Kenny Omega Thought He’d Have To Retire In 2015

All Elite Wrestling’s Kenny Omega has revealed he thought he would have to retire from pro wrestling in 2015. Omega shared how he had been suffering from a “terrible herniation” in his neck months prior to Bullet Club turning on AJ Styles in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This injury forced him to ask for time away from the ring for the first time in his career.

“I lost all power on the right side of my body and I thought that that was it. I thought that I was going to have to wrap it up and maybe I was already sort of winding down,” Omega told Fightful.

He continued, “I was able luckily enough to to turn it around. I think one of the greatest things I can ever ask for is being able to decide what time that is. It’d be great if I could, but unfortunately, as wrestlers, and doing what we do, we sometimes don’t have the ability to choose.”

Omega stressed how an in-ring career can be taken from a wrestler in a heartbeat. This awareness is why he’s so eager to “dip my fingers and toes as much as I as long as I can.”

Kenny Omega explained how he’s making an active choice to only take on responsibilities he would enjoy outside of the ring. Omega believes by doing so, there will never be a “dull moment” for him.

He then highlighted his investment in video games, anime, bodybuilding, and fitness as personal interests away from pro wrestling.

“I just want to make sure that if for some reason something happens in the ring, or outside of it, or whatever, you never know what’s going to happen, that I exit without regrets.”

Omega admitted he couldn’t put a number on how long he may be an active in-ring performer. He added that he didn’t want to continue until he couldn’t compete anymore. He hopes to be aware of when the time to step away arrives.

Until then, however, he promised to “burn the candle on both ends and go out in a blaze of glory rather than just kind of hang around in a ring longer than I should.”

Kenny Omega competes for the AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley on next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Winter is Coming.