Will Ospreay is set for arguably the biggest match of his career at Wrestle Kingdom 15 when he faces Kazuchika Okada.
Ospreay turned his back on Okada, his former friend in CHAOS, and his since become his own man as leader of the EMPIRE. Though Ospreay is one of the most accomplished Super Juniors in NJPW history, it doesn't get much bigger than a bout with Okada in the Tokyo Dome.
Speaking to NJPW in an in-character interview, Ospreay discussed his turn on Okada and how it's led to Wrestle Kingdom.
"Nobody else in CHAOS is allowed to challenge for the IWGP titles. Nobody else makes the posters, the commercials. Just him, you don’t get that, you don’t understand what he’s like. He only comes to you guys for his matches, or for his interviews, but I had to travel with him, spend time with him, put up with him. Look, you saw what happened while I was a junior heavyweight. I won Best of the Super Jr.! And where was my face on the poster the next month? Nowhere. I was hardly advertised, because of Okada’s glass ceiling. So I struck out on my own, and what happened? Have you seen the truck driving around Tokyo? I used Okada to make myself more famous and now, I don’t need him," said Ospreay.
Later in the interview, Ospreay revealed he wanted to be his own man and go often the top names, comparing himself to Chris Jericho's approach in NJPW.
"I liken myself to Chris Jericho. When Chris Jericho came into NJPW, he went straight for the biggest names at that time- Omega, Naito, Okada, Tanahashi. He targeted those names and got rewarded for it with those big matches. He didn’t wait in line, he did things his own way, and now I’m going to do things my own way. A lot of people see things that way too. You’ve seen a few already, but there’s more. Trust me," he said.
Ospreay has flanked himself with The Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and his girlfriend Bea Priestley as part of The EMPIRE.
You can check out the current cards for Wrestle Kingdom 15 at Fightful's events section.
