Kenny Omega scared wrestling fans everywhere when he revealed on a gaming stream that if he had one more major setback, he would be done as a professional wrestler. But this doesn’t appear to be something that has Tony Khan worried.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan recently sat down with Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked if he had any concerns about Omega’s recent comments, Khan revealed he was still optimistic that The Cleaner was returning to the ring for All Elite Wrestling when he gets healthy.
“I’m always concerned whenever a wrestler has an injury, but in Kenny Omega’s case he carried the load through more injuries than probably anyone I’ve seen in terms of working through a sustained period where he was limited and still having great matches in the ring, and also doing great box office for the company as a great champion,” Tony Khan said. “It is a little bit different because you’re dealing with multiple injuries as opposed to one injury. I’m optimistic. I don’t want to put a timetable on it. I’m still optimistic Kenny’s coming back. I think it’s gonna go well. I think he’s gonna be OK. I don’t know when and I’m optimistic. Nobody can put themselves in his shoes, but I feel good about it. I’m gonna talk more to him too. I know he’s been through a lot but I know he’s still trying to get back.”
Tony Khan was also asked about his favorite non-wrestler athlete as a kid, and he revealed that it was Magic Johnson, which is very surprising for a kid growing up in the Chicago area during the rise of Michael Jordan. TK went on to explain why he connected with Johnson.
“The first time I saw basketball was actually the Lakers-Bulls, Magic Johnson versus Michael Jordan,” Tony Khan revealed. “They were going too much to stop Magic Johnson and the Bulls had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and it almost didn’t seem fair to the one guy, who all his teammates were out. I was growing up in Illinois and people were watching Bulls-Lakers and my parents didn’t really force me to pull or root one way but they were watching it. I remember that series, the ’91 Finals, and Jordan and Pippen had never won a championship and the Lakers had won a lot of championships, but you wouldn’t have known it from watching the series because Game 1 was a herculean effort from Magic Johnson and then the rest of the series they put a lot of effort (into stopping Magic.)
“They put a lot of effort into stopping this one guy who didn’t have a lot of help with [James] Worthy and Byron Scott both out in that series and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] had retired so it was not the Showtime Lakers. He [Magic] retired not long after and I had really just become fascinated with him. I was really pro wrestling and Magic Johnson.”
What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Are you feeling more confident about Kenny Omega returning to the ring now? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
