The association with the Dark Order hurt him with everyone but the diehard AEW faithful, and taking the paternity leave completely cooled him off. When he came back, it just felt like they were just going through the motions to finish the story that everyone knew they'd originally wanted to do, and not what made sense at the time (like when Statlander came back against Jade). Everyone knew that Omega was in incredibly rough shape, so his victory over him felt hollow -- it was more like he put a sick and tired invalid out of his misery, than proved himself over the "god of pro-wrestling". The Bucks inserting themselves into that moment was also cringe and nonsensical.
