Kenny Omega Makes Appearance To Accept AEW Wrestler Of The Year Award

Kenny Omega has made his first public appearance since he lost the AEW World Championship to accept the promotion’s Wrestler of the Year award.

Kenny Omega had been absent from AEW TV since the Dynamite following Full Gear. At the show, ‘The Best Bout Machine’ lost the AEW World Championship to ‘Hangman’ Adam Page after a record-breaking 346-day reign. He made a brief appearance on the following Dynamite where he said he was taking time away to “fix things”.

It was later reported that Omega was dealing with numerous injuries, including a torn labrum in his shoulder, a hernia and issues with his knees.

However, prior to the latest edition of AEW Dynamite, Kenny Omega made appeared on AEW’s awards show, where he was named the 2021 Wrestler of the Year.

“To be honest I wasn’t sure if I’d want to stand in front of a camera accepting this Wrestler of the Year award. I thought maybe I should prioritise healing. Maybe I should prioritise rehabilitation. But 2021 was the hardest year of my wrestling career, it was a hard year for all of us.

“So while I’d rather not focus on the past and focus on the return, this [holds up award] is gonna serve as my motivation to come back. This, is gonna serve as my motivation to be the same guy, standing here in about a year’s time, holding up the 2022 edition of this trophy.”

Dave Meltzer reported in a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kenny Omega is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, something that could take ten weeks. He is also scheduled for further surgery at the end of March to fix a sports hernia. The recovery time for this surgery is around two months. There is currently no time frame set for the star’s return to action.

H/T to Inside The Ropes for the above transcription.