Yuto-Ice Vents Frustrations About United Empire and AEW Involvement in NJPW

By: Noah Leatherland

Having added the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Titles to his collection, NJPW star Yuto-Ice shared some of his frustrations in a recent interview with Tokyo Sports. Looking ahead to his match at NJPW Power Struggle, Yuto-Ice commented on the state of his opponents in the United Empire.

At NJPW King of Pro Wrestling, Yuto-Ice, OSKAR and Jeff Cobb took the trios belts from a United Empire team consisting of HENARE, Great-O-Khan. Afterwards, Ospreay challenged the Knockout Brothers for the IWGP Tag Team Championships. Yuto-Ice happily accepted the challenge, stipulating that Ospreay would be teaming with Callum Newman to do so.

Speaking to Tokyo Sports, Yuto-Ice shared how excited her was by the challenge:

I was just happy when Ospreay told me he wanted this belt. He’s an amazing wrestler when you actually face him, and I thought, ‘Yeah, this will definitely bring in the money,’ but what matters is how long we can keep this going—and the rest is up to me.

Yuto-Ice also commented on the current state of the United Empire, specifically their recent involvement in All Elite Wrestling. As well as appearing to support Ospreay on AEW programming, Ospreay has also formed his own branch of the United Empire in AEW, having recruited Andrade El Idolo, Speedball Mike Bailey and the Brawling Birds. Yuto-Ice has taken issue with this expansion:

I think money flows better when we move as a group, so I want UE to stay in the best position to make money. But the way things are now, I can’t help but feel that AEW will take it all, and the thought of AEW using the UE that New Japan created to make money really pisses me off. I don’t know if they’ll disband or get better, but I want to use our match as a catalyst to shatter this current half-assed situation.

On the current tensions between Ospreay, Newman, and the other members of the United Empire, Yuto-Ice noted:

There’s no consistency between what the members say and what they do—there’s no discipline, and it’s just not working… Honestly, I don’t think there are any fans who are really into UE right now. If things keep going like this, I think it’d be more profitable to create something new… It’s not really for the Empire’s sake, though—it’s all for my own gain. There’s also the fact that if Callum and Ospreay teamed up in their current state, it would draw attention. I’m thinking of using all of this to create a ‘pro-wrestling high.’

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

NJPW Power Struggle takes place on November 3rd in the Ryogoku Kokugikan.