Will Ospreay is ready for his showdown against Hiroshi Tanahashi at tomorrow’s NPW Resurgence special in Long Beach, California.
The Aerial Assassin spoke about The Ace during a recent interview with Fightful, where he expressed how much respect he had for the Japanese legend and commends him for the incredible legacy he’s left on the wrestling business.
Once again, business as usual. There’s nothing but respect for the guy. This house that I live in is mainly because of the work he’d done with New Japan when they were about to file for bankruptcy. The company put all of their weight on his shoulders and he swam with it, carved a mountain with it. He’s done incredible things. So I do have the utmost respect for him. I remember when I faced him last.
Ospreay and Tanahashi only wrestled once before in the G1 Climax tournament, a match that Ospreay came out victorious on. He says that this matchup will mean much more to him.
I’ve only wrestled him once, it was in the G1. I was able to score the win. I remember going head to head with him and I’ve always loved his saying his ‘attack for the next generation.’ I remember saying, I think the words were, ‘You can lay down your sword. I’ll take the load now.’ I think he took it as a little bit of, ‘Hey, you think I’m retiring, slow it down, I’m not.’ I can imagine in his eyes, maybe I’ve dropped the ball at times when I needed to carry the company and maybe he’s got some type of heat towards me. I don’t know. I don’t talk to him ever. I’m just letting him know the respect is there. But this is business. This is bigger than Tanahashi. This is about regaining pride.
If Ospreay wins at Resurgence he will face Lance Archer, and the winner of that meeting will challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Championship, a title that Ospreay lost to The Cleaner at WrestleKingdom 17. Looking back on that match, Ospreay says he feel like he dropped the ball and let NJPW down by losing the title to someone who “abandoned ship.”
I’m not going to say what legend it was, but as I’m walking past down the hallway, he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Hey, make him remember what New Japan’s all about.’ It put a fire under my belly and I was like, ‘Yeah, motherfucker. Let’s go.’ Then to get twenty minutes in and then my body wasn’t working There was moments where I was coming back, but it wasn’t there. I knew half-way in that match that I had lost. I just didn’t want to go down, so I kept fighting. This for me is about regaining my pride, man. I felt awful after Wrestle Kingdom. I felt like I let down everybody, my boys in the United Empire, all the New Japan fans that allowed this guy who abandoned ship to come back and steal my property.
The full card to tomorrow’s Resurgence can be found here.