Will Ospreay says he will establish popular NJPW faction in AEW
The United Empire is on their way to AEW, but will feature some new faces.
During his show-opening promo on Dynamite, new AEW World Champion Will Ospreay said that one of his first orders of business is establishing his United Empire faction in AEW.
However, from Ospreay’s words, it will be separate from the current NJPW group and will feature new members currently in AEW that he plans on recruiting to “create some opportunities.”
Ospreay founded the group in NJPW in 2020 after departing the Chaos faction and turning on Kazuchika Okada. Bea Priestley and Great O-Khan (then Tomoyuki Oka), joined Ospreay, later followed by Jeff Cobb and others through the years.
Callum Newman is the current leader of United Empire in NJPW, along with Francesco Akira, Henare, Andrade El Idolo, and others. Those four men teamed with Ospreay in the main event of Dynamite against The Demand and The Dogs.
Before the match, Newman continued to have friction with Ospreay, questioning him about his plan. Ospreay blew it off, saying Newman was his little brother, and that they needed to recruit someone for the 10-man tag. Newman said he had it settled and then brought out Andrade who has a future World title shot in tow by virtue of his win in the Casino Gauntlet match at Sunday’s All In.
Even with their issues, Newman, Henare and Akira cornered Ospreay for his World title win over Kenny Omega this past Sunday.
Josh Nason
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He’s a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.
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