Why Kenny Omega Turning on Will Ospreay Is AEW’s Biggest Creative Gamble in Years

AEW ended Redemption with a swerve that can either define its next era or squander two of the best wrestlers alive — here’s the full breakdown.

AEW’s first-ever Redemption pay-per-view didn’t end with a triumphant babyface celebration. It ended with a knife in the back. Moments after Kenny Omega retained the AEW World Championship at the Bell Centre, he turned on Will Ospreay in a moment that, according to the way it’s been reported, left the Montreal crowd stunned and the internet arguing well into the following week.

This is the kind of swerve that either becomes a foundational chapter in AEW history or a cautionary tale about torching goodwill for a pop. There’s very little middle ground. Let me explain why.

What Actually Happened

The setup was simple on paper: Omega and Ospreay, two performers routinely mentioned in the same breath as the best in-ring talents on the planet, sharing a main event on a brand-new marquee show. The expectation from a lot of fans was mutual respect, a war between friends, a handshake to close the book. Instead, the finish flipped the script entirely, with Omega turning on the man many assumed he’d bless as the next torchbearer.

As our own analysis of the turn laid out, this isn’t a garden-variety heel move. It’s a repositioning of the entire top of the card, and it only works if the company treats it as a long-term commitment rather than a one-night shock.

The Background a Newer Fan Needs

To understand why this lands so hard, you have to understand who these two are to AEW’s identity.

Kenny Omega isn’t just a champion — he’s arguably the single most important in-ring signing in the company’s history, the man whose matches with the Young Bucks and Hangman Page helped define what AEW was supposed to be in its early years. When Omega is positioned at the top, it’s a statement about the kind of wrestling the promotion values. He has spent years as the internal standard-bearer, the guy whose title reigns are treated as artistic events.

Will Ospreay, meanwhile, arrived as the crown jewel of AEW’s recruitment drive — a global superstar who spent years being called the best wrestler alive by a certain corner of the fandom. His signing was framed as a coup, and he’s spent his AEW run being protected, pushed, and positioned as the future. He is, in every practical sense, the babyface the company has been trying to build the next decade around.

So when Omega turns on Ospreay, it’s not one guy hitting another guy. It’s the past turning on the future. It’s the established measuring stick refusing to hand over the ruler. That’s rich, layered storytelling if — and this is the entire ballgame — AEW commits to paying it off.

Why It Matters More Than the Average Swerve

Heel turns are a dime a dozen. This one carries weight for reasons specific to AEW’s current moment.

• It reframes Omega entirely. Omega has been the beloved ace for so long that a genuine, sustained heel run is uncharted territory in AEW. Done right, it gives fans a reason to want to see him lose — which is something the company has arguably struggled to manufacture with its top-tier stars.
• It gives Ospreay a mountain to climb. Ospreay’s biggest weakness in AEW hasn’t been ability — it’s been a lack of a defining emotional story. A betrayal from a man he respected is exactly the kind of personal stakes that turns “amazing matches” into “must-see feuds.”
• It sends a message about the main-event scene. Look at the rest of the card from that show. Our rundown of the biggest talking points from Redemption makes it clear the promotion was swinging for the fences all night. A swerve of this magnitude only works if it’s the top of a pyramid, not a random spike.

The danger is equally clear. AEW has a well-documented history of running hot with a shocking angle and then letting the follow-through evaporate. Swerves for the sake of a moment — turns that get a gasp and then get quietly abandoned three weeks later when a new shiny idea appears — have burned this audience before. If Omega vs. Ospreay becomes a one-and-done or gets buried under a dozen competing storylines, the turn will have cost far more than it earned.

Where This Realistically Heads — My Read

Here’s my honest take: this only justifies itself if it becomes a genuine, months-long chase.

The ideal version is obvious. Omega goes full villain — cerebral, arrogant, protective of his spot — and stops trying to have the best match on every card, instead having the smartest one. Ospreay becomes the sympathetic hunter, losing a few along the way, getting screwed, building resentment, until a blow-off match on a stage big enough to matter feels inevitable. That’s a program you can stretch across multiple pay-per-views without it going stale, because the in-ring ceiling between these two is essentially limitless.

The version I’m worried about is the one where the turn is treated as a plot beat rather than a story engine — where they wrestle again quickly, trade the belt, and the emotional betrayal never gets the runway it deserves. AEW has the two best possible dance partners in the building to tell a slow-burn heel-versus-hunter epic. The temptation to rush to the payoff is exactly the trap they need to avoid.

My prediction, framed as pure analysis: expect Omega to lean into the villain role harder than fans anticipate, and expect AEW to be tempted to accelerate the rematch faster than patience would demand. The best outcome is the disciplined one. Whether this creative team has that discipline is the real question the turn is asking.

Either way, AEW just placed a very large bet on two of the most gifted performers in the world. If it hits, it’s a defining rivalry. If it misses, it’s a wasted layup with the best shooters in the league.

So what’s your read — is this the start of an all-time feud, or a shock that AEW won’t follow through on? Drop your take in the comments and let’s argue it out.