Kenny Omega Leaving NJPW Is Probably A Work
WWE have been interested in Kenny Omega in the past (of course they have - he's one of the best in the world), and with their roster crying out for readymade stars and the labour market more open than it has been in almost two decades, the 35-year-old has never been closer to Stamford.
If the reports are to be believed, Omega has been offered a sum far above that which came his way in January 2017. The new 'main event money' isn't the old 'main event money.' After 18 years of complete financial dominance, WWE finally face genuine competition for talent, as indomitable as their market share is.
As reported by Voice Of Wrestling's Joe Lanza last month, recent ROH signee Bandido declined two separate WWE offers to land a superior deal with the Sinclair Broadcasting-helmed group. Cody, the Bucks, and Hangman Page have all turned Vince McMahon down in recent months. Tetsuya Naito spurned WWE soon after NJPW's Dominion 6.9 pay-per-view last June. Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. seemingly became the latest wrestlers to say 'no' to the market leaders and 'yes' to AEW last week. This competition didn't exist a few months ago, might not exist a couple of years from now, and these are good, paying offers, too.
The timing is critical. If AEW doesn't take off, NJPW's expansion slows, and ROH plummets as a result of increased WWE aggression, the market won't be half as open as it as at the moment. There's no guarantee that 'main event money' will be waiting for Kenny Omega should he entertain WWE in 2022. The offer presented to him is a direct result of AEW's surge and NJPW's continued success, and thus, Omega may see this as a 'now or never' decision, jumping into the sport's biggest promotion before he would ideally have liked to.
Still, joining WWE brings no guarantee of success for Omega. He is a world-class professional wrestler, but whether or not he can become a world-class sports entertainer is a different matter.
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