AEW's Kenny Omega To Wrestle Will Ospreay At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Best Bout Machine vs. Aerial Assassin is set for Wrestle Kingdom 17!

by Andrew Pollard
Kenny Omega Will Ospreay
AEW/Scott Leish

A match many wrestling fans have long dreamed of, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay will do battle at New Japan Pro-Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 17 at the turn of the year.

During today's NJPW X STARDOM Historic X-Over show, the Best Bout Machine appeared in a video promo to announce that he'll be making his New Japan return to face Ospreay - for the Brit's IWGP United States Title, no less - in the Tokyo Dome on 4 January.

In this video, Omega notes how the Aerial Assassin was tasked with replacing Kenny at the top of the NJPW food chain, but that Ospreay has come up short in that regard. From there, the AEW EVP explains that New Japan called him and, despite initially being uninterested, he'll return to the promotion to face Ospreay, to save the company, and to, once again, change the world.

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Omega's video appearance came after Ospreay had successfully retained his IWGP US Title against Shota Umino.

Despite having been involved in several tag matches over the years, Omega and Ospreay have only faced off in singles competition once, with that bout - which Kenny won - coming back in 2015. The most recent time the pair stood opposite one another in a ring, was on this 31 August's episode of AEW Dynamite. There, Omega and the Young Bucks defeated Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis in the tournament to crown the first ever AEW Trios Champions.

For years now, Omega and Ospreay have traded barbs online, with Will being particularly vocal in plentiful online videos lambasting the former Bullet Club leader.

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In terms of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Omega last competed for the promotion back at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in 2019. There, the Canadian lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Wrestle Kingdom 17 is certainly shaping up to be quite the show, with the card currently looking like:

- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada

- IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega

- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado vs. Master Wato

- IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR vs. TBA

- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita in the NJPW Television Championship Tournament Final

- IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI vs. Tam Nakano

 
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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.