they no longer have the pull that they used to.
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Kenny Omega Reflects on AEW’s Evolution
The Best Bout Machine has been #AllElite for nearly five years.
Kenny Omega signed on AEW’s dotted line back in early 2019 ahead of his headlining match at AEW’s inaugural event, AEW Double or Nothing 2019. Back then, Omega was firmly positioned in the main event, feuding with Jon Moxley and capturing tag gold before going on a then-record-setting AEW World Championship reign.
Speaking to Bleacher Report, Omega reflected on how AEW has evolved since its humble beginnings.
“Everything changes and it’s hard to really predict with 100 percent accuracy how something is going to end up. There was a lot of new promotion energy back then,” Omega said. “There was a lot of excitement, and people were willing to give us the benefit of the doubt and give us a shot. We had a locker room and a team of real go-getters. Every week was something new, something exciting. We were just trying to get our footing. Now we have a much larger roster, and we have a lot of our bases covered.”
Those early AEW years featured Omega in one of the most prominent positions on the card. He rode that wave until AEW Full Gear 2021, the show that he lost the AEW World Title at. After that pay-per-view, Omega spent an extended time on the shelf, nursing various nagging injuries. He returned to programming in Summer 2022 and has largely been a tag and trios wrestler since.
“Is it different now than it was on day one? Absolutely it’s different. Do I still feel that I have an identity within this company? Yeah, it’s still AEW. From 2019 until now, every single year has been completely different from one another,” Omega continued. “I didn’t even realize it until you asked me the question just now how different year one was from year two and year three. It’s all about making the fans happy. You strip back everything from the original mission statement, it was really all about making fans happy. At the end of the day, if the fans are happy with the product, if the networks are happy, if everyone is happy who consumes our product, then I’m happy too.”
Omega teams with Chris Jericho to face the Young Bucks this Saturday, November 18th at AEW Full Gear.
