Will Ospreay sustains shoulder injury. No timetable for recovery at this time.

23 comments

1. I really hope he’s good to go for the Los Angeles show at the end of the month T_T

2. NOOOOOOO.

3. Fuuuck I was hoping they were just overselling the shoulder but hope he makes a speedy recovery

4. The spot he got injured in was so stupid. Why would you let this 200 pound plus guy fucking jump on you when neither one of you can see where he’s going to land? Ridiculously preventable. Don’t do every move just because you think something looks cool.

5. EVIL was right, you defeat Jeff Cobb the whole EMPIRE comes tumbling down.

   Easy NJC W for him when they meet.

6. So out of the cup then ? If so they should let Jeff Cobb take his place & get his heat back on EVIL ?

7. Sucks for Sanada if he was supposed to revenge his 0-2 NJC loses vs Ospreay. It would’ve been a great match.

8. Yeah, Kevin and Chase noted it during the match. It didn’t seem like he was selling, was worried it could be bad.

   Hoping for a fast and easy recovery.

9. All because of a stupid spot. Yano also looked like he got hurt by that same spot in the previous round.

10. Have they called an audible pulling him out of the New Japan Cup?

    Because Ospreay would get in the ring the next day after being run over by a train.

11. NOOOOOOOOOOO

12. Should have Davis vs Cobb to decide the replacement

13. There is alot if speculation on Japanese forums that he has a torn rotator cuff

14. Certainly a work to keep him without an official loss in NJC. Likely more fuel for his redemption arc

15. This is the worst thing that could happen!

16. Hopefully he can get back before Forbidden Door, that match with Omega in the US is so important for his career

17. Hopefully it’s not too serious. There are a lot of different kinds of shoulder injuries. A sprain could be anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks, but something more serious could take longer.

18. Well I hope he’s good by end of April, supposed to be seeing him in the UK

19. Shit, I fully thought he was just selling that for effect. That match with Speedball was my most anticipated match of the year too, probably not happening now… damn.

20. Lots of fans here on this discussion are worried about not seeing him on major shows coming up, forget all of that I just hope will himself is ok, we can always reschedule anything he has planned.

21. Time for ELP to take the stable over

22. Ah damn, hope he makes it back in time for Forbidden Door

23. Just watched the match.

    I think it’s a work.

    The camera zooms in on Ospereay as soon as he unravels himself from the crash mats, which happens before he tries to rotate his shoulder, grimaces, and says “awe fuck” … Usually the camera goes to the guy in the ring, when there’s someone on the outside of the ring selling … The zoom at that exact moment makes it seem like the AD was looking to film him deliberately, which he would have no reason to do, unless the point was to catch Ospereay favouring his shoulder.

    Then you notice, Kevin is on it right away… which also seemed suspiciously fast …

    For the rest of the match, Ospereay sells the injury, but two other noticeable things happen that lead me to thinking it’s a work:

    1) They don’t “work smart”, and avoid moves that would allow Ospereay to protect the injury and get through the match … in fact, he uses the “injured arm” to rip a chop/lariat … I think if it was legit, he would have used the other arm for that spot.

    2) Mark Davis did NOT spend the rest of their match attacking the “injured arm” …. Which would have made sense from a wrestling psychology point of view, and it would have allowed them to get more out of doing as little as possible, in order to protect the supposedly injured arm: Ironically, Ospereay did a better job of reminding us of Davis’ ACL injury from 4 years ago, by constantly attacking his legs … so, why wouldn’t Davis attack the injured shoulder from the 5 minute mark? Seems fishy.

    This leads me to give a reason to answer “why” would they make a worked injury for Ospereay in this spot?

    And here it is:

    This gives EVIL a clear path to the semi final, so he stays “relevant”, but still not impactful.

    Kevin has been selling the “new attitude” from SANADA since the Taichi match ….

    If the point is to put SANADA in the final, knocking out Ospereay without them having to face each other and have Ospereay lose, protects Ospereay down the road….

    They would probably do this, If they wanted to put the belt on SANADA.

    If SANADA beats Okada and becomes the champ, now, Ospereay can make a legitimate claim to challenge for the title in a fall PPV, since

    a) SANADA never beat Ospereay in the NJC,

    b) last year’s US Title feud, where Osperay won twice, and

    c) SANADA’s broken orbital bone.