AEW hasn’t come out and announced that Kenny Omega is coming back tonight, on the Aug. 17 episode of AEW Dynamite … but no one and said he isn’t, and all signs point to his return.
A number of well-connected outlets believe he’ll appear as the mystery partner to the Young Bucks, and will compete with them in the AEW World Trios Championship tournament. Fightful Select is one of them, calling Omega’s impending return “the worst kept secret in wrestling.”
It’s certainly on brand for AEW to create a certain level of expectation and then meet it without acknowledging it. The arrival of CM Punk last summer is a good example; though it was still technically a surprise when he made his arrival on Rampage, insiders were pretty sure it was happening ahead of time.
The current narrative around the Young Bucks also makes it perfectly logical for Omega to be revealed as their partner. After they were unceremoniously dumped out of the Undisputed Elite, the Bucks tried to mend their former friendship with Hangman Adam Page. Though those efforts appear to be paying off, Page informed them that he couldn’t go for the trios titles with them because he wanted to support the Dark Order, who has had his back through all of his ups and downs over the past few years.
Ironically, Omega’s last AEW match was against Page, who beat him for the AEW World Championship at Full Gear 2021 in November. While it was widely reported that he needed time off to heal up from injuries, Fightful Select notes that they were worse than originally thought.
We’d later learn these involved a shoulder injury that was rehabbed, a sports hernia, vertigo brought on by an Okada dropkick, and a leg/knee injury that also had to be taken care of. Omega had told us that there was so much to take care of he couldn’t put off surgery any longer.
Having Omega back at full blast will obviously be a huge benefit to AEW, and fans should embrace him as a fan favorite since he was a heel (as were the Bucks, for that matter) for an extended period of time before he was forced to sit out. And it would now be a decent-sized surprise if that doesn’t start tonight on Dynamite.