Kenny Omega defeated Josh Alexander on AEW Dynamite last week in his quest to prove he is ready for another shot at the AEW Men’s World Championship.
The match was different from almost any match Omega has had since his return to AEW. Actually, it resembled more of a match he had right before his AEW return in 2025, in New Japan Pro Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom against Gabe Kidd.
This wasn’t the hold my stomach and sell Kenny we had seen for most of 2025. We did get to see this Kenny Omega against Kazuchika Okada at All In Texas but that was a mix of the best Kenny could do and him selling his abdomen. No, this was a veteran Kenny Omega able to do most of what he used to do, just a little slower and with a little less flexibility.
It was still at a level of being one of the best wrestlers in the world.
I don’t doubt that Kenny Omega has had a hell of a time getting healthy. I’m sure it has been an arduous road to get to the point he is today. When he said that he needed a week off any time he did a singles match? I believed that. So much so, that seeing this Kenny Omega makes me feel like maybe he just lied to us for a year to go on a selling spree.
Again, NOT SAYING THAT, but I mean, he did do that at the start of the Trios Championship tournament back in 2022 as well. He intentionally didn’t wrestle at 100% to sell the injuries so later he could be 100% performing Kenny Omega. Was all of 2025 just Kenny Omega building us up to this point? Has he been healthy the entire time? Likely not, but has he finally recovered from a lot of his issues to get to his current point of performing?
That’s the more reasonable question, which then pushes me to a different question:
If Kenny Omega is healthy, and is at this level of performing, shouldn’t we have him at the top of the card?
No Time Like the Present
AEW has dealt with some criticism about how they haven’t had a lot of people move up the card, especially to the main event. While we all expect Will Ospreay to return and be the new Ace of the promotion, aside from Swerve Strickland and Maxwell Jacob Friedman we haven’t had anyone really break into the main event who didn’t already have world title main event resume experience since Adam Page in 2021. CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Bryan Danielson are all former world champions, while Jon Moxley won the championship multiple times in between.
Starting 2026, we do have a young champion in MJF but he’s a two time champion. This will be his second time as AEW Men’s World Champion. We’re playing with a sequel here. It’s not a fresh entry. When you look at his contender list it’s mostly former World Champions. Hangman, Swerve, Joe, and Omega. The only fresh ones appear to be Bandido who lost to him, Brody King who might be his next challenge, and Andrade El Idolo, who recently stated he wanted to be champion.
(I do think that might be just setting up Kenny Omega finally facing Andrade.)
Going with Kenny Omega at the top of the card isn’t fresh, it isn’t someone new, and it isn’t focusing on the great wrestlers in their prime in the company. But it is taking advantage of something AEW did not have for many years. That’s a relatively healthy Kenny Omega. AEW has at times squandered when they had Kenny Omega in good condition, from the weird suspension after Brawl Out to that period after his Trios Championship run with the Young Bucks in 2023 where he was just kinda… around, having feuds and matches. I don’t know what his health has been between the Lights Out Steel Cage match at Forbidden Door until the end of 2025 but he was once again just around, kicking with the never ending Don Callis Family feud.
This is an opportunity to finally utilize Kenny Omega, one of the top names in pro wrestling today, to the fullest for the first time since 2021. While it would be better to try and elevate a new talent? You can’t let this opportunity squander. You have to go with the best possible name.
That’s Kenny Omega.
Passing the Torch
So now going back to MJF, it would make sense to keep him as champion before finally elevating that new guy in Will Ospreay, probably having him win the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament and then main eventing Wembley Stadium at All In London 2026.
Generally you would want a strong heel like MJF to be the champion against a challenger Will Ospreay. That’s what was done last year when they had Page square off against Jon Moxley. But that was Texas. How did the All In London main events look like?
Bryan Danielson versus Swerve Strickland. Both babyfaces, with Swerve more willing to play heel, but the legendary veteran trying to win the championship one last time before he ends his full-time career.
Adam Cole versus Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Once again both babyfaces, rivals turned friends, with the question floating if Adam Cole was going to break up the friendship just to try and become champion.
