On October 16 in Ryogoku Sumo Hall, Will Ospreay, who was a member of the Chaos faction, faced the leader of Chaos, Kazuchika Okada, in the final night of A Block action in the G1 Climax 30 tournament. In this match, Will Ospreay’s girlfriend Bea Priestley got involved to distract the referee, during which a returning Tomoyuki Oka, now known as Great-O-Khan, came into the ring and delivered a chokeslam to Okada. Will Ospreay took advantage of the attack to Okada and finished him off with the Stormbreaker for the win. Post-match, Will Ospreay continued to attack Okada, telling him that “you’ve been holding me back” solidifying his heel turn, his turn on Chaos, and the creation of this new group along with Priestley and the former Oka.
Acknowledging Bea Priestley first, I love when females get involved in stories in New Japan Pro Wrestling. In a company that is filled with all male competitors, it is nice to see a woman get involved in anything (there are already a few other women, though they have not been on shows since they restarted back in June). Priestley has been Ospreay’s girlfriend for quite a long time now (at least four years now), and has been involved in Ospreay’s work before elsewhere. In 2016/2017, they worked in WCPW (WhatCulture Pro Wrestling), during which time they shared a similar story of stealing championship belts. Bea had stolen the Women’s Championship from Nixon Newell (Tegan Nox) and a month later Will Ospreay had stolen the World Championship from Drew Galloway (Drew McIntyre). On the evidence that I have seen, these two have done great together when collectively in a story. What amazes me to think about here is Bea Priestley now being involved in an angle with Kazuchika Okada. Being the “top gaijin,” as she likes to call herself, and stepping into the orb of the best wrestler in the world has to be worth something. I am thrilled to see where this goes.
Now, onto Ospreay. Throughout the G1 Climax, and in his post match comments, it was growing increasingly noticeable how arrogant and overconfident Will Opsreay was getting. He was becoming pompous in his matches and interviews. One such interview had Ospreay calling himself “Billy Goat.” Taking my ideas aside (I have been calling him Billy on Twitter since the tournament began), it seemed like his heel turn was inevitable, yet being covered up all at the same time. In the midst of the tournament, he faced and defeated a man who has become a top heel in the company, Jay White. It was exciting and surprising to watch Will Ospreay beat Jay White, if you consider that Jay White had beaten all his opponents by that point. Opsreay looked to be rising as a hot babyface that many, including myself, were still seeing him as the next Kenny Omega.
Coming up on the final night of the A Block, Ospreay was one of four men still viable to be in the finals. This included Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, and Jay White. Ibushi went on before Ospreay vs Okada, and Ibushi’s win in his match over Taichi put him at fourteen points. By that point, neither Opsreay nor Okada could make it to the finals. Ospreay only had ten points with one match left and Okada only had twelve with Ibushi having wins over both men. This played a great factor in the turn for Ospreay. He now had justifiable reasons to be furious that he could not make the finals, not just because he was mathematically eliminated, but also because Okada was one of the people that Ibushi beat and thus got Ibushi so far ahead of Ospreay.
Will Ospreay is one of the best wrestlers in the world. The kayfabe issue here is that he knows he is. Such arrogance can go to anyone’s head, so it made sense that Ospreay would eventually break out on his own as a heel. It was all about when, and now seems to be the time. This was the perfect time as Kazuchika Okada has been slipping down the pecking order since returning to action in June. Okada is more vunerable, now no longer in the hunt for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. With this, Ospreay now has his chance to go on a non-title rivalry with Okada (given that Ospreay’s British Heavyweight Championship does not get involved).
The heel turn, while not the best of ideas for reasons I will not get into and fans will already know about, is going to be a spark of change in a company that feels like it hardly changes. We now have a fresh rivalry between two people that have fought on multiple occasions, we have a returning star that can use the rub from both Ospreay and Okada, and we have a woman involved in Bea Priestley.
As mentioned previously, I have seen Priestley and Opsreay work as heels together elsewhere. I was into it and Ospreay even worked me into hating both of them, while also working me into eventually loving him for his work in NJPW as a top babyface of the Junior Heavyweight division. I am very confident that this new heel role will turn out well. Time will tell how the feud with Okada will play out, and I hope this will lead to another big Billy win over Okada at the Tokyo Dome in January.
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