Tony Khan makes a bold claim, "Nobody can do that, there’s only one Kenny Omega"
AEW president Tony Khan has admitted that he made a number of changes to the World's End card because of Kenny Omega, claiming that 'there's only one Kenny Omega.'
The former AEW World Champion was originally scheduled to challenge Ricky Starks and Big Bill for the AEW Tag Team Championships with Chris Jericho.
However, Omega confirmed on social media that he has been diagnosed with diverticulitis and will be out of action for the foreseeable future as there is no timeframe on when he will be back.
During the recent media call to promote this Saturday's pay-per-view, Tony Khan was asked about how Omega's diagnosis affected the card. Here's what he had to say:
“It affected a lot of things, it affected a lot of stuff. When you lose a star like Kenny Omega, the dominoes start to drop. That’s something people don’t think about as much that when there’s an effect on things that can affect people all over the show in different places.” [46:21-46:36]
Khan admitted that he decided to change the card completely because Omega wasn't going to compete, stating that no one could fill Kenny's shoes.
“Frankly, you’re not going to try and put anybody to fill Kenny Omega’s shoes. Nobody’s—nobody can do that, there’s only one Kenny Omega. So I thought the right thing to do would be to change the card and rebuild things and try and do something to cover it in an exciting way, and instead of one partner for Chris Jericho, he’s got three partners.” [48:37-49:03]
Kenny Omega's illness could have been fatal if left any longer
For those who aren't exactly sure what diverticulitis is, it's the inflammation or infection of the pouches formed in the colon. This can lead to abdominal pain, vomiting, and in cases that aren't treated properly, death.
The latter of those is what could have happened to Kenny as he was reportedly informed by doctors that he was extremely lucky that he went to the hospital when he did.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer noted that had Kenny left it any later, he could have developed a blood infection, which has roughly a 50% chance of survival.
When do you think Kenny will be back? Let us know in the comments section below!
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