8 Ups & 6 Downs From NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling 2019

2. Never Trust A Snake

Imagine trusting El Phantasmo. Silly Will Ospreay! You almost lost your belt.

ELP lured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in by promising no Bullet Club interference or other bullsh*ttery during the match. This saw him send Taiji Ishimori to the back, prompting Ospreay to do the same with Robbie Eagles. Slowly, progressively, Will started buying into this "new" ELP, though the Canadian sprung the trap after "accidentally" catching Ospreay's eye on a striking exchange. Helping his opponent to his feet, Phantasmo immediately went after his peepers, then shrugged. "Oops," he said, that annoying piece of sh*t.

A good-to-great match but not their best, Ospreay vs. Phantasmo was a long battle of many high spots, including ELP's dive from the top of the entranceway after knocking 'The Aerial Assassin' to the floor. Such moments were broken up by neat character work throughout. This spacing helped assuage the fear that they were doing two much, though the duo were right on the edge.

Ospreay retained his belt not long after an Ishimori interference had conjured Eagles from the back to chase him off. Finally, he has a big victory over ELP, though Phantasmo winning and therefore retaining his upper-hand on the Englishman may have been the more interesting story.