Kenny Omega worked closely with AJ Styles during their time in NJPW, which was a period where the former was growing in the business, while the latter had established himself as one of the best. The AEW star remembered wanting to emulate Styles and be in the position he was in.

“It was a situation [in NJPW] where what AJ had and what he was able to harness was something that I wanted. And I wanted to see that path. I wanted to see, what is the making of a champion? How do you do it?” he said. “And I remember AJ, I had his blessing to include me in a match that he had against Kota Ibushi. And from there, we were able to rekindle and reintroduce fans to the Golden Lover storyline from there.”

Omega claimed that Styles also indirectly had a small part to play in the creation of AEW, after the WWE star was kicked out of the Bullet Club by Omega and The Young Bucks.

“The last thing, and the most important thing, perhaps, is when we turned on AJ before he left for WWE. We didn’t tell anybody,” he said. “And again, like I said, the natural chemistry and AJ just having a keen sense of what’s best for business knew how exactly to go along with it. And in a way, by him turning his back and allowing for that moment to happen, whether he knows it or not, I mean, that led to the forming of the Elite, that led to BTE, that led to Hot Topic, ultimately, that kind of led to AEW.”

Styles is heading to retirement in WWE, ruling out a possible reunion with his former Bullet Club buddies in AEW.