Will Ospreay Pays Tribute To Fallen Japanese Legend With Attire

With the NJPW x STARDOM Historic X-Over event in the books, the fallout from the show has already been monumental. However, before KAIRI was crowned the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion in the main event and before Kenny Omega announced his return to NJPW, all eyes were on the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship match between Will Ospreay and "Roughneck" Shota Umino.

The match itself, which saw the returning Umino take Ospreay to his limit for over 20 minutes, was a hard-hitting affair that featured the showcased Umino's unique style of offense against "The Commonwealth King." However, one thing that some astute fans will have noticed is that Ospreay was wearing tribute gear to Japanese wrestling legend Hayabusa, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 47.

Ospreay tweeted about wearing the gear after the match, saying that he inquired with the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling legend's family before getting the attire made. While he didn't wrestle in Hayabusa's signature mask, he did wear one out to the ring, even enlisting Hayabusa's original mask-maker to do the honors for his tribute. Ospreay also announced that the mask will be sold, with all proceeds going directly to the wrestling legend's family.

Hayabusa is one of the most influential high-fliers in wrestling history. Before breaking his neck in 2001, the FMW Ace innovated both the Phoenix Splash and the Falcon's Arrow, two moves that continue to see regular use today.

Ospreay went on to mention that he consulted with none other than ROH World Champion Chris Jericho about his desire to honor Hayabusa and his family, as well as thanking Naomichi Marufuji for helping him get in touch with Hayabusa's mask-maker.