Despite his contract being up in February of next year, Will Ospreay is confident he’ll be staying with NJPW.
Just over one month ago, Will Ospreay confirmed to DAZN that his contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling is set to expire in February 2024. The United Empire member is undoubtedly one of the greatest proffering wrestlers active today, and thus, it’s likely that multiple promotions, including both AEW and WWE, will be vying for his signature.
Speaking recently to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Ospreay revealed that despite his current deal nearing its end, he’s confident of reaching an agreement with NJPW to stay in Japan. Ospreay also noted that he has no desire to move to America permanently, thus making a possible move to AEW or WWE far less likely.
“I’m very confident me and New Japan are going to work something out because I don’t want to live in America. That’s my full stop thing. I just don’t want to. It limits me. I’m basically saying, we’ll sort something out,”
-Will Ospreay
Ospreay already holds an impressive list of accolades in NJPW, including being a former three-time IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion, a former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and most recently holding the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship.
When asked what more he has to accomplish in the promotion, the 30-year-old London native stated that he’s enjoying his current run with the United Empire and that he’s proud of what the stable has been able to achieve thus far.
“I just like doing it. I can always reinvent, I can always change it up. Right now, United Empire is real hot. Merchandise sales with us are real good in Japan, we’re number one faction in New Japan voted by Tokyo Sports. I can feel something that wasn’t the best start with COVID and there was no reason for myself, Great-O-Khan, Henare and Jeff (Cobb) to be put together, but we made it work. There was a bunch of things that always happened, but in the end, we finally got all the group together, ten jewels make the crown. I can’t walk around in Japan now without being stopped once a day without people doing the [hand sign] we just made up in the islands. We made a cool hand sign.”
-Will Ospreay
Ospreay is set to take on AEW’s Lance Archer this Sunday at NJPW Dominion in the finals of the tournament to decide who will face Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Will Ospreay’s contract status as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
