Will Ospreay Teases New United Empire Member

Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay is teasing a new member of his United Empire faction will debut soon. He teased that his “buddy” will debut on the NJPW shows in Texas on September 25th and 26th.

Ospreay is scheduled to face Karl Fredericks on the 25th and is then scheduled to team with a mystery partner to face Fredericks and Clark Connors on the 26th.

I’ve been talking to a of mine.
Invited him to Dallas September 25th & 26th.

Think he would fit in great with the crew.

— (@WillOspreay) September 11, 2021

The former Buddy Murphy, now using the name Buddy Matthews, seemingly responded to Ospreay’s comments.

Oh William…

— Buddy Matthews (@WWE_Murphy) September 11, 2021

Matthews was released from his WWE contract on June 2nd and is now believed to be free to sign with other promotions. The 32-year-old had been with WWE since 2013. In his time with the company, Murphy won the NXT tag-team championships once along with Wesley Blake, the Cruiserweight Championship once, and also held the RAW tag-team titles on one occasion along with Seth Rollins.

Ospreay debuted the United Empire faction last October. Current members included Jeff Cobb, who recently defeated Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Grand Slam, Aaron Henare, and Great-O-Khan. Bea Priestley was previously a member of the group as well.

Ospreay last appeared for NJPW at the Resurgence PPV in Los Angeles. He brought out his IWGP World title belt and claimed to still be the champion despite being stripped of the title earlier this year.