Will Ospreay made a surprise appearance at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Road to King of Pro-Wrestling event in Niigata on Saturday.
The AEW World Champion appeared following an eight-man tag match at Horinouchi Gymnasium in Uonuma City, where HENARE, Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman & Zane Jay lost to Yuto-Ice, OSKAR, Jeff Cobb & Gedo.
Saturday’s event was not televised or streamed on NJPW World, leaving the appearance as a surprise for the live audience.
Per NJPW, after the match, Ospreay’s entrance music played as United Empire and their opponents remained at ringside.
He immediately became involved in the confrontation, hitting Yuto-Ice with a handspring overhead kick, OSKAR with Pip Pip Cheerio, and former United Empire stablemate Jeff Cobb with the Hidden Blade.
Ospreay then addressed the crowd.
The best wrestler in the world has returned to the blue ring. I’ll see you at Ryogoku. And I’m going to bring all the belts back to the Empire.
The surprise came two days before Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan make their first defense of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Cobb.
Ospreay, HENARE & O-Khan won the titles at Wrestling Dontaku in May.
The Knockout Bros. enter Monday’s match after regaining the IWGP Tag Team Championship from HENARE & O-Khan on Tuesday. Cobb was then revealed as their partner for Ryogoku.
King of Pro Wrestling takes place on Monday at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo and will stream live on NJPW World with Japanese and English commentary beginning at 3 am ET.
The current lineup is:
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji (c) vs. Ryohei Oiwa
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: YOH (c) vs. Robbie Eagles
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd (c) vs. Shota Umino
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Aaron Wolf (c) vs. Kosei Fujita
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Will Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan (c) vs. Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Jeff Cobb
- Konosuke Takeshita & Toru Yano vs. Ren Narita & Shun Skywalker
- Hechicero & Boltin Oleg vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Hartley Jackson
- Yuya Uemura, Taichi & El Desperado vs. SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Hirooki Goto & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai
