Donovan Dijak reveals WWE NXT backstage reaction during Kenny Omega online feud
Donovan Dijak revisited the 2019 online feud with Kenny Omega. The dispute arose over Omega’s remarks on AEW focusing on featuring real talents unlike NXT’s developmental wrestlers on Being The Elite Vlog.
In an interview with Fightful’s In The Weeds Podcast, Dijak revisited the tension at the Performance Center during the time. He revealed that a few coaches were supportive of him standing up for NXT. Fast forward to now, he still perceives Omega as one of the best wrestlers in the industry.
“A handful of coaches at the PC, said that they liked that I was sticking up for us, cause that’s just kind of how I felt in that moment. When I go back, I don’t even remember what article I was talking, for those of you who aren’t familiar, there was some sort of article I think with the benefit of hindsight, he was probably in character when he was doing this, but I don’t know. It was a very volatile time and he said something effective, like everybody on the NXT roster like would be a midcarder in AEW or something like that and again I’m paraphrasing, obviously, that’s offensive to me because I’m on the NXT roster, so I took a jab at him.”
“I doubt he took it personally. Maybe he did. I don’t know if he meant his thing personally. Maybe he did. I don’t know. I’ve never spoken to him since, and we only had two interactions before that. It was a time when people were saying all sorts of stuff about the other ones. In my youth, I was the kind of person who enjoyed stoking the flames, so to speak. I had no issue with it. I’ve been on record many, many times saying that I think Kenny Omega is one of the best wrestlers in the world. I can’t say that enough,” said Dijak.
Dijak further added that while he felt his retaliation was relevant, many of the current AEW stars are former NXT talents.
“My anger was about the attack that was happening to us. Ironically, now, pretty much everybody on the roster, on the black and gold roster, is on AEW or has been on AEW at some point. So, you know, I’m sure nobody actually cares. But, you know, like everything else in pro wrestling, you just kind of take something that has semblances of reality and you go off with it. But, you know, that’s just kind of the nature of how it was going back then.”
AEW premiered Dynamite as a weekly series in 2019 shortly after the promotion was launched, and it instantly clashed with NXT which also aired on Wednesdays.
Dijak was released by WWE in 2024 after a seven year stint with the company. Since then he has been competing across the indies, most notably MLW, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and WXM.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.