AEW’s Kenny Omega still awaiting hernia surgery, not returning in February
Former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega said that while he thought he might return to action in February after taking time off to heal multiple injuries, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio for nearly two hours following his award for 2021 WON Wrestler of the Year, Omega gave some updates including that he still has yet to get surgery for his umbilical hernia.
Last November following his Full Gear title loss to Hangman Page, Omega started his leave from wrestling to address his hernia, knees, shoulder and nose, saying in storyline he was taking time off to take care of some things.
Omega said that getting appointments and follow-ups based on those appointments in the era of COVID-19 has caused some snags in his timeline.
When he gets the hernia surgery, which will be the last thing he needs to address, he estimated it would be six-to-eight weeks before he could take impact to that area in a wrestling match. At that point, he feels like he could be ready to return.
He didn’t say when he expects that to be done. Doctors have told him he could work around it, but he wouldn’t want to return and then have the hernia tear, resulting in him being out even longer.
The hernia has been one of those issues that has caused Omega a lot of pain. He described working an Impact taping and having to do a run-in during a Moose and Sami Callihan segment that had to be scrapped because he was moving so slow to the ring due to the intense pain of just walking.
Omega said his recovery work is focusing on strengthening muscles around his injured areas as over the years, he leaned too heavily into other areas as he was overcompensating. He said it feels good to learn new movements from the ground up.
He is feeling better all the time and that when he returns, he will be “doing what I was doing 10 years ago, hopefully.” He would like to be able to focus on his matches and performance and not having to worry about blocking out the pain which he said he hasn’t done in a long time.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.