Kenny Omega wishes he could be in Chicago this weekend.
On Sunday, June 26, AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is set to go down from the United Center in Chicago, IL. Despite many of the biggest names from both companies being on the card, one of the most glaring absences is that of former AEW and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.
Omega has been sidelined since losing the AEW World Title to Hangman Page at AEW Full Gear in November 2021. In the months since then, he has been tending to multiple injuries including shoulder and knee problems, as well as a hernia.
Speaking with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp (full interview above), Omega expressed just how disappointed he is to be missing this weekend's event.
"I'm pissed. I wish I could be in Chicago. I wish I could have something in line for the big show, and I do not. I did what I could to reach out to make myself somewhat visible and/or audible for this weekend, otherwise, it would have felt like I wasn't needed at all," he said.
There is no timetable for Omega's return to the ring. In February, Omega commented on his scheduled surgeries and recovery. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
As for the partnership between AEW and NJPW, Omega, who wrestled for NJPW every year from 2010 to 2019, said that this was always a hopeful pitstop in his AEW mission statement. He wants to help make wrestling a friendly place for everybody and points to all the different companies that AEW is working with as proof of the progress being made.
"[New Japan] is arguably the most important phase of my career. I'm able to kind of watch with a smile on my face because this was sort of always the hopeful, I don't want to say endgame, but it was always the hopeful pitstop into what the mission statement of AEW was. We always wanted to make wrestling a friendly place for everyone. Perhaps not all of us, but that was always one of the things most important to me. I wanted to see a world where we were working friendly with New Japan and I was hoping that was something that would happen from day one. Here we are, we're working with New Japan, we're working with DDT, Tokyo Joshi, AAA, Ring of Honor now that Tony has purchased Ring of Honor. We're working with all of these entities and promotions who may not even want to work with each other, but yet we're creating the forum for everyone to wrestle and work peacefully. It's really cool and even though I can't physically take part in it, I'm still happy and extremely satisfied that we can get to this point because this is always what we wanted to do, as an idea for a company," Omega said.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door as well as a post-show review immediately following its conclusion. You can view the updated card for the event by clicking here.
Elsewhere during the interview, Omega took shots at NJPW star Will Ospreay, saying that though he is great at doing moves, he has numerous forgettable 'five-star' matches. Click here to read more.
