New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that both Will Ospreay and his upcoming Power Struggle title match opponent, NEVER Openweight Champion Taichi, have been removed from the Road to Power Struggle tour. Ospreay was injured during his match with Chris Ridgeway at a RevPro/NJPW Global Wars UK show, which the popular high-flyer confirmed by retweeting a report about his injury on October 14 from the Wrestling Store.
. @WillOspreay is ok. Landed badly from the kick and felt something in his ribs. Was treated backstage with suspected intercostal cartilage tear. Taken to hospital for an X-ray to be safe but he’s fine & was in great spirits. Excellent work by everyone backstage looking after him
— Wrestling Store (@WrestlingStore) October 15, 2018
The next day, Ospreay tweeted that he would be taking some off, along with an endorsement of his most recent opponent.
https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/status/1051742913842044928
https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/status/1051803040364281856
He also replied to a response from Impact and indie wrestler Andrew Everett reading “Hey bud, don’t die plz” with “I’m honestly really trying hard.”
NJPW released a statement on October 16 on both their English and Japanese language websites, and the English version reads:
Will Ospreay suffered injury to his rib in Britain and will miss Road to POWER STRUGGLE ～SUPER Jr. TAG LEAGUE 2018～ tour to focus on the Never openweight championship match in Osaka on November 3rd, from October 19th in Hiroshima to November 1st in Shizuoka, it was decided today.
As a result of Ospreay’s absence, Never openweight champion Taichi will be also out of action, from October 19th to November 1st.
We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing both competitors wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.
If Ospreay, already a two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and one-time Best of the Super Juniors winner and the first British wrestler to achieve either of those things, wins the NEVER title, he will be the first junior heavyweight to win the nominally openweight championship, and again the first British holder of this New Japan title.
The championship match for the November 3 show in Osaka is still on, but Ospreay and Taichi have been removed from their tag team matches building up to Power Struggle. The October 26 televised show’s Chaos vs. Suzukigun six-man tag match has been altered to just Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki and Taka Michinoku and the October 27‘s to Ishii and Hirooki Goto vs. Suzuki and Michinoku.
