Current AEW champion seemingly references viral John Cena moment on Dynamite

A top AEW star may have just made an unintentional subtle reference to John Cena earlier on Dynamite. This was from the 17-time world champion's shocking heel turn earlier this year.

During tonight's show, Kenny Omega made his return to the company following the brutal attack by Kazuchika Okada a few weeks ago. He came to the aid of his long-time friend Kota Ibushi. The Golden Star was in action against The Rainmaker tonight for the first time in almost four years.

After helping Ibushi and sending the Don Callis Family running, the Golden Lovers embraced, much to the delight of the crowd. During a moment in their embrace, Omega gazed out at the crowd with an intense expression. Although a completely different situation, it had seemingly referenced John Cena embracing Cody Rhodes before attacking him and turning heel at the 2025 Elimination Chamber.

This is evident in the clip below.

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Given the close friendship between Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, this looks to be something done in the heat of the moment as he got pumped up with the crowd by this reunion.

Kenny Omega reacted to a throwback moment from before joining AEW

Kenny Omega recently took to social media to respond to a moment in his career eight years ago. This was a match he had with Tomohiro Ishii in 2017 to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Champion.

He took to X/Twitter to react to the moment and couldn't recognize himself in the clips. Omega then discussed the Stone Pitbull and mentioned that he had not changed a bit. This was his original comment, but he has since changed this to talking about himself.

"I don’t even recognize this guy. And I don’t mean Ishii. He’s the same. What a guy," he originally wrote.

Check out the edited tweet below:

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The former AEW World Champion will be heading to All In this year with the chance to achieve yet another milestone and become the inaugural AEW Unified Champion. With Kota Ibushi by his side to fend off the Don Callis Family, this should be an interesting bout.

About the author

Enzo is a Pro Wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda, reporting on AEW. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Studies, which influenced his decision of taking up sports writing professionally, and has been an avid fan of the athletic theater since childhood. He believes readers deserve authentic and unique content and aims to report in a manner which pro wrestling fans can easily relate to.

Growing up, Enzo admired former world champions like AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, Bryan Danielson, Triple H, and Randy Orton for their finishing moves. As an adult, he started to appreciate their character work, as they juggled between heel and babyface gimmicks.

If allowed to produce one final storyline involving his idols, he would have Orton lock horns with John Cena, would be their one last big feud as both of them seem to be approaching the tail end of their careers.

Other than pro wrestling, Enzo enjoys keeping up with Basketball, Football, and Formula One. He also loves watching films, playing video games, and listening to music.

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Edited by Angana Roy