5 debut feuds Kenny Omega might have in WWE

Cue the speculation machine! Kenny Omega dropped the IWGP Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 13 yesterday. At New Japan's New Year Dash event earlier today, he was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of his Elite stablemates.

This leaves Kenny Omega's future up in the air. He can now be considered the hottest free agent the wrestling world has seen in quite some time. The stars have aligned to put him in a tremendously powerful position.

He can stay in New Japan, where he's proven himself to such an extent, he can join his Elite stablemates at the nascent All Elite Wrestling which, excitingly, has the backing of a billionaire family, or he can try his hand on the biggest stage in the business in WWE, which has reportedly made him a "fantastic offer."

While Omega has been a critic of WWE in the past, he's never been in a better position to negotiate with the Stamford giant as he is right now, given his own talents, the emergence of what could be formidable new competition, and WWE's own shaky position. If Omega were to ever wind up in WWE, now's the time.

While I still expect him to join AEW, his signing with WWE is a real possibility. But if he were to sign, the company would want to make him feel like a big deal from the moment he arrives, guaranteeing him a huge WrestleMania program.

Here are five such programs we could wind up seeing if Omega makes his WWE debut.

#1 Kenny Omega vs. Randy Orton

A year ago, this wouldn't have felt like a big enough deal for a Kenny Omega debut feud. 13-time champion though he may be, Randy Orton was one of the most boring performers on the roster, being content to go through the motions. Then Randy Orton turned heel last summer and everything changed.

Orton has been doing some of the best work of his career since then, becoming the main roster's most sadistic act. During his feud with Jeff Hardy, which was one of 2018's best, he vowed that he was going to take down all the "bingo hall darlings" from the pedestal that the fans put them on. Kenny Omega embodies just that.

An Omega emergence in WWE would set this new Orton off. His sadism could come out and we would get an intense rivalry heading into WrestleMania, where the Cleaner's victory over a brand name would cement him as a star immediately.

#2 AJ Styles

In 2016, before he left for WWE, Kenny Omega kicked AJ Styles out of the Bullet Club and took his spot as leader. Now the situation is similar, with Omega having departed the group months ago and with WWE potentially looming.

There's unfinished business between Styles and Omega. The former never got his chance at retaliation. If Omega were to come into WWE, and with Styles probably finished from the WWE title picture after the Royal Rumble, this Road to WrestleMania may be the time.

This potential feud opens up a number of possibilities. Could Styles turn heel? Could Omega debut as a heel? The latter possibility seems unlikely, given WWE's chronic shortage of top babyfaces.

Either way, the ingredients would be there for the two to have a classic WrestleMania match in Omega's debut, where a victory would instantly put the Cleaner on the map.

#3 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan and Kenny Omega actually had a match when both were in WWE's developmental system in the mid-2000s, but not since then, and never a major televised match. It's a true dream match, and one Omega himself is probably thinking about.

It certainly helps that Daniel Bryan is the current WWE Champion and doing some of his career-best work after his transformation into the NEW Daniel Bryan. The stars are aligned even more when you consider that, after he's done with AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan has no real formidable challenger going into WrestleMania. Mustafa Ali is promising, but not there yet.

A Kenny Omega debut makes all of those stars align. The two could have an intense personal rivalry, with Bryan declaring the fans FICKLE for daring to anoint a total unknown (by WWE standards) as their chosen hero and champion.

Everything would be in place for one of the best WWE Championship matches in WrestleMania history. Omega winning the title in his first match would certainly cement him as the next big thing.

#4 Demon Finn Balor

Degraded though he's been, Finn Balor is still presented as a huge deal when he's the Demon, squashing Baron Corbin in the incarnation's last appearance at SummerSlam. If Kenny Omega were to land on Monday nights to bolster a faltering Raw brand, a feud between him and Balor as the Demon would certainly give fans a reason to tune in to team red.

It's also a story that writes itself. It would be another battle of two former Bullet Club leaders. The Demon is also undefeated on the main roster, impressing in all his showings and being unique enough to transfer a big rub to Omega in victory at WrestleMania.

Finn Balor is reportedly set to get a renewed push, likely for the Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose, but a feud with Kenny Omega would be a much bigger program, especially with the Demon in play.

#5 Kenny Omega vs. Brock Lesnar

Perhaps there would be even greater things for Omega to do in a WWE debut. If the company wants to cement a massive new star for it to build around, that road inevitably leads to Brock Lesnar at some point.

This is the program that bedevilled Roman Reigns, and the company's refusal to pull the trigger multiple times cemented his struggles. Seth Rollins is reportedly set to take on the Beast this year, but if Kenny Omega were to show up in the Royal Rumble match, win it, and take on the Beast, it would have an angle everyone would be talking about, which is something Raw is sorely lacking right now.

If Omega were to defeat Lesnar in his WrestleMania debut and bring the Universal Championship back to Raw, it would have a major new star on its hands immediately and prove that its star-making machine isn't perpetually broken.