A lot has happened since Kenny Omega's last professional wrestling match.
For one thing, his last opponent, “All Ego” Ethan Page, no longer works for AEW, having won the NXT Championship as a member of WWE. The Golden Jets are no more, and in their place is The Learning Tree, with Chris Jericho now playing a pseudo nice guy with a couple of accolades soaking up his vast knowledge.
Goodness, even The Elite is basically no more, with “Hangman” Adam Page burning down houses, Jack Perry driving spraypainted busses, and the Young Bucks, Nicholas, and Matthew Jackson, opting to replace their former friend with his arch-rival, Kazuchika Okada.
And yet, when he took the ring in the semi-main event of Wrestle Dynasty, you'd think Kenny Omega was in vintage form, not 396 days removed from his last match.
Granted, he sold his side a ton, hinting that maybe his diverticulitis hurt a bit more than he wanted to let on, but goodness, from taking table spots to unprotected chair shots, pile drivers, and strikes to the side, you'd never know that “The Cleaner” was a day away from death back in December of 2023, with his wrestling career called into question as a result.




Taking the ring to a new theme, Omega's match against Gabe Kidd was a hard-hitting, strong-style contest that subbed out his usual “twinkle toes” antics for the sort of strike fest that would make Ric Flair and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat blush back in 1989. While Kidd did get some help, with his Bullet Club Wardogs helping to fill the ring with chairs while Omega stood alone despite Konosuke Takeshita, Don Callis, Perry, and The Bucks all having matches on the show, in the end, it didn't really matter, as even Omega with a year of ring rust and a half dozen surgeries over the last five years on his resume is still a “Wrestling God.”
V-Trigger, Power Bomb, V-Trigger, One-Winged Angel, in the end, there was no doubt about it; despite being cast as the invading heel versus the homegrown champion, Omega is still NJPW, as a crying Hiroshi Tanahashi clearly proved once the match came to an end.
KENNY OMEGA/GABE KIDD WERE SO GOOD… PRESIDENT TANAHASHI CRIED UNCONTROLLABLY IN JOY WATCHING THEM.
So beautiful. The spirit of Shin Nihon Puroresu is alive and well.
THIS IS NJPW. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/MEWtykbp8a
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) January 5, 2025
So, what does the future hold for Omega? Well, he's booked for AEW Dynamite next week and will surely lay out his plans for the future at that match, but for now, “The Cleaner” is home and proved once and for all that even if his intestines' fortitude are a little different, he still remains “The Best Bout Machine.”