What Could Have Been. Here’s How Kenny Omega Leaving For AEW Changed New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 14 Plans

What could have been. While a lot of the wrestling world focuses on WWE and AEW, there is a lot more out there than just those two major companies. Outside of the United States, there is no wrestling promotion bigger than New Japan Pro Wrestling. They are one of the most dominant promotions in the wrestling world and their biggest show of the year just took place. It turns out that what we saw wasn’t what was originally planned.

One of AEW’s major acquisitions was Kenny Omega, who came with quite the reputation. Omega has built himself up as one of the biggest stars in the wrestling world due to having one instant classic after another in New Japan. However, when Omega left New Japan, it created a big hole in the company which has not yet quite been filled. That brings us back to this weekend and what was originally planned.

According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the original plans for Wrestle Kingdom 14 called for Omega, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada to be the focal points of the show. This year’s Wrestle Kingdom was built around a concept called Double Gold Dash, where the Intercontinental Champion and IWGP Heavyweight Champion would face off with the winner leaving with both titles.

The original plan would have seen Omega enter as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, which he would have held since winning it in June 2018, and Okada to enter as Intercontinental Champion. Instead, Okada came in as IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Jay White came in as Intercontinental Champion, with Naito winding up winning both titles as originally planned had Omega been involved.

It was a big ending. Check out how Wrestle Kingdom wrapped up this year:

Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise in the world as Omega was certainly a top star when he left New Japan. Omega could have been the focal point of the company for a long time, which would have been quite the coup for his career. It does take some guts to leave that behind and jump over to a brand new company, so good for Omega to try something so unique. Hopefully it works out for him in the end.

Do you like the idea of the original plans? Did it wind up the right way? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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