Kenny Omega‘s goal had been aiming to be back for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, but his recovery hit some speedbumps.
The former AEW World Champion has been out of action since he dropped the title to Hangman Page at AEW Full Gear in November 2021. Since then, he’s had multiple surgeries to correct a variety of issues, and he has been focusing on rehabilitation in recent months.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Omega discussed his ongoing recovery. When asked about the timetable for his return, Omega stated that he wanted to return in time for Forbidden Door, and he was disappointed that he couldn’t meet this objective. He noted that while he’d like to be involved with the show in another capacity, he doesn’t want to detract from the other wrestlers, so he’s content with cheering everyone on from the sidelines.
“If I’m gonna be honest, my timetable before all of this started, I wanted to be back for this show,” said Omega, “Being back for this show was incredibly important to me, and I really, really, really want to mix it up with somebody from New Japan, and it sucks that I couldn’t do it. And it’s to the point where I wanna be on this show, even if it’s just to do commentary. I just want involvement, but I’m not there yet.
“And so I don’t want to take a spot from anybody. I don’t wanna put a spotlight on myself when it’s not gonna lead to anything. So I definitely am very cool to sit and cheer on the sidelines for everyone to go out there and kill it and have a great show.”
Omega then described how returning to the road and working as an agent was detrimental to his recovery because it forced him to miss some rehab days. For this reason, he decided to stay home and focus on helping the company remotely.
“And yeah, in terms of timeline, I put myself back on the road to help out with some of the Owen Hart Cup matches and I felt that it was too soon,” said Omega. “It was too difficult for me to miss three or four days of rehab and to have to put myself into a position where I was flying again and being very hands on with talent and you know when I’m trying to agent something, or I’m trying to show something, or I’m moving around from point A to point B backstage, I’m moving quicker than I thought that I would, and I’m doing more than I thought that I would. I’m not eating properly and I’m not resting properly, and I felt that it really started to set me back.”
“And I’m not saying that I would have been ready for Forbidden Door had I not done it, but when I started to recognize that it was a detriment to my recovery, I kept myself home and I’m focusing on what I can do remotely and I’m kind of doing everything that I can for the game now to make sure that we can make release.”
RELATED: Tony Khan Confirms Injuries To Kyle O’Reilly And Bobby Fish
