NJPW's Aaron Henare Provides Injury Update On Will Ospreay

Earlier this week, NJPW star Will Ospreay revealed he was medically cleared to compete after suffering a shoulder injury which forced him to withdraw from the New Japan Cup last month. Although he's been cleared, the 29-year-old isn't sure how much longer his body can hold up due to the high-impact style he utilizes. Fellow NJPW star and United Empire stablemate Aaron Henare spoke to PWMania recently (seemingly before Ospreay was cleared), and stressed how unsure he was about Ospreay's in-ring future.

"I'm not sure," he admitted when asked about Ospreay's return timetable. "So I genuinely thought he just twinged the nerve in his neck to his shoulder. Turns out he told his whole pec." Ospreay continued to wrestle the match as planned, but Henare could tell something was off, adding "I thought oh man, he might have pumped his shoulder out turns out he pull his pec, but he kept going as well." That night during the second round of the New Japan Cup, "The Aerial Assassin" wrestled Mark Davis for just over 20 minutes, fighting through injury and ultimately securing the victory. After pulling out of the tournament, Davis, another member of United Empire, took Ospreay's place in the quarterfinals.

Henare, who joined United Empire in April 2021, credits Ospreay for turning his career around, and in the meantime continues to look forward to his return no matter when that might be. "We all miss him, man," he said. "This is a guy that's been to every single continent every single major wrestling country in the world and hand-picked every single guy on the team so I'm happy he saw it in me because my career has got a lot better since then."