Finn Balor’s success helped a great wrestler choose NJPW over others
Will Ospreay is widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world, and the NJPW star chose his current promotion because of the success of a current WWE superstar.
Before Finn Balor became a cornerstone of WWE’s NXT brand and the company’s first Universal Champion at SummerSlam 2016, he founded the Bullet Club in NJPW and was one of the promotion’s most electrifying stars.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Will Ospreay stated that he chose to sign with NJPW over TNA and WWE back in 2016 because of the success Balor, who was known as Prince Devitt, in the company. At the time Ospreay debuted in NJPW in the spring of 2016 as a member of the stable Chaos, Balor was the NXT Champion and closing in on the longest title reign in the brand’s history. (A mark that has since been eclipsed by current champion and fellow former Bullet Club member Adam Cole.)
Ospreay said, via WhatCulture.com’s Andy H. Murray, that while he wasn’t exactly familiar with NJPW at the time of signing, he did know “where Finn Balor came from” and wanted to “learn” how to be the best at the promotion.
It’s safe to say that Ospreay has done plenty of learning with the promotion in the last four years, and he is now in the discussion as the best in-ring performer in the entire world. Ospreay’s always been an exciting wrestler and an incredible athlete – hence the “Aerial Assassin” nickname – but he’s become a better all-around performer and improved his character work since.
In the year 2020 alone, Ospreay’s had two killer matches with Zack Sabre Jr. for the RevPro British Heavyweight Title and an absolute classic IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title match with the beloved Hiromu Takahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14. All three of those matches received at least 4.75 stars from the Wrestling Observer News’ Dave Meltzer, as per Pro Fight Database, with Takahashi vs. Ospreay earning 5.5 stars.
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It’s safe to say Ospreay has become a legend in NJPW in his own right, but it is great to see how Balor’s success as the Bullet Club’s leader helped pave the way for other wrestlers to see the promotion as a place where they could improve themselves and become big stars.