WWE A Better Fit Than AEW For Kenny Omega

Could Kenny Omega be the next AEW founding father to bolt for WWE? It’s not as impossible as it might sound on paper.

It was recently reported by Fightful Select (h/t TJRWrestling) that there is a belief within WWE that the company will be aply to pry Omega, a former AEW World Champion and current Trios Champion, away from the company he helped form. Omega’s contract was set to expire earlier this year, but the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t SEScoops) reports that AEW President Tony Khan has added injury time—possibly as much as nine months—to Omega’s contract for time he missed in 2022.

While that will give Omega more time to mull his future in AEW, what it shouldn’t do is prevent him from making the right choice for his future: Going to WWE whenever that opportunity presents itself.

Omega, believe it or not, was closer than ever to signing with WWE in 2019 before AEW was the clear-cut No. 2 promotion it has grown to be. WWE went all out on trying to sign Omega, but Omega ultimately chose the creative freedom and the opportunity to create a viable alternative to WWE instead.

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Four years later, Omega has done it all. He’s main evented AEW pay-per-views, won three different titles—the World, Tag Team and Trios Championships—and changed the course of pro wrestling history by creating WWE’s first true competitor in two decades. One thing Omega hasn’t done, though, is wrestle on WWE’s main roster.

Even though he was signed to WWE’s developmental program Deep South Wrestling in 2005, he had a blink-and-you-missed-it stint there that he has admitted nearly destroyed his desire to be a pro wrestler. Times have clearly changed, however. Nearly 20 years later, Omega is considered by many to be the best in-ring performer in the world, has been instrumental in the success of AEW and continues to play a significant role on Dynamite and Rampage.

It would be easy for Omega to remain with AEW, where he would have more creative freedom and could continue to work with his close friends Nick and Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks. But all he needs to do is look at Cody Rhodes and see the potential of what he could be in WWE.

Rhodes, who along with Omega helped found AEW, became the first marquee star to jump ship from AEW to WWE in 2022 when he returned to the ring at WrestleMania 38 in epic fashion to face and defeat Seth Rollins. In an instant, Rhodes became a top star for WWE, and he’s since gone on to become a huge merchandise mover and live event draw for the company.

The success of Rhodes in WWE could—and should—be an eye-opener for any marquee AEW star, like MJF, who has the potential to join WWE in the future, especially with Triple H running WWE’s creative process. Omega fit thats bill as well and could have a transition to WWE that mirrors that of another world renowned in-ring performer: AJ Styles.

Though Styles made the move from Impact and New Japan Pro-Wrestling to much fanfare at the 2016 Royal Rumble, Styles himself said there weren’t initally any big plans for him upon his epic WWE debut. In regards to that moment, Styles told Ariel Helwani (h/t WrestlingNews.co) last year: “I don’t think Vince believed that anyone would know who I was. From what I’m hearing or heard, he saw nothing great about AJ Styles, even after the pop at the Rumble. I wasn’t even going to be on Raw the next day.”

Just about everyone else could see Style’s greatness then, and he went on to more greatness in WWE, where he became an instant main eventer, a multi-time world champion and one of the company’s biggest stars. Fast forward seven years, and something similar could happen with Omega, who is like Styles in so many ways and could follow a similar career path if he avoids the safe route—staying in AEW—and takes the same risk that has paid off, quite literally, for Styles and Rhodes.

Styles is reportedly now making more than $3 million per year and ranks among WWE’s highest paid stars alongside major names like Edge and Goldberg. Rhodes, meanwhile, just won the 2023 Royal Rumble, is slated to face Roman Reigns in the main event of the record-breaking WrestleMania 39 and will likely be the star who ends Reigns’ historic Universal title reign.

Those two comps—Styles and Rhodes—show the potential heights that Omega could reach in WWE under the guidance of Triple H. As WWE reportedly has interest in former NJPW star Jay White, the company is also looking to sign a “much bigger” free agent who could send shockwaves throughout the pro wrestling industry.

Might that potential free agent be Omega? You’d have to think so, given the lack of other marquee names who aren’t signed to an AEW or WWE contract.

And though Omega isn’t as known by WWE fans as Rhodes was, neither was Styles before he made the move to WWE that was far from a guaranteed success. Omega could easily remain with AEW and have plenty of success there, but as the trios division has struggled to gain traction and other stars have passed him in the singles scene, WWE provides him with the best opportunity to reach full-blown super stardom.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently had the following to say about Omega on his Hall of Fame podcast (h/t Clutch Points): “I don’t know how many years Kenny Omega has left in the ring. WWE would make Kenny Omega’s star shine brighter than any other place he ever could be in. If Omega was to sign with WWE, he would likely be presented as one of their biggest stars and potentially work at WrestleMania. … If you don’t work at WrestleMania, you know throughout your career, you missed out on something.”

Omega has already hinted that retirement could be near, but he’s still one of the best in-ring performers in the world and would have the chance to put on instant classics with everyone from Styles to Rollins to Gunther to Roman Reigns in WWE, where he could be a main event star making main event money without all the headaches that come with also working in an executive role.

For the man known as “The Cleaner,” he will not-so-simply have to decide if he wants the surer future, which AEW will likely give him, or the potential to cement himself as one of the all-time greats, which is what a WWE run would do for him at a time when stars like him have never shined brighter there.