When Tony Khan announced that Kenny Omega would finally get to face off against El Hijo del Vikingo in an AEW ring on free television, it sent shockwaves through the professional wrestling world. Fans in the now celebrated the incredible fortune of seeing two of the best in-ring talents in the world today duking it out, salty WWE fans questioned who the second-generation Luchador even was, and seemingly everyone had a take on Khan's willingness to book a match with a star from another promotion, especially with WWE sniping Dragon Lee and having a reported interest in Komander after his appearance in the Face of the Revolution Ladder match.
One question that came up far less often but had arguably the most interesting implications involved Vikingo's home promotion, Lucha Libre AAA, and whether or not the promotion's booker, Konnan, was back on good terms with Khan after their relationship seemingly took a turn for the worst at the end of 2022. Fortunately, in an exclusive interview with Wrestling Inc., Christopher Daniels, a World Tag Team Champion-turned-Head of Talent Relations for AEW, was asked about how the match came into existence and let it be known that despite some outside opinions, the relationship between Khan and Konnan is actually great right now, with the pipeline between the two companies open once more.
“Actually, I feel like it's in a good position right now,” Daniels said. “Konnan and Tony Khan recently had a meeting and tried to suss all that out, and I feel like we're in a good position. We're in a good place right now, obviously, because I'm going to AAA to wrestle. So yeah, I feel like whatever miscommunications or misunderstandings, whatever that was, I feel like that's in the past and we're going to move forward and not dwell on that and try and be available. Each promotion is trying to be available for the other as its schedule permits.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa, well there you go; not only did Khan and Konnan work things out, but the latter is giving the former access to arguably his biggest star and the reigning AAA Mega Champion, a title held by Omega for 765 days from October of 2019 to November of 2021. If more matches of Omega-Viking caliber are on the books because of this renewed partnership, the real winner will be the wrestling fans from around the world eager to watch top-flight matches.
THIS WEDNESDAY! A long-awaited dream match will take place between @KennyOmegamanX and @vikingo_aaa during #AEWDynamite! #AEWRampage is on TNT! pic.twitter.com/8aVUtL2JkZ
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 18, 2023
CD explains how Kenny Omega vs. Vikingo came together so quickly.
Further discussing the connection between AEW and AAA as he prepares to represent the United States in the Lucha Libre World Cup alongside Sam Adonis – aka Corey Graves' brother – and Johnny Caballero – aka Taya Valkyrie's husband, John Hennigan– Daniels was asked about how the match between Omega and Vikingo came together so quickly and with it could mean moving forward.
“Yes. Well, Vikingo versus Kenny Omega,” Daniels said. “I just saw the news today on Twitter for the first time and I feel like that's a match the world has wanted to see for a long time and I'm glad we're able to present it on national television next Wednesday. I think that's going to be an amazing bout.
“I've just recently met Vikingo for the very first time. I was on our show with him at Warrior Wrestling. He tore the house down. He's an amazing athlete. And Kenny Omega, one of the best in the world, one of the best to ever do it. So the table is set for a classic…I feel like the desire to have Vikingo as part of our show has been in the works for a while. It's just been a matter of logistics. The demand for him is strong. We don't want to run him to death and schedule's finally permitted and here we are. So, I mean it's a great opportunity to expose Vikingo to a broader audience in the US. He's on fire right now across the independent scene. Everybody knows him from his stuff in Mexico and I think this is the first of what could be many opportunities for him in the United States.”
Asked later about the prospects of bringing Komander, Vikingo, and other Lucha Libre stars into AEW or Ring of Honor moving forward, Daniels let it be known that if the opportunity arises, there's little reason to believe the two companies couldn't do business once more.
“Certainly possible. Komander just came in and did that Face of the Revolution ladder match, impressed a lot of people. He was super impressive. Vikingo, goes without saying, we've been trying to have him as a part of our programming for a while now and we're very fortunate that the schedules opened up to allow this match coming up with him and Kenny.
“So yeah, I feel like when opportunities arise, when schedules permit, I feel like you could see a Komander, you could see a Vikingo, you could see any of these guys, Bandido, returning, Rouge being featured. Any of those guys could be on Ring of Honor or AEW at any point.”
Is this the start of something special in AEW, with performers holding AAA belts like the glory days of Omega as AAA Mega Champion, FTR as the AAA World Tag Team Champions, and Sammy Guevara as the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champion alongside his wife, Tay Melo? Only time will tell, but if Daniels is right, fans could be in for some very interesting matches moving forward.
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