On January 4, 2019, Wrestle Kingdom 13 saw Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenny Omega collide in the main event for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In the wake of defeat, Omega would disappear from the cerulean blue for four years; in his absence, something new was born in All Elite Wrestling.

On January 5, 2025, AEW and NJPW, together with CMLL, STARDOM and Ring of Honor are all under the same Tokyo Dome roof for Wrestle Dynasty. As the wrestling world counts down to this grand reunion, another came in the New Japan offices, where Tanahashi and Omega sat down to reflect and to look ahead.

‘Time goes by so fast,’ Omega reflected on his absence from the NJPW fold. ‘I was driven out of NJPW, but at the same time, AEW was born in that, so it’s happy-sad’.

Their Tokyo Dome encounter was a title fight, but also a clash of philosophies between the classical stylings of the Ace and an anything goes abandon from the Cleaner. ‘We wrestled once before, for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship,’ Omega recalled. ‘I won… less than cleanly, but I wanted to win a belt come what may. In the Tokyo Dome, it was about wanting to really test myself against the Ace of professional wrestling, on the biggest stage in pro-wrestling.’

The Ace was victorious. ‘I was stronger, faster, more athletic. So why did I lose? It was a passion that Tanahashi had, his heart. That loss was important for me to learn from. More than disappointed by that loss, I’m grateful for it’.

It was a comment that brought mixed emotions of a different kind from Tanahashi, who acknowledged ‘we said a lot in the press about one another back in 2018, but he’s gone on to do great things,’ before confessing he was most conflicted that ‘(Kenny) has stayed in good shape all this time, while I’ve become a fat boy.’

Kenny’s impressive physical shape comes despite a near fatal battle with diverticulitis earlier in the year, an illness that required surgery and that he is still not cleared to return to the ring from. ‘If they cleared me tomorrow, I would be back in the ring. There’s a lot I don’t know right now, but I’d absolutely love to be on a stage like Wrestle Dynasty,’ admitted Omega, in response to Tanahashi’s appeal to NJPW’s younger generation that he ‘hopes Kenny can experience for himself.’

That turned conversation to the crossover event January 5. ‘I made my Japanese debut in DDT, and was satisfied then with being in Shin Kiba First Ring,’ Kenny reflected. ’From there I made steady steps, and bigger goals for myself. From there I wanted to be in NJPW, be in Best of the Super Jr., then the G1, then be a champion, then being in the biggest stage in the Tokyo Dome. Now there are people who will be in the Dome for the very first time, that have never been in Japan, and I’m so happy for them. Especially the AEW women and the STARDOM wrestlers. Whenever I found it hard to be motivated by wrestling, I drew a lot of inspiration from Japanese women’s wrestling and I’m excited to see them get back on the Tokyo Dome stage’

Both Omega and Tanahashi have had their issues in 2024 with Kenny’s former partners in the Elite. The Young Bucks and Kazuchika Okada were part of an attack on Omega that sent him out of AEW television on a stretcher, while Tanahashi along with the Acclaimed fell to the Elite during Forbidden Door this year. ‘I was so concerned after I saw what happened to you!’ Tanahashi exclaimed, drawing a wry ‘surely not,’ from Omega. Could Wrestle Dynasty be the site of a wrestling executive tag team standing up to the Young Bucks?

‘First priority is making my return,’ Kenny responded, ‘but if I can come back, I do want to face the Bucks. I want revenge, but more importantly, I want to do it the right way. The first time Tanahashi and I wrestled, it was for the belt, and then in 2019 it was a lot on the line for the both of us. Now, with the two of us aligned, next time we wrestle, I’d want to do it together. I’ve been a bad guy for a lot of my time, especially in AEW. I cheated to win the AEW title. I don’t want that to be the memory of myself that stays with young fans. If Tanahashi and I meet in that ring again, I’d want to do it as his partner.’

Tanahashi offered encouragement to a his former foe and prospective partner, stating ‘I’m sure that Kenny will be doing all he can to get into ring shape, and I’ll be working as hard as I can to get into Kenny shape.’ Whether this backroom reunion will see the two reconvening in the cerulean blue remains to be seen, but the road to Wrestle Dynasty certainly sees some impressive possibilities.