by Written by Ben Nichols
On September 11th, 2005 during the TNA pay-per-view “Unbreakable” a 12-year-old boy from England would develop his passion to become a professional wrestler. The match would consist of future WWE superstar AJ Styles & AEW stars Christopher Daniels & Samoa Joe.
Will Ospreay was born on May 7th, 1993 in Havering London, England. Not much is known about his childhood and remains a mystery. Ospreay would get his start in wrestling at the Lucha Britannia’s London School of Lucha Libre. He made his debut on April 1st, 2012 as a character named Dark Britannica. During his time with Lucha Britannaia he would capture the world championship under their respective promotion. Ospreay would continue to battle in the European indie scene, wrestling in multiple promotions and capturing numerous world championships.
On October 3rd, 2015, Ospreay would wrestle in his biggest match up to that point in his career. Ospreay would wrestle NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) greatest of all time in Kazuchika Okada. NJPW wrestlers Tanahashi, AJ Styles, and Okada recommended him to NJPW, and on 3 March 2016, Ospreay was announced as the newest member of the NJPW stable Chaos.
Omega vs Ospreay
On November 20th, 2022 NJPW would host the Historic X-Over event at the Arikae Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Ospreay would face Shota Umino for the IWGP United States championship. For 25 mins it would be an instant classic receiving 5 stars from Dave Meltzer and Ospreay taking the win and retaining the championship. While celebrating his victory, Kenny Omega would appear on the Titantron challenging Ospreay for his IWGP championship at WrestleKingdom 17. On January 4th, 2023 a war would begin in the Tokyo Dome and for 34 minutes, Ospreay & Omega would battle it out in front of 26,000 fans. Omega would get the best of Ospreay and claim the victory and become the new IWGP United States champion. Following a Kenny Omega injury NJPW scrambled to crown a new champion and would host a tournament.
The tournament final was held at the Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall the following month, where Ospreay defeated Lance Archer, to become the new #1 contender. On June 6 at an NJPW press conference, the rematch between Ospreay and Omega for the title was confirmed to take place later in the month at the AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view. Per Pwtorch.com “Omega entered the ring to help The Elite fight off Blackpool Combat after their main event match. Eventually, Ospreay hit the ring from the audience and attacked Omega from behind. Ospreay connected with Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker. Ospreay then hit Omega with a second Hidden Blade as AEW Dynamite went off the air.”
Finally on June 25 at Forbidden Door, Ospreay defeated Omega to regain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in a 6-star match rated by Dave Meltzer. Ospreay would also hit Omega with his finisher, the one-winged angel where Omega would kick out at 1 and shock the world. The match is regarded as the greatest match in AEW history and one of the best in NJPW history.
Osprey would return to AEW in August and attack Chris Jericho and would set up their match for the historic AEW All-In pay-per-view in London where Ospreay would get the victory in his home country in front of 81,000 people. The future is bright for the young English superstar and a potential match with Omega is expected at WrestleKingdom 18 to complete their trilogy. Ospreay has announced that his NJPW contract will expire in February 2024.
