Following the NJPW departures of AJ Styles and Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay became the top gaijin in NJPW.
Ospreay would climb up the ranks, establishing himself as one of the best juniors before moving up to the heavyweight division and becoming IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaking to Booker T on "The Indies" podcast, Ospreay recalled getting advice from AJ Styles and how they helped him in his career.
"I say to people, 'Don't get advice from everyone because everyone is different. Get advice from guys you respect.' I remember, I did a show and I was trying to give feedback to someone I was tagging with. Someone comes up from over here and then someone comes from over here and you're getting bombarded. I would have hated to be him because he got bombarded with information. In reality, I should have taken him to a corner and been like, 'here's what you could have done better.' Advice is always good, but sometimes you don't have to take everybody's advice. Take the guy's advice that you respect and admire and you wanna be like. That's where AJ Styles came in for me. I remember sitting down with AJ. I had a match with him and when I found out I was wrestling AJ Styles, a tear rolled down my eye. It was the greatest night of my life. He's the sole reason I got into wrestling. AJ was it for me. I started crying, I was so thankful. How genuine he was and he took time to explain why we were doing things. I told him I was going to Japan. He was leaving for WWE. I told him I was going to Japan in April and he was like, 'I'm proud of you, you're going to do so well there.' I won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and he dropped me a message like, 'Bro, I'm so proud of you.' It gets me every single time because that's my hero and is such a big deal to me," he said.
Ospreay is currently out of action with a neck injury. He last wrestled on May 4. It is unknown when he will return to the ring.
Elsewhere during the interview, Ospreay gave his thoughts on "this is awesome" chants. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
