>>17479050I think he's going to retire out of apathy soon. The exciting "vision" he shared with the Bucks, Cody, and Jericho to revolutionize the business ended up being a living nightmare he's simply resigned himself to. Worst of all for Kenny is that he transitioned from his greatest success as a performer in NJPW directly to the present disappointments. NJPW itself has fallen off since Kenny's peak run, so an extended return for him would amount to little more than a nostalgia run when business is down. That isn't a vision that he can get passionate about. Tony's unimaginative plans to rehash his rivalry with Okada can't be much cause for motivation either.
He has been misused onscreen for most of his AEW run. Instead of taking the opportunity to present him to American audiences as the first AEW Champion and the best wrestler never to compete in the WWE, he was oddly jobbed out to ex-WWE guys Pac, Moxley, and Jericho. His tag team and then singles feud with Hangman was one of the better things AEW did early on, but still, Omega was slumming it. Things picked up when he won the World Title, both for him and AEW overall. The show kinda made sense. I remember getting excited over what might come next after he had an excellent (and underrated) 30 minute time limit draw with Danielson on a Dynamite. But this is when he needed major shoulder surgery first, and then his diverticulitis developed and kept him out as he aged into his 40s. It feels like his career ended then. I haven't even mentioned any of the let-downs he's experienced behind the scenes. During his extended absence, he got to watch as viewership plummeted and Tony's creative incompetence became undeniable. I saw a lot of posts on /pw/ about how Kenny just wants to be a queer gamerboy manchild who attends conventions and wears lanyards and doesn't want to have to go back to AEW. I think some of those posts were serious. And now I think they were right. He's disengaged and about done.
