Kenny Omega AEW Contract Update
The AEW contract of Kenny Omega remains a hot topic in pro wrestling as a new update provides insight into where things stand with him.
During his AEW career that started in early 2019 when the company launched, Kenny Omega was introduced as an Executive Vice President in the company along with the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and Cody Rhodes, who left AEW in 2022 after three years to return to WWE.
Kenny Omega has been very successful in AEW with the longest World Title reign in company history (346 days) as well as a reign as a Tag Tag Team Champion and he’s also a Trios Tag Team Champion with The Young Bucks – they won those titles twice.
Recently, the name of Kenny Omega has been in the news regarding his contract. There has been a lot of talk about when his deal expires and that WWE may have an interest in signing him if he becomes a free agent.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that Omega’s contract was going to expire at the start of 2023, but it has been extended since he missed nearly a full year of action from late 2021 into 2022.
“The free agent reference in last week’s issue of the key guy WWE was looking at led to conjecture regarding Kenny Omega, which has been a name heavily talked about in certain circles in WWE and other places in wrestling as well. Omega’s AEW contract date was to have expired at the end of January as he had a four-year deal with no option clause to add time that started on February 1, 2019.”
“His contract does allow AEW to extend it for the time he was out injured, which has happened. He was out nine months so that would be a maximum of November, but the extended time frame hasn’t been finalized as far as how long.”
As noted above, that could mean Kenny Omega may be a free agent later this year around November if he chooses not to re-sign to AEW, which obviously could happen since he’s an EVP in the company. Omega is also a big part of the upcoming video game release too.
The story in the Wrestling Observer also notes that there is a “feeling Omega and the Young Bucks have a good shot of sticking together.” That led to Meltzer writing about Omega’s agent as well.
“Barry Bloom has been Omega’s agent since his late 2018/early 2019 New Japan contract extended, and is also the agent that is expected to handle the Young Bucks deal at the end of this year. He also negotiated Chris Jericho’s most recent deal. FTR’s deal is said to be up in April. The Young Bucks deals are up at the end of the year. One would expect all of them to get offers from WWE and AEW that are for great money from either side.”
“Unless the money difference is substantial, ultimately the decisions of those with families has to be based on where they would be happiest, money of course (although they will make big money either way if both sides want them) and quality time with the family since all but Omega have families. Japan may also be a consideration in the case of Omega but he’s also at the stage that if he wants to try WWE during his career, waiting three or four years may miss the window to be a top guy. But that’s if that’s a career goal or not.”
It was also mentioned that Omega’s best friend Kota Ibushi is a free agent right now that has openly spoken about potentially working for WWE or AEW, so that could be a factor in what Kenny Omega ultimately does.