Both years in London they headlined with two good guys, two babyfaces, with different trajectories, going one on one. MJF might be champion now, but would it not work better if he dropped the title to Kenny Omega?
If you make Kenny champion, and he has this big run in 2026 showing he’s still The Cleaner, the Best Bout Machine, and then faces Will Ospreay in London, it will feel like a true passing of the torch. It’s not as much about having another older guy be champion over the younger talent, but Ospreay getting the Ace of AEW status directly from Kenny Omega. A true endorsement between former rivals turned friends.
This feels in line with the All In London main events, and feels like the sort of match AEW would want to promote to fill Wembley. Kenny Omega, back to the top of his game, having what might his last great run in the company, versus the completed Ascension of Will Ospreay.
Stopping Max
It’s honestly hard to see AEW stopping MJF’s reign at say March’s Revolution as it would feel too early to give him not even one pay per view main event title defence.
MJF is starting to work a schedule he has rarely worked. The talk is he’s trying to be a traveling champion and work independent matches to prove how great he is, “doing the work” as he’s always been criticized not to do. This definitely knocks the winds out of the sails of the plans for the AEW National Championship but it’s still nice to see MJF working hard instead of hardly working.
Max also doesn’t have any movie roles on the horizon as far as I know, having wrapped up filming for Violent Night 2 in Winnipeg back in late September. It certainly feels like he’s committed to pro wrestling for the next while, and once he won the AEW Men’s World Championship it felt like he was setting himself up for a long title run.
The problem is that a lot of the wrestlers I thought he would face are starting to move in a different direction. Jon Moxley turned babyface but he’s now AEW Continental Champion. I suspect he is Continental Champion to keep him away from MJF. Then you got Hangman Adam Page who is now AEW Trios Champion with JetSpeed. Now, I know historically that shouldn’t prevent him from going after the world title since Samoa Joe held both, but don’t be surprised if AEW starts caring about the Trios Championship and it keeps Page out of title contention against Max. Or rather, I’d be happy if they actually cared about the Trios Championship and made it important, and if it means sacrificing a Page vs MJF sequel? I honestly would take it.
Swerve Strickland felt like the perfect opponent for MJF on this run, but it’s starting to feel like he’s turning heel. That match against Kevin Knight, his dislike for Kenny Omega and Adam Page being on friendly terms? I’m getting the feeling that Swerve isn’t staying babyface, and might end up an obstacle for Omega to become champion. That also takes him out of the running for the AEW Men’s World Championship.
This all leads me to think that AEW won’t be going long term with Max, and if he gets a run beyond Revolution? It might not go much longer than Dynasty. Dynasty is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, so AEW might want Canadian Kenny Omega to go over on that show. You could run Andrade or Swerve versus Kenny at Revolution, with the winner getting the shot at MJF at Dynasty.
Meanwhile, MJF could face Darby Allin one on one at Revolution, as they really need to move him off of the Death Riders.
Return of Omega
Kenny Omega is 42.
Once upon a time in pro wrestling? 42 was a prime age to be at the top of the show. Ric Flair was 42 in 1991, the year he joined the World Wrestling Federation. He was still reliably a top star that year. Randy Savage was 42 in 1994, and in going to World Championship Wrestling proved he still had a few more years of great runs in him. Mistico just had his age 42 year in 2025 and it was one of the best of his career as a draw in pro wrestling.
The problem with past examples is that All Elite Wrestling expects a certain level of pro wrestler and if you can’t perform at that level? The crowd is going to be let down. Kenny Omega might not be the Kenny Omega of a decade ago, but his 11 minute match with Josh Alexander proved he can still keep up with the best the promotion has to offer. This is currently true at 42, but we don’t know if he will be at 43. It’s a ticking clock now, much like it was for Bryan Danielson. Danielson’s age 42 and age 43 years were filled with injuries and his body betraying him, with him struggling to get to the finish line.
That’s why, if Kenny Omega is truly feeling his best these days, and is willing to wrestle weekly without falling apart? There might be no time better than right now to strike the iron and get him that last run as AEW Men’s World Champion. Give him that torch passing moment with Will Ospreay. It won’t be the end of his career but it might be the last time AEW ever gets with a main event Best Bout Machine Kenny Omega.
