Kenny Omega opens up about his health struggles

The former AEW World Champion says he wants to return immediately once he’s cleared.

Kenny Omega is making the most of his time since being forced to the sidelines after being diagnosed with diverticulitis. Omega, one of the cornerstones of All Elite Wrestling, has begun streaming on Twitch. In his first stream, Omega provided an update on his condition.

To hear him tell it, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be returning to the ring soon.

“I would love to say, ‘Hey guys, I’m on track to coming back next week, next month, a half of a year.’ I don’t have that confidence this time,” said Omega.

The former AEW Champion is still unsure if his condition will require him to undergo surgery, saying it’s still touch and go. Omega said he was feeling great for two weeks and thought he was on the road to recovery, only to suffer a setback.

“I ran into a bit of a roadblock, and I had to get some emergency treatment again,” Omega said. “I wouldn’t say it’s two steps forward, two steps back, but maybe it’s one and a half steps back. I’m better than where I was, but I’m not sure how much improvement I made.”

Earlier this week, AEW boss Tony Khan touched on Omega’s status during a post-show press conference following AEW’s latest pay-per-view, Revolution. The company’s flagship show, Dynamite, returns to Omega’s hometown on May 1. When asked if a return by “The Cleaner” might happen then, Khan expressed doubt that a comeback might be that soon.

“I don’t think it would be fair at all to create that expectation that Kenny Omega would be cleared by then,” said Khan. “I really appreciate the question. I’m very optimistic Kenny will be coming back, but I don’t know the exact date. I think that [May 1 show]’s an aggressive timetable.”

Last December, Omega shared that he’d been hospitalized and would be “out indefinitely.” During an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, writer Dave Meltzer said Omega had been in a lot of pain and that Omega thought he may have suffered a hernia. In a later update, Meltzer specified that if Omega had gone another 24 hours without going to the hospital, he would have been at risk of getting a blood infection.

The news of a blood infection stunned Omega.

“When they’re explaining to me that I was 24 hours away from a terrible blood infection and possibly dying, this is like news to me. I’ve never heard of anything like that. ‘I wasn’t close to dying. Are you kidding me? No way.’”

Omega said during his stream that he still follows AEW and WWE programming and how it motivates him to get back into ring shape. Once he’s cleared and healed, Omega wants to resume his in-ring career. Based on his accolades and reputation for delivering matches that audiences love, Omega knows he has high expectations to meet to be the Kenny Omega fans remember.

“The bar is so high. I don’t want to come back being below that bar. I want to try the best I can.”