Kenny Omega is the AEW World Champion again, and he had to survive a low blow, a title shot to the skull, and a kickout at one to get there.
On the July 8 episode of AEW Dynamite: Beach Break, live from Clearwater, Florida, Omega beat MJF in the main event to capture the AEW World Championship for the second time. It closed out one of the best-received matches in the show’s history and immediately set up a blockbuster for later this summer.
How It Happened
The match carried real stakes. Reports going in had it that a loss for Omega would mean he’d never get another shot at the world title, so every near-fall in the closing stretch landed like a possible ending. Will Ospreay factored in too, pulling MJF’s Dynamite Diamond Ring off his finger at ringside so the champion couldn’t use it as a weapon again.
Omega had the title belt in his hands at one point and chose not to swing it. He set it down instead, and MJF made him pay, hitting a low blow and then cracking Omega with the belt himself. It should have been enough. Omega kicked out at one. From there he strung together three V-Triggers and finished MJF with the One-Winged Angel for the pin.
“Finish the Race”
After the show went off the air, the new champion addressed the Clearwater crowd directly. “No matter how hard everything is,” Omega said, “you FINISH THE RACE!”
Next Stop: Wembley
The show closed with a graphic confirming what comes next: Omega will defend the AEW World Championship against Will Ospreay at All In: London, held at Wembley Stadium on August 30. It’s a rematch of one of the most acclaimed rivalries of the last decade, now with the promotion’s top prize and a stadium crowd on the line.
It’s also a full-circle moment for Omega himself, back on top of AEW for the first time since 2021 in the same week WWE saw its own title change hands, with CM Punk beating Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship in Chicago. Two companies, two new world champions, one very loud week for wrestling.