Ahead of defending his title against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 17, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay was interviewed by Kevin Kellam of Sportskeeda Wrestling.
Ospreay touched on his title defense against The Cleaner, the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match between Jay White and Kazuchika Okada, a potential dream match with Seth Rollins, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On why Kenny Omega is challenging him: “I’ve become an unstoppable beast in professional wrestling. No one puts on the caliber of matches I do and not just in New Japan but I believe all over in the world. And after Kenny’s suspension, those AEW bright lights got switched off and he saw the shadow for the first time and he thought if he didn’t stop it now, then it’s probably gonna get too big to the point where no one can stop it.”
On Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada: “I mean, statistics wise you would have to say Jay but just wrestling Okada in the Tokyo Dome and wrestling Jay, what I’ve done in many singles matches in G1 mainly. Okada is another animal in a big match situation and there is no bigger stage than the Tokyo Dome, so Jay will have to bring in everything.”
On overshadowing Jay White’s IWGP World title reign: “He can in that situation, I mean, Jay is a very underrated wrestler, he doesn’t get the flowers that he does deserve but it’s mainly because his championship run has been undermined by my championship run, so that’s where he needs to really break away and if he does Okada, define that championship.”
On a possible match with Seth Rollins: “I think it will be good, I mean, obviously all the smoke is clear between myself and Seth [Rollins] but there’s always that desire that wants to see two guys that beat the crap out of one another. So, if Seth’s got bit of an issue then I’ve got bit of an issue. So, he’s more than welcome to come over to Japan.”
On how he got into wrestling: “It’s really hard because I don’t remember much about like what was the exact moment I became a fan, my dad and me would watch a bunch of… I guess the channel flicking and like, I guess when I was like 5, I just happened to see like Triple H and Rock doing something. I can’t remember what the show was, but I was hooked even at that young age.”
Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 17 will emanate from the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2023.
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