10 NJPW Matches To Watch Before AEW Forbidden Door
8. Will Ospreay Vs Shingo Takagi - Wrestling Dontaku 2021, Night 2
Both Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi began their time in NJPW in the junior heavyweight (cruiserweight) division, facing each other in the final of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 2019 where Ospreay came out on top. Fast forward two years and the pair found themselves across the ring from each other again. This time, the prize was the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Ospreay had left the CHAOS faction during the 2020 G1 Climax tournament, turning on leader Kazuchika Okada and forming the United Empire - who showed up on the 25 May episode of AEW Dynamite in the form of Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan. The two met in the final of the New Japan Cup earlier in 2021 with Ospreay again coming out on top, before going on to beat Kota Ibushi for the World Heavyweight Championship. His first challenger was Shingo, and the two did battle at Wrestling Dontaku.
Both men showed their junior heavyweight roots - even if Shingo was always a little too big to believably be a junior - and displayed the heavyweight power that is a big part of both competitors' offence. If you thought that Will Ospreay was just a high-flying spot-monkey, then this match will change that perception.