Ospreay selected Davis to replace him.
The 2023 New Japan Cup tournament kicked off and ended in March. The tournament was won by SANADA, who went on to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
The tournament field consisted of 24 talents. Six of those talents were a part of the United Empire faction. In round two, Mark Davis and Will Ospreay went one-on-one and Ospreay got the win, but he came out of the bout with a shoulder injury that required him to pull out of the tourney.
Ospreay selected his United Empire stablemate Mark Davis to replace him. Davis reflected on that situation during Aussie Open’s appearance on Talk Is Jericho:
We (Aussie Open) went and did the New Japan Cup which was like singles matches. So yeah, we got to experience professional wrestling as singles wrestlers over there for a tournament and that was amazing. We both got to have some pretty incredible matches. I wrestled (Will) Ospreay and then I hurt Ospreay so Ospreay got taken out of the tournament and even though he beat me, I had to take his place… I wrapped him up like a burrito in a mat outside the ring and I senton’d him and his shoulder popped. Yeah, sorry Ospreay…
Ospreay, Davis and Kyle Fletcher were all featured on AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. To watch POST Wrestling’s review of that show, head over to this link.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
