Omega’s AEW return match rekindles an old rivalry, but with a new ally

Kenny Omega’s return to AEW ended with he & Will Ospreay face-to-face. Omega’s first match back in the promotion led to him standing side-by-side with his old New Japan rival. That’s because they share a common enemy — The Don Callis Family.

We thought Kenny might be done with Callis & his villainous crew after winning an 8-man Street Fight over them in November of 2023, shortly before diverticulitis took him out for the next year. Frankly, we were kind of hoping he had. Omega’s storyline write-off came at the hands of his old Elite teammates The Young Bucks and the man they replaced him with, another old NJPW rival, Kazuchika Okada. Kenny re-emerged in AEW for a tense moment with Okada at last month’s Worlds End PPV. We’re more invested in how that gets resolved (and if/how AEW addresses the way the evil corporate Elite story fell flat before The Bucks went on hiatus last fall).

But with Matthew & Nicholas Jackson having recently won the IWGP Tag titles over in Japan, the EVPs may not be back in AEW for a couple months. So a tension-filled partnership with Ospreay to decisively put down The Callis Family is as good a use of time as any... especially since it will give us Omega and Ospreay against Don’s big man duo of Brian Cage & Lance Archer (watching Kenny sell for Cage before making a big, One-Winged Angel-punctuated comeback in the opener of last night’s Dynamite was a lot of fun), and in likely classics with Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher.

Let us know what you think in the comments down below. And on your way there, check out highlights from Jan. 15’s Maximum Carnage edition of Dynamite — including of Omega vs. Cage and its aftermath — in the following playlist:

• Kenny Omega returns to in-ring action vs Callis Family’s Brian Cage!
• A red hot Swerve Strickland attempts to get revenge on Ricochet
• A war of words between MJF and Jeff Jarrett!
• Could Powerhouse Hobbs dethrone the AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley?

For complete results from last night’s Dynamite, click here. To read a recap & review of the show, click here.