Kenny Omega is one of AEW‘s Executive Vice Presidents, and he has had a key role in building AEW into what it has become. He has not wrestled since December 2023, as he had diverticulitis. Omega underwent surgery in May, and there is still no word on when he may return.
New Japan Pro Wrestling recently shared an interview with Kenny Omega on their YouTube channel. In one highlight, he commented on balancing his role as an in-ring wrestler with his responsibilities in the office. He noted that he missed when he was just a wrestler. (H/t Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling)
I would never wish it upon anybody else in the world. Trust me (Omega said about being a wrestler & having an office role). I miss those days of rolling up to an arena with just my carry case. My little bag that just had my gear in it and focusing on that match, that one performance, the performance was just about me, and instead, I’m at the arena days before trying to figure out, ‘How are we gonna make this work? How do we make this guy’s entrance work, how do we make sure all of the entrance videos are formatted, how do we make sure that the extras and the talents are fed, how do we make sure that they’re healthy? How do we make sure that we keep them healthy? What do we do if something goes wrong?’”
Kenny Omega On Getting Sick
Omega continued by highlighting how challenging it was to balance both roles, and he gave NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi credit for doing it. Omega also wondered whether juggling it all led to his sickness, and he said that he did it because he wanted to help people.
“It’s a balancing act of a million things and if you’re not 100 percent confident in your wrestling ability and if you’re not completely dedicated and passionate, not only about the success of what you do out there but the success of the entire company and maybe even the state of professional wrestling, you can’t do it,” Kenny Omega said. “It’s a terrible undertaking, and as much as The Young Bucks have betrayed me as of recently, I couldn’t have done it without them. It was really a group effort. But, (Hiroshi) Tanahashi now doing it all by himself with the help of a lot of talented group of people here. I understand the burden that it weighs on him and for him to still be an active professional wrestler, for him to still be in any title picture is nothing short of a miracle.
“It really allowed for me to step back now that I’m resting from a serious illness and I’m thinking, man, was it all of this on the same plate? Is that what drove me to being this way? The answer’s probably yeah. Short answer of that. But I mean, I did it for the state of wrestling and I did it because I wanted to help people, help fans. I just wanted to help unite people all over the world, lovers of professional wrestling. People that have never watched wrestling and maybe could find a love for it and you know, did I sacrifice a bit of my physical and mental health for it? Sure. But yeah, I’m still standing and I think it’s much like Tanahashi, it’s a passion that fuels us.”
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