The former AEW World Champion made an unexpected cameo in New Japan Pro Wrestling during his 2024 recuperation, which ultimately resulted in his comeback match against Gabe Kidd at Wrestle Dynasty. Omega once met with NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi in person and asked the Japanese icon if he would be interested in working with him soon. Tanahashi is scheduled to officially retire from wrestling at the start of 2026.
A fresh article from Fightful Select claims that although there were rumours of a fight versus The Young Bucks, it was never going to happen. The concept of Omega and Tanahashi working together for the Wrestle Dynasty event—or any event, for that matter—had not been discussed with AEW’s creative team, according to sources within the company. This was further supported by NJPW sources who stated that they never suggested Omega and Tanahashi would work together and that their sit-down conversation that went viral was only edited to give the impression that a bout would be taking place.
Tanahashi has made significant progress since becoming “The Ace’s” competitor in Japan, which is one of the reasons Omega stated that he would like to collaborate with him. Tanahashi won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 13 in 2019, Omega’s last match for the promotion before he was promoted to Executive Vice President in AEW. The only previous singles match the two men had, despite having crossed paths in several tag team matches before Wrestle Kingdom 13, was in 2016, when Omega defeated Tanahashi to capture the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in Omega’s first solo match since taking over as Bullet Club captain.
