Dave Meltzer has hailed Kenny Omega’s in-ring return match as a triumphant success.
After missing the entirety of 2024 due to contracting diverticulitis the previous year, Kenny Omega returned to action at the first-ever Wrestle Dynasty show in Japan against Gabe Kidd. While Omega is known for his excellent in-ring work, fans were curious as to what the match would look like given that the former AEW World Champion had been out of the ring for over a year.
Within the opening few moments, Omega reminded the fans why he is known as The Best Bout Machine and quickly returned to the old Omega that made him a star in New Japan. With high spots, chair shots and a lot of blood, Omega eventually emerged victorious in the 31-minute war. Following the match, fans gave high praise to Omega and pleaded with Tony Khan to book the AEW EVP in prominent matches moving forward.
First addressing Omega’s match as part of a daily update, Dave Meltzer was very impressed with what he saw:
Kenny Omega did a very different classic performance than usual last night, very bloody, some scary stuff, very different from usual pro wrestling selling, far more believable in that regard. I’m never a fan of chairs to the head and wish it wasn’t there. I also could watch the match and see the presentation was based around making you uncomfortable at times with the brutality (unless you just love any form of brutality). He actually looked unbelievable for a first match back.
Elaborating on his thoughts about the match on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer first spoke about the severity of Omega’s illness and how he hadn’t missed a step when the bell rang:
“He may have been a day or two from dying, that’s how bad it was, and then he had surgeries. He had two feet of his intestine removed. Came back, looked in great shape, incredible match.
I mean, there were so many times in this match where I’m watching him sell and I’m going like, oh f*ck, you just ended your career. I can’t believe you did this. And he was selling every time, his selling was unbelievable.”
Meltzer also compared the Omega comeback match to Shawn Michaels’ in-ring return at SummerSlam 2002, stating that the Omega match was “3 levels up” from The Heartbreak Kid’s performance more than 22 years ago:
“I remember when Shawn Michaels came back against Triple H and he had a hell of a match too. He had a hell of a match. But this was like three levels up from that one. I mean, it’s unbelievable, the emotion and everything that he was able to pull into that match and the stuff that he did. I watched this and it was just like dude, just make this guy AEW Champion. I don’t know if that’s really the right idea, but that was like I’m watching this going this guy should just be the God of Everything. It was an unbelievable performance.
I hope Gabe Kidd gets his due because this was not a one-man show. Gabe Kidd was awesome in this match. Omega, his role was to take Gabe Kidd up through a couple of steps and boy did he do that. And boy did Gabe Kidd rise to the occasion. That’s the one thing I would say, is he rose to the occasion.”
How Many Five Star Matches Has Dave Meltzer Given Kenny Omega?
At the time of writing, Omega has 25 five star matches to his name, tied with Mitsuharu Misawa as the third most in the history of his ratings behind Kazuchika Okada with 28 and Will Ospreay with 47. Judging by the comments made by Meltzer about the match, it is likely that Omega will add to his tally with his Wrestle Dynasty performance.
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