Ever since Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Title back in December, he has defended the title a total of 5 times against 6 different opponents and it doesn’t seem like his title run will end any time soon. It is currently hard to envision the next AEW World Champion.
Omega has been nothing short of dominant since he won the AEW title, taking it as far as following Ultimo Dragon’s footsteps as the “belt collector”, as Kenny currently holds three world championships at the same time – it appears his intentions are to travel the world to defend all his titles while adding more to his collection.
Ever since AEW opened the “Forbidden Door” with New Japan Pro Wrestling, it has been heavily speculated that the payoff for this partnership would be Kenny Omega returning to Japan to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (ideally from longtime friend, Kota Ibushi) and finally complete his World Championship collection.
Whether or not this is the plan for Omega’s reign, there are a lot of potential contenders in the AEW roster that could realistically put a stop to Kenny’s world domination plan.
Here we present four possible choices to end Kenny Omega’s historic reign.
Game on! @KennyOmegamanX #AEWRampage #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/wnI6JQHeq7
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) June 19, 2021
Eddie Kingston
Back in March, during Omega and Jon Moxley’s deathmatch, Eddie Kingston aligned himself with Moxley and has been a cloud on Omega and the entire Elite’s parade ever since.
Following a failed attempt to win the AEW Tag Team titles along Moxley, Kingston has remained a thorn on Omega’s side now – repeatedly teaming with Penta El Zero Miedo looking to take down every single member of The Elite.
The main reason why Eddie should be considered to end Kenny’s reign is his current status as one of the top babyfaces in the company and the upcoming stadium show AEW is having in September in Kingston’s hometown of New York City.
Even if Kingston doesn’t end up with the title at the end of said night, the match against Omega in his hometown in AEW’s biggest weekly show to date, in their return to full capacity shows nationwide, is surely the way to go for a series of great promos; a great match and a great statement for their return to the road.
Andrade El Idolo
Speaking of riding something while it’s high, in a couple of months, Andrade El Idolo went from being released from WWE after five and a half years with the company to appearing in AEW alongside Vickie Guerrero – to announce he is coming for Omega’s belt.
Just like Kenny, Andrade has stated multiple times since his WWE release he wants to wrestle in as many different countries as humanly possible, and this includes a Mega Championship match against Omega in AAA’s Triplemanía in August.
And this match is exactly why Andrade should be considered one of the main threats to Kenny’s title reign, because this AAA match sounds like the perfect catalyst for their feud to expand over to AEW, which would mean we’re in store for Omega vs. Andrade at least twice this summer.
That’s exactly where we believe Andrade could become a dangerous concern for Omega as a summer blockbuster main event feud could result in Kenny keeping the AAA title but losing the AEW title to Andrade or vice-versa, or who knows, maybe Omega could beat Andrade for both titles and establish himself as the most dominant World Champion of our generation.
Darby Allin
One of AEW’s top babyfaces, former TNT Champion and currently ranked number 5 in AEW’s power rankings, Darby Allin hasn’t competed for the World Title in close to a year and as his TNT title run came to an end last month and his alliance with Sting only keeps getting stronger, this may be the time to pull the trigger on Darby.
And it is that partnership with “the Icon” Sting that a title victory from Allin would make the most sense, as Darby having to go against Omega and his heel faction basically by himself would very much resemble Sting declaring war on the New World Order and winning the championship from Hollywood Hogan over 23 years ago in WCW.
But we not only consider Darby a worthy challenger and possibly World Champion based on his character’s resemblance to his tag partner but due to his incredible work rate and recent track record of amazing matches in TV against the likes of Matt Hardy, Miro and Jungle Boy.
Finally, why we think Darby is the right man for the job is the excellent heel work Kenny Omega has done ever since turning last year, by establishing himself and his reign as the top prize in the industry – which is now practically screaming for the right babyface to get that championship winning pinfall.
But Darby may not be that right babyface to topple Omega and become the next AEW World Champion…
Adam “Hangman” Page
After what has been easily one of AEW’s best character arcs ever since their inception, Adam Page is at a point where he finally feels like his own man, long after being second best in his tag team with Kenny Omega and being excluded from the Elite.
We understand Hangman and Kenny’s story goes way back and goes deeper than any other story a potential challenger for Omega could go and now that both men are slowly reaching the pinnacle of their respective characters, it now feels like only a matter of time before we see this championship match take place.
What makes this hypothetical match special is how both characters went into their own spaces to tell their own stories throughout this time; where Kenny became the leader of the Elite by welcoming Don Callis and the Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) while Page was still figuring out if he wanted to ride solo or join the Dark Order.
Now that almost a year has passed since their breakup and teases in BTE have started to come up regarding Hangman eyeing the World Title, it looks like one of Tony Khan’s aces up his sleeve for AEW’s return to the road might be finally giving us Omega vs. Hangman for the World Title, maybe at All Out.
Even if this match ends up taking place, the question remains: Is Hangman Page the right man at the right time to finally vanquish Kenny Omega and become the next AEW World Champion? Or does Kenny Omega’s story as the champion and as the belt collector goes further than his years long story with Adam Page?
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