After months and months of questions surrounding his eventual return to the AEW ring, Kenny Omega has finally updated fans on the progress of his diverticulitis and how he plans to correct the illness moving forward.
Good news: Omega is getting surgery. Bad news: he might be out of action for a while.
“I did have to go back to the hospital. The good news is that I was able to get some pre-op stuff done. It's a double-edged sword, it's good news and bad news. The good news is, I have a wonderful doctor, and he is someone who is the top of his field. He is very hard to get appointments and surgeries with. However, he's done me a solid. I will actually be getting surgery very, very, very soon. Unfortunately for me, it means I have to leave town again. However, again, this guy is the top in his field. Even though it's a major surgery, I do feel the most comfortable with this individual. So, even though there are always worries going into a major surgery, if there is one person I feel the most confident with, it's this dude,” Kenny Omega said on his Twitch stream via Fightful.
“Bad news is, it's like the end of an era because, sadly, this may be my last stream in a while. I'd like to say that I can get it done and appear in front of a computer, but it probably won't work that way. When I feel good and can travel up a flight of stairs or whatever, I'd love to hop in front of a monitor and maybe hang out and chat. That's coming up right away. Right away, right away. A couple of days. I'm looking forward to it. A little bit of nerves, but to have such a capable doctor that I was able to have take care of this as quickly as he is, I do feel fortunate, and that luck was on my side a little bit. There is good and bad. I'm feeling good about it, and I'm optimistic. There was a moment when I was dealing with this stuff where I wasn't sure if I could come back. I was actually leaning towards, not leaning towards, but heavily considering the possibility that I might not ever (return).
Will it be a bummer to no longer have Omega's Twitch streams? Yes, the “Best Bout Machine” has made some fantastic headlines on the platform and has become an even bigger babyface as a result of complementing Roman Reigns and Ilja Dragunov for their talents and presentations. Still, that's a small consolation in the name of Omega finally returning to AEW full-time, especially if he can wrestle like he's 35 again.
Kenny Omega announces that he will be having surgery on his diverticulitis “very very soon”. He said that the top surgeon in his field will be performing his procedure.
He said that prior to meeting this surgeon he was considering retirement, now he believes he will come back… pic.twitter.com/G5HDTpCL9I
— 🩸🩸𝕾𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖔𝖘 (ㄒ卄乇 Ꮆ.ㄖ.卂.ㄒ )📼📼 (@SantosAllElite) May 11, 2024
Kenny Omega hopes to return to AEW even better than before.
Discussing the situation further, Kenny Omega noted that while he was alright with calling it a career if he simply couldn't get back to where he wanted to be, his new surgeon has given him faith that he may not only return to in-ring action but be even better than the last time fans saw him.
“Had I needed to announce my retirement, I felt like I was in a place where I could have done with a smile on my face because I feel I've had a wonderful career and I've had fun doing this, and I've met a lot of great people and I've been able to do things I never thought I would be able to do. However, now I feel like, with the individual I'm going to see and the rundown he's given me on the way he will do the procedure, it's so much different than what I was told here in Orlando. It opened up the door for the possibility for not only a comeback, but I might, you never know, but I might be able to come back about as good before my title run. We're talking early days AEW level of Kenny Omega where, a little beat up from past injuries,” Kenny Omega declared.
“I do believe that's when the diverticulitis started was the beginning days of AEW. Before the broken nose, hernia, shoulder, knee, all that stuff. Those aches and pains, a lot of them still exist. I always thought the diverticulitis was my hernia. I thought the mesh had burst. It was something else completely. I guess it dates back to early 2020 when I started making appearances for Triple A. I've been fighting this thing, in the early stages, for about four years. When I actually had a herniation, I thought, ‘We got it, we nailed it, that's the reason why my stomach hurts.' That was just one of many problems. It's given me a chance to consider a new Kenny Omega, repackaging, and sort of rebranding before I come back. To what degree? I don't know, I guess we'll see how I feel. In a perfect world, I would like to come back better than I was before. It's not my prime; those days are done, but I want to come back differently and bring something new to the table. A lot of same these days. It's making me sick.”
Welp, there you go, folks; most American fans have never seen Omega work a match without suffering the effects of diverticulitis, and as a result, should he return in a few months bigger and better than he was before, who knows, maybe he could prove to the world, The Elite, and Kazuchika Okada that he is, was, and forever will be the “Best Bout Machine.”