Kenny Omega Blames Juggling Wrestling and Office Roles for Current Health Issues

Kenny Omega has been away from wrestling for almost a year because he had emergency surgery for diverticulitis. This health issue made him take a break and delay his plans. With that said, Omega is blaming trying to juggle his wrestling career and office roles in AEW for his current health issues.

While speaking to NJPW in an interview, Kenny Omega talked about his roles as both a wrestler and an office worker with AEW. Omega said he misses the days when he only had to focus on wrestling. He praised Hiroshi Tanahashi for still being an active wrestler while also being President of NJPW, and he wondered if trying to do both jobs affected his health.

Omega explained that he misses arriving at arenas with just his wrestling gear and focusing only on his match. Instead, he now has to deal with many logistical issues, like making sure the talent is fed and healthy, and figuring out how to handle any problems that come up. He noted that managing so many responsibilities can be stressful and requires complete confidence and passion for wrestling and the success of the company.

Despite his recent issues with The Young Bucks, Omega said he couldn’t have done it all without their help. He admires Tanahashi for being able to continue wrestling while managing a lot of responsibilities. Omega reflected on whether trying to do everything affected his health, and he thinks it did. He admitted that he sacrificed some of his physical and mental well-being to help wrestling fans and unite people through their love of the sport. However, he remains passionate about wrestling, just like Tanahashi.

“I would never wish it upon anybody else in the world. Trust me (Omega said about being a wrestler & having an office role). I miss those days of rolling up to an arena with just my carry case. My little bag that just had my gear in it and focusing on that match, that one performance, the performance was just about me, and instead, I’m at the arena days before trying to figure out, ‘How are we gonna make this work? How do we make this guy’s entrance work? How do we make sure all of the entrance videos are formatted? How do we make sure that the extras and the talents are fed? How do we make sure that they’re healthy? How do we make sure that we keep them healthy? What do we do if something goes wrong?’ I mean, there’s always — it’s a balancing act of a million things and if you’re not 100 percent confident in your wrestling ability and if you’re not completely dedicated and passionate, not only about the success of what you do out there but the success of the entire company and maybe even the state of professional wrestling, you can’t do it. It’s a terrible undertaking, and as much as The Young Bucks have betrayed me as of recently, I couldn’t have done it without them. It was really a group effort.

But, Tanahashi now doing it all by himself with the help of a lot of talented group of people here. I understand the burden that it weighs on him and for him to still be an active professional wrestler, for him to still be in any title picture is nothing short of a miracle. It really allowed for me to step back now that I’m resting from a serious illness and I’m thinking, man, was it all of this on the same plate? Is that what drove me to being this way? The answer’s probably yeah. Short answer of that. But I mean, I did it for the state of wrestling and I did it because I wanted to help people, help fans. I just wanted to help unite people all over the world, lovers of professional wrestling. People that have never watched wrestling and maybe could find a love for it and you know, did I sacrifice a bit of my physical and mental health for it? Sure. But yeah, I’m still standing and I think it’s much like Tanahashi, it’s a passion that fuels us.”

Kenny Omega will be appearing for NJPW in Japan for the first time since New Year Dash 2023 as he is scheduled to be at Power Struggle on November 4th and fans are excited for his appearance. As for his in-ring return timeline, Kota Ibushi recently noted that it will take Omega 2-3 more months until he is ready to come back, so fans will have to wait a while longer for The Best Bout Machine’s triumphant return.