NJPW News: Will Ospreay to defend IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Bullet Club star at King of Pro Wrestling
In the aftermath of the recently concluded Super J-Cup and Royal Quest event, a huge IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match has been confirmed for King of Pro Wrestling, as Will Ospreay is set to defend his title against arch-rival El Phantasmo.
When did Will Ospreay win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship?
At this year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, Will Ospreay suffered two major losses to his arch-rivals El Phantasmo and Robbie Eagles, who at that point was still a member of the Bullet Club. Having eventually won the tournament, Ospreay won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the third time at Dominion 6.9 defeating Dragon Lee for the title.
For his first title defense, Ospreay retained the title over Robbie Eagles at Super ShowDown in Australia and in doing so, also recruited Eagles to CHAOS. At the recently concluded Super J-Cup, Ospreay was once again pinned by El Phantasmo, who eliminated The Ariel Assassin in the semi-finals.
El Phantasmo's rise in NJPW
In his first match for New Japan Pro Wrestling, El Phantasmo teamed up with Taiji Ishimori as the duo defeated the team of Dragon Lee and Will Ospreay, with ELP pinning the latter in his first match for the promotion.
At the BOSJ and Super J-Cup 2019, Phantasmo secured two huge wins over Ospreay and eventually earned himself a shot at the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo set for King of Pro Wrestling
At the upcoming NJPW: King of Pro Wrestling event, Bullet Club's El Phantasmo will be challenging Will Ospreay for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, as ELP aims to become a Triple Champion having already won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Taiji Ishimori and also being in possession of the British Cruiserweight Championship.
Ospreay, who is on the back of a win over Phantasmo and Ishimori from Royal Quest, will be putting his title on the line against ELP on the 14th of October, 2019.