Will Ospreay States He Wants To Be The Bridge Between NJPW and AEW

By: Lewis Carlan

Back on April 4th, AEW superstar Will Ospreay made his long awaited Japan in-ring return to New Japan Pro Wrestling as he teamed with Great-O-Khan & HENARE. The United Empire trio faced and defeated El Desperado, Yuya Uemura & Taichi at SAKURA GENESIS 2026 in Tokyo.

Ospreay will be back inside a NJPW ring on May 3rd and 4th at WRESTLING DONTAKU 2026. The former United Empire leader will have an opportunity to win his first NJPW title since Nov. 2023 as Ospreay will team with Great-O-Khan & HENARE to challenge Oleg Boltin, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Championship.

Photo Credit: NJPW

During a recent interview that is now available on the NJPW official website, Ospreay discussed his upcoming NEVER Openweight Six Man Title opportunity:

From Will Ospreay:

“It’s really exciting to do this with HENARE and O-Khan. When United Empire started, I was so focused on the singles titles that I never thought about the NEVER 6 man belts. Now I want to do that with my team. It gives United Empire more stock and more power, and to do that with my boys would be so cool for me.”

Yuya Uemura had alluded to in the past that Ospreay is considered an outsider when it currently comes to NJPW. During the interview, Ospreay addressed Uemura’s comment as well as the current relationship between NJPW and AEW. Ospreay stated he wants to be the bridge between both companies.

From Will Ospreay:

“I don’t know where Uemura is coming from, I’ve been in New Japan longer than he has. But I don’t like this rival company animosity. I can understand some of where it comes from, but I want to be the bridge between AEW and NJPW if I can. It is a difficult one [NJPW/AEW relationship]. I can understand there can be a certain perception because a lot of guys did go from New Japan into AEW, myself included. But NJPW has always been exceptional at creating new stars; it just took time for New Japan to really identify who was going to be the top guy carrying things forward. And if you just looked at Wrestle Kingdom this year, Kazuchika Okada, Konosuke Takeshita, Andrade as well on that card were all major moments that could only really happen with the AEW relationship. At the same time I do think there could be more guys sent from AEW into NJPW, and not just big names to pop a house but for a tour, or longer than that. Especially with the sheer size and the number of people AEW has under contract, I think it would be a great chance for AEW talent to grow and come back even better. And vice versa as well.”

Will Ospreay closed out the interview by stating he was very excited to be coming back to NJPW on May 3rd & 4th for WRESTLING DONTAKU 2026 in Fukuoka.