Will Ospreay Vs Yota Tsuji - NJPW Destruction in Kobe (24/9/23)
The best smile in the business impresses yet again in a big main event spot
The last week has been a pretty hectic one in the world of wrestling with WWE’s talent releases and AEW’s Grand Slam marathon of television shows hogging the headlines that it’s easy for other things to get pushed to the side in your social feeds. I could take this time to talk about the great ending to the Claudio/Eddie feud, but that was nearly a week ago at this point and we all know it was great. I could take this time to talk about Bryan Danielson rolling out of bed and having yet another show-stealing match, but again there’s nothing new about that. Instead I’d like to take some time to touch on a match that I didn’t even realise was happening in New Japan until I caught the buzz for it hours after it finished - Yota Tsuji challenging for Will Ospreay’s United States Championship.
This is a match that I highly recommend people check out as it’s another glimpse into the future of Japan’s next big star. Yota Tsuji returned from his excursion back in May after spending two years away in England and Mexico and immediately received the jet pack push challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in his first match back on Japanese soil. He appeared to tick every box for success. Management was clearly behind him (later dubbing him one of the new three musketeers), he had a great, fresh look, the crowd were digging him from the moment he flashed his winning smile at them, and in the ring his matches were exciting and really brought something different to the table. We’re talking about someone who has had TWO very good matches against Sanada so there’s clearly something special about him. The G1 was a bit of a disappointment however as Tsuji wasn’t booked against any of New Japan’s big stars, or their proven great workers, and he didn’t qualify for the playoff stage so there wasn’t much chance for Tsuji to make a big statement in the tournament. All we could really glean from the G1 about Tsuji was that in finishing with more points than Ren Narita and Shota Umino, management feel Tsuji is the A1 of this generation’s Three Musketeers. A title match against Ospreay however was a real chance to see the type of match we missed Tsuji having in the G1 as well as the chance to witness history if it was the night Tsuji claimed gold for the first time.
There’s been a lot of talk about Will Ospreay’s future with him becoming a free agent in 2024. He appears to have half a foot in AEW what with his ongoing involvement in Don Callis’ feuds with Omega and Jericho, but who knows where he’ll eventually end up. However, the doubts about his long-term future with New Japan really added a wrinkle of intrigue to this match because Ospreay really could lose this title against anyone now, and certainly against someone with such a bright future like Tsuji.
As with all Ospreay matches the interesting part of the match is the first half where he doesn’t force his style of match onto others and lets his opponents shine. Yota proved his own during the feeling out process and even showcased some of his lucha-libre experience with a sweet tilt-a-whirl armdrag into a suicide dive. To see a guy the size of Tsuji, 5 foot 11, 220 pounds, fly in and out the ring like a luchador is very impressive. Later in the match he pulls off a beautiful Fosbury Flop and crashes down on Ospreay like an anvil falling out of the sky. I really like his Gory-special bomb type move too - I hope Tsuji never loses these lucha inspired moves from his arsenal because it really helps to set him apart from his contemporaries . When it’s time for matches to break down into brawling, Yota can do that too as large sections of the middle of the match featured strike exchanges.
These guys are both 30 years old, but are totally different in experience level and it was up to Ospreay to play more the veteran role in this one. I’ve seen a couple of Ospreay matches from Japan this week and he seems to be in a great place and having the time of his life. By all accounts things are going well in his personal life, and I think that’s coming out in his work - he seemed very playful with the crowd in-between moves. Earlier in the week he wrestled Naomichi Marufuji for Marufuji’s 25th anniversary and the match clearly meant a lot to him to share the ring with an inspiration of his. I did catch a Marufuji style springboard dropkick in this match which I thought was a nice touch.
Tsuji is quickly rising up the ‘best spear in the business’ ranks with his ‘Gene Blast’ spear. Ospreay did a great job of making that move look a million dollars, flung backwards like he was just hit with a tidal wave. The spear came straight after an amazing cutter counter to the Stormbreaker that I had to rewind three times to see how Tsuji pulled it off. Ospreay just got his foot to the ropes in time for that great nearfall.
We of course had to have Will’s textbook ending to a match with a 5 minute salvo of finisher counters and kickouts. We even got some finisher stealing with Tsuji doing the stormbreaker, and Will responding with a spear. There was an odd ending where Tsuji smiled, laughed and walked towards Ospreay before the killer hidden blade came. As grumpy old man as it might sound, I’d just like some more believability in wrestling and for Tsuji to attempt avoiding the move rather than marching slowly towards his death because…..something something fighting spirit. Minor nit-pick aside, great fucking match that makes you want to see more of Yota Tsuji. So far in his short NJPW career his praise has had to be coupled with a *. ‘That was a great…..for a Sanada match’….. or ‘That was great…..for a Shota Umino match’. If you’re holding your own with Will Ospreay, there’s nothing much else to prove and I can get rid of that pesky asterix - This definitely for me is one of the best NJPW matches of the year. He passed this test with flying colours.
The sooner we move from Naito main eventing dome shows, to Tsuji main eventing dome shows, the better.