NJPW NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay will be taking on IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White at the upcoming 47th Anniversary show. Ospreay captured the belt at the Wrestle Kingdom show January 4th against Kota Ibushi.
Both White and Ospreay were members of the CHAOS faction up until recently. ‘Switchblade’ Jay White made the change to Bullet Club alongside Gedo and quickly defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP title after the fact. Ospreay recently challenged his former stablemate to the aforementioned bout at the Anniversary show. The ‘Aerial Assassin’ recently spoke to New Japan’s English language site NJPW1972.com about the upcoming match.
Unexpected Win Against Tanahashi
When asked about White winning the bout in shocking fashion Ospreay had some interesting comments. The English star stated that “I was in England with my missus and we were watching it on TV, on NJPW World. The moment that Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow and he caught him and hit the blade runner I sat up. He beat Tanahashi, I couldn’t believe it, in fact I didn’t want to believe it, but he’s right.” Ospreay elaborated further, saying that “we all didn’t take him seriously, we all didn’t think that Jay could beat him. Maybe Tanahashi thought the same, I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But the fact remains that Jay White is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and he did that by beating the Ace.”
When The Assassin Meets Switchblade
Ospreay then commented on the match against White, saying “I think he’s going to underestimate me because he has Gedo in his corner. Now, Gedo helped me out a lot when I was growing in the Junior Heavyweight division and perhaps Gedo thinks he knows everything about Will Ospreay.” Ospreay continued, saying “I think Jay’s going to go into this fight super confident. But, I’ve kind of changed since Gedo left. There are some elements I’ve kept doing since those days, but there are other elements that have changed me and because of that I think I’ve become a better person and a better wrestler.”
Strategy In The Bout
Finally Ospreay stated that “whatever strategy that Jay White brings, the moment that he turns his back on me and I bring this out [points to elbow] and I put my hidden blade right into the back of his head and knock him spark out that’s not enough for me. I will then hoist that guy up onto my shoulders and deliver the storm breaker. He’s going to hear it. This quiet voice saying ‘One, Two, Three.’ My awesome music will play and all you hear is ‘Winner: NEVER Openweight Champion, Will Ospreay.’ That’s something that’s going to set in, that Jay White isn’t unbeatable.”
You can read the full interview here.
