AJ Styles had a number of dream matches in his legendary career, but one that slipped away was a clash against AEW’s Kenny Omega, which he recently addressed.

Styles and Omega, regarded as two of the best in-ring technicians of their era, never got to have a singles match in a big promotion, having wrestled once in the indies at the start of Omega’s career. “The Phenomenal One” reflected on that dream match not happening on the “Phenomenally Retro” podcast, emphasizing how there’s no possibility of it happening now due to his retirement.

“I would like to have had a match with him [Omega] anywhere, but it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen. You know, we just kind of ran out of time. You know, I got too old and we were different places and it is what it is. It just wasn’t meant to be and it’s never going to happen,” he said. “Just so I’m just throwing that out there: Never going to happen. Never going to happen.”

Omega and Styles’ time in NJPW overlapped, but they never got to face each other in a singles match, with them sharing the ring in the Japanese promotion only once, which came in a tag team match. The two teamed against CHAOS’ Shinsuke Nakamura and YOSHI-HASHI in 2016, a few weeks before both Styles and Nakamura were to join WWE. 

Omega and Styles had one match against each other, back in 2006, when a young Omega got the better of Styles in indie promotion PCW. The match left a huge impression on Omega, who committed himself to his dream of becoming a star in pro wrestling after that encounter. Styles himself has had only good things to say about the AEW star, stating that he has only had positive interactions with him.