Will Ospreay Responds to Kenny Omega: "I Will End You."
Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay have had limited in-ring encounters, yet the two have been linked for years. As touted in recent promotion leading up to AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, Omega "essentially passed the torch" to both Ospreay and Jay White upon his exit from New Japan. Since that shift in early 2019, both the Best Bout Machine and the Aerial Assassin have ascended the ranks of their respective companies. Omega captured the AEW World Title in December 2020, while Ospreay would become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in April 2021. Despite his accomplishments, Omega has been quick to criticize Ospreay, recently saying the leader of the United Empire isn't much more than a move-set.
"A guy like Will, who is great at moves and has a list of 20 very forgettable five-star matches. [laughs] I'm going a little too hard on Will. Will is great. I don't want to say anything bad about Will. Here's the thing, if we're being completely honest with each other, I do believe that with the current rating system, and how things are viewed, I believe that Will has earned every last one of those five-star performances that he has had," Omega said to Fightful last month. "I'm digging myself into a hole here, Will is there and Will is great. I'm glad to see him in a marquee match against Orange Cassidy. I'm just saying that I think New Japan made the right choice by going with Jay White. He was the star of the two, is all I'm saying."
Ospreay has now responded to Omega's comments, noting he thinks the Cleaner was even holding back on some of his criticisms.
"It's belittling. He's only doing it because of the interview side of things, he has to try and save face. You saw his true colors there. He wanted to bury me and he couldn't," Ospreay told Wrestle Inn. "This comes from a long line of things."
Beyond that, Ospreay brought up that he believes Omega prevented him from coming to AEW before.
"Even speaking of AEW, it is only because I hang around with the boys after and we're all smoking and talking s--t. Apparently, the rumor was that I was meant to be there a year ago, just doing 'forbidden door' stuff," Ospreay continued. "And somebody is putting the block on it. It doesn't take two and two to realize who it is. One person who has not been there for a while and all of a sudden, I'm welcome in with open arms."
The bad blood between Ospreay and Omega dates back to NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 in January 2019. At that event, Ospreay defeated NEVER Openweight Champion Kota Ibushi, a long-time tag partner of Omega, with his hidden blade elbow strike. This maneuver concussed Ibushi, who was consequently taken out of the Tokyo Dome on a stretcher. According to Ospreay, Omega wanted Ibushi to be in his corner for his main event match later that night, but his injury prevented that from happening.
"This whole thing has generated from back in 2019. It was Kenny's last match and I guess he wanted Ibushi out there to second him. I f--king blew Ibushi's brain out with the hidden blade. He's super f--king mad at me," Ospreay said. "The thing is, I'm mad at myself when those situations happen. I don't want to brain somebody, but it's a legal wrestling move. I'm allowed to do it. I'm allowed to do blows to the back of the head, 12-6 elbows down. This is a 9-3 elbow strike, I'm allowed to do it. Obviously, the repercussion is he got knocked out and it was a bad concussion. Since then, myself and Ibushi, we have gone out for drinks. We don't talk anymore, but after that point, we went for drinks and meals, we're fine, but Kenny is [upset] off of an accident."
The current IWGP United States Champion noted he is especially let down by Omega's comments because of how hard he's worked to restore NJPW to where it was before the pandemic.
"He can think what he wants about me, but the motherf--ker is such a little b---h. The same person who is like, 'I grew up after six or seven five-star matches.' No you didn't, you c--t," Ospreay said. "You vanity search your name on Twitter to see what everybody says and when it's bad, you cry in the corner of your million-pound house and you're still bothered by some c--t who sits doing some wrestling matches who is trying to help out, not only the British scene, but the Japanese scene, because I'm not an idiot when it comes to my company. We got hit hard by the pandemic. Does that mean I'm taking a day off? No, I'm working my a-- off to bring it back because that's what you said to do."
While it's been years since the two met inside the squared circle, Ospreay noted that these recent back and forth comments are not to build to a future match.
"This is the reason I don't like Kenny. This is where some people can relate. When you say something to me, look me in the eye, and speak to me, when you talk to me and tell me this and then go to fans and talk differently, that's where we have a problem. You have my number, if we have a problem, call me and we can f--king talk about this," Ospreay said. "I don't have anything to say to him. Be all, end all, I'm sure if everyone was in the same room, I would slap him. The worst thing is, people are gonna listen and be like, 'They're building to something.' We're not building up to anything. He's a c--t. I will slap that boy and remind him, 'You're a f--king 40-year-old man and you're f--king fragile. Do you really want to get with me? I will end you.'"
Omega is currently on the shelf with multiple injuries, while Ospreay is gearing up to compete in NJPW's G1 Climax tournament.
