Ospreay deep dives into what New Japan has helped him with over the past several years.
For over 700 days, Will Ospreay has been in possession of the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship. During the time period since winning that title, Ospreay went on to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion but had to relinquish the title due to injury.
Ospreay dove into his New Japan run while guest appearing on the All Real Wrestling Podcast. He spoke in-depth about the mental health struggles he dealt with in 2019 and in 2020, citing the loss of Hana Kimura and Ryan Smile as low points for him. Ospreay expressed what he was going through to the higher-ups in New Japan and they looked after him and provided him with what Ospreay described as “the best doctors”.
For what New Japan did for him, Ospreay believes he’ll be with the company for the remainder of his wrestling career.
I got a phone call from Alex [Windsor’s] mom and it was just to let me know that Ryan [Smile] passed away and Ryan is one of my best friends. Honestly, I have so many stories I could tell you about this boy and just like so many just — there’s times when he would make me smile. There were times where I would just want to wrap my arms around his throat and be like, ‘F*cking idiot’ [Ospreay laughed]. But then at the same time, he would just like, [in an] instant, he would make me smile and still to this day, I can’t — I can’t get it over it and it was only then, like I told New Japan about all my issues and I was — because I was masking it so hard and New Japan [had] done so much by me. I can’t — this is why I think I will end up being with New Japan for life because they stuck by me so much. They got me all the greatest doctors. I was being looked after so, so well and like, there’ll be times when things slip up but like, I’ll never forget what New Japan did for me. I can’t tell you enough how much I love this company for everything they’ve done for me throughout 2020. They’ve really looked after me and like, I’ll never forget it and I’ll never forget those people but just like, it was one thing after another after another after another and it was just like a point I didn’t want to be here anymore man. It’s horrible to say it, but I’m over the moon I’m here now because the people that I’ve met along the way and the people that I’ve reconnected [with] and just like man, I’m so grateful to be alive. I’m so happy to be here and I just wanna — although I’m playing a bad guy and I love my job, I love playing that role because there is a bad person inside me sometimes that just wants to go, ‘Well yeah? Well f*ck you.’ But like, a lot of the time, it is just like I’m so grateful just to be able to perform under the New Japan banner. I’m so grateful to have everyone backstage who’s supported me. I’m so grateful to Revolution Pro Wrestling, I’m so grateful to all my friends. The locker room at RevPro right now is phenomenal. I’m so grateful to be here.
In 2016, Ospreay joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Prior to signing exclusively with the company, he had an opportunity to work for WWE and IMPACT Wrestling offered him a deal.
Ospreay decided on New Japan without having a contract being offered to him and after his tour, he was presented with a one-year deal. He signed it and then after a match he had with KUSHIDA, Tiger Hattori ripped Ospreay’s contract up and offered him a two-year contract.
The next day, I was wrestling [Kazuchika] Okada and at the time, Gedo’s ringside so then I’ve already got the booker there and then Tiger Hattori who’s kind of like high up in the office was watching ringside and then I had Hiroshi Tanahashi peaking through the curtain watching me. So then it’s like all eyes [on me]. [If] I sh*t the bed then, it would’ve just been like no, that’s the end of me. See ya later. I’ll go down to some terrible matches but, I was honestly truly blessed. I came backstage, Okada loved it. Got out of my gear, I was saying goodbye to everyone, Hattori pulled me to one side and you know, just like, ‘We’re gonna bring you in for the Best of the Super Juniors’ and it was like, ‘This is amazing, this is cool. I’m getting to New Japan’ and once again, I’m not thinking career-wise that you can make a career out of this. It’s just like, ‘I’m gonna need to ask work for a couple months off.’ So, it finally got to the point in January, and then A.J. [Styles] got signed, [Shinsuke] Nakamura got signed, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson got signed so four spots just opened up and to this day, it really makes me go, ‘Oh man, that’s f*cking cool’ because A.J. told office, ‘Why don’t you sign Will?’ And Okada was like, ‘Yeah, let’s get him’ and I was like yeah. ‘He’s like a white Kota Ibushi. Let’s get him.’ So I had three of the biggest names go to the office and say, ‘Yeah, you should try and sign him’ and they kept saying, ‘We want you like Devitt, we want you like Devitt’ so I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re actually like really interested in me. This is incredible’ and then at the same time, TNA gave me an offer and then at the same time, WWE came so now I have like three jobs. I used to love TNA. I mean back then, it wasn’t what it was, but WWE, I mean NXT was like the coolest thing back then and there’s New Japan so I was like I’ve got a big decision to make and I always wanted Japan. I love WWE and I was like, ‘No, I would’ but then I heard the offer that they gave, I was like, ‘I’ll starve.’ Like how would you — I couldn’t ever make money off of this. I would actually starve and to this day, I remember talking to my mom about this and she was like, ‘I don’t know what a New Japan is’ and I [go], ‘I do’ and I took a gamble and there was no contract that was offered to me or anything. It was just one tour. Went over, they said, ‘Do you mind bringing a suit? We’re gonna do a bit of a documentary about you,’ which is actually available to watch on YouTube. It’s all real. Like I have no idea what’s going on, that’s why I’m so bloody awkward and then they brought me to the office and they said, ‘What do you want?’ I went, ‘To be honest, I just want to wrestle here. This seems like a real good gig. I think I really enjoy this, I think this is where I’m gonna learn. I think all I’ve done is just some couple of indies in America and some indies in the U.K. and not that I can’t learn anymore but to be — become the full package, I need to be here’ and Hattori left the room, came back, put a contract in front of me, it was only one year. I was like, ‘Okay, cool,’ sign it. Went out, did my match with KUSHIDA in front of 10,000 people which was like the biggest crowd I’ve ever been in front of. Came backstage, Hattori ripped my contract up. I thought I’ve done something wrong; two years. So I was just like, ‘Oh yeah!’ I got like two years worth of guaranteed money right there and just like, my dream just came true. I became a professional wrestler. I went home to England and then went back to work the next day.
The 28-year-old Ospreay is the midst of the New Japan Cup tournament. He defeated BUSHI in the first round and next on the docket for him is El Phantasmo on March 12th.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the All Real Wrestling Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
