AEW World Heavyweight Champion Swerve Strickland faced off against Will Ospreay at the AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door 2024 pay-per-view event last Sunday night at the UBS Arena in Elmont, NY where Strickland went over.
Ospreay paid tribute to Japanese wrestling legend Hayabusa at the event with his outfit. He even wore the famous mask from the legend. As seen below, Ospreay discussed the honoring moment.
“Back in 2022, I took out the daughter of Hayabusa and I asked for her blessing to adorn a very famous Hayabusa mask, because I don’t know … what their like relationship was … I don’t know if like she was a bit sad about the wrestling community maybe? I just wanted to make sure that I got the blessing for it. I took her out and she gave me the blessing, the family have all wrote in, they said that they’re so happy for me to adorn the mask. So I did it in Japan, it’s only right to do it at Forbidden Door with the crossover event. This is about celebrating wrestling culture right? Well this is the culture that got me into professional wrestling, so I can’t be happier. I hope I do them proud.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription
EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of challenging for the #AEW World Championship at #ForbiddenDoor, #AEW International Champion @WillOspreay talks about the inspiration for his special gear. pic.twitter.com/2sFAc8HWWU
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 2, 2024