The next challenger for Will Ospreay’s IWGP UK Championship has been announced.
The revelation came after the main event of NJPW Royal Quest III, held at the Copper Box Arena in London on October 14th.
Ospreay, who had high praise for his opponent before the bout, had battled to victory over Zack Sabre Jr to retain his crown in London. Soon after, however, he was challenged by Shota Umino to a Championship bout at NJPW Power Struggle in Osaka, Japan on November 4th.
Ospreay only accepted under the match under the condition that Jon Moxley will face Great-O-Khan at the huge upcoming event, terms that were immediately accepted by Umino.
Updated card for NJPW Power Struggle on 4th November:
- IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Shota Umino
- Great O-Khan vs. Jon Moxley
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste
- Super Junior Tag League Finals: TBD vs. TBD
- Yota Tsuji and Tetsuya Naito vs SANADA & Yuya Uemura
Could Will Ospreay Move To WWE?
Currently Ospreay has a contract with NJPW that does not expire until February 2024. At this point prominent wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer believes that Ospreay is more likely to sign with AEW than make a move to WWE at this stage.
Speaking on the McGuire On Wrestling podcast, Meltzer would explain his thoughts about the Brit’s future:
“He wants to live in England, so the deal is that for him to go to WWE, it would not be full-time. He still could fly in and stuff, but the best thing would be for WWE to get that Europe thing going and make him the star of the whole thing.”
H/T: WrestlingInc for the above transcription