Kenny Omega‘s future in the wrestling world after his New Japan Pro Wrestling contract expires at the end of January has been the subject of speculation for a while now. He reportedly turned down a heck of a WWE offer but also didn’t play a role in the announcement of All Elite Wrestling.
After his loss of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Omega announced via an interview in Tokyo Sports that he would be leaving NJPW after his contract ran out, something his home promotion reportedly did not know about until the interview was released. NJPW has yet to officially acknowledge the interview, with the closest they’ve gotten Tanahashi saying at a press conference that he wasn’t sure about what Omega’s status with the company would be in the future.
Omega made his first public appearance since January 4 today at the Tokyo Sports Awards (for Japanese pro wrestling) ceremony today to accept, along with Kazuchika Okada, the award for Best Bout of 2018 for their two-out-of-three falls match at Dominion. In his acceptance speech, Omega said he did not think he would be able to stand on the stage at this ceremony next year, but he, according to a translation by author and sometimes-NJPW color commentator Chris Carlton, “would still be putting on [Match of the Year] performances on a large international platform.”
When answering a question from a reporter, Omega said that he still could not say what his future will hold, but he would wish AEW good luck.
年間最高試合賞受賞のオカダ・カズチカ選手、ケニー・オメガ選手が登場！#プロレス大賞 #njpw pic.twitter.com/PQcldaq3TT
— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) January 17, 2019
NJPW has yet to acknowledge these comments in their coverage of the awards ceremony, at which Hiroshi Tanahashi also accepted his MVP Award and Tetsuya Naito his Technique Award. However, they did make Okada-Omega IV free on their streaming service to commemorate it winning Best Bout.
