CAGEMATCH » Promos Database » "You're either going to pass this torch or I am going to take it from you"

"You're either going to pass this torch or I am going to take it from you"

Promo

Promo Data

Title:

Worker(s):

Will Ospreay

Date:

03.01.2023

Promotion:

New Japan Pro Wrestling

YouTube:

Watch it

Promo

[It's the press conference before Wrestle Kingdom 17. Kenny Omega and his manager Don Callis have spent the last ten minutes talking, while a frustrated Will Ospreay waits his turn to speak, with a growing sense of impatience. Finally he loses his cool and tries to speak up... But his microphone fails to work. Omega taunts him and an enraged Ospreay stands and rushes to stand face-to-face with his opponent.]

Will Ospreay: "No, no, fucking listen to me. Don [Callis], first of all, you little cunt-- [to Omega] Shut your fucking mouth! Listen to me now! You have no fucking idea the mental state-- you want to know my mental state, bruv? Mental state? You got to sit in your house and do what? Maximum three-hour drive to Florida? That's all you had to do during this?! Mate, for us, for me, it's a 12-hour flight from England all the way, right? But guess what? That turned into a 15-and-a-half-hour flight, why? Because there's a fucking war going on in Russia and Ukraine. And then after that, I was carted around the fucking airport for four hours because I had to prove that I was negative for COVID, even though I had a fucking doctor's note saying that I didn't have it. Then that wasn't good enough, then I had to stay 14 fucking days in a hotel no bigger than a broom cupboard, bruv! 14 days of your own fucking brain. And then you're allowed to go out and go wrestle for everyone, in silence, without seeing any fucking daylight for two weeks. The shows that fucking end at 9:00 PM, and restaurants close at 8:00, so you're starving half your fucking roster, but we kept fucking going. Listen to me, I don't understand, and I don't know why anyone would want to watch clap crowd-- clap crowd wrestling. I don't know anyone that wants to watch that, but people fucking turned up. So for that, I had to fight. For you to fucking sitting there and belittle me, you little cunt, how fucking dare you. You have not the slightest idea what I've gone through.

My best friend fucking died and I had to watch his funeral through a fucking iPad, bruv. How dare you sit there and belittle anything that I have fucking done to try and help. I get it, you're a big star, you're a fucking draw for this place. You have brought everyone, all the casual fans and all those Kenny Omega stans back to New Japan, thank you so much! Because now, they're going to watch you go down to me, the guy that has fucking stayed here, the guy that has given his fucking all to this place, mate. I listened to every fucking word that you told me four years ago, and I'm telling you now, I'm sorry for what happened to him [Kota Ibushi], and I'm sorry I took that away from you. But make no mistake about it, if you find yourself in that same position that he did, there isn't going to be a referee stopping me from caving your fucking head in, bruv. You will not belittle me on the grandest stage that I am on. This is my moment now. So, you're either going to pass this torch or I am going to fucking take it from you."

Notes

- Credit: Thanks to inmate 2ndToNone for transcribing this promo

9.77

Current Total Rating (?)

Valid votes: 70

Number of comments: 15

10.0

58x

9.0

12x

8.0

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0

Average rating: 9.83 [70]

Average rating in 2026: 10.00 [1]

Average rating in 2025: 9.89 [9]

Average rating in 2024: 9.92 [13]

Average rating in 2023: 9.79 [47]

Your Options:

Other:

Latest comments of the CAGEMATCH inmates

khaledketata wrote on 14.02.2026:

[10.0] "This is such an addictive promo to watch. Will's passion and proper reasoning shines through perfectly."

Len Cosell wrote on 23.08.2025:

[10.0] "Until he cut this, I didn't know Will had this in him. I also didn't know about what he did to Kota which kept him from walking Kenny out for his match against Tanahashi at WK a few years prior in what would be up until this one, his last New Japan match. I was in Ohio when United Empire got confronted by The Elite and Will and Kenny had a back and forth after the cameras stopped rolling. I came away from that saying to myself... "Yeah, this is definitely getting settled at Wrestle Kingdom." Sure enough, Will has his title defense at the event in November with STARDOM, then Kenny announces he's coming back to The Dome to face Will. The promo was one thing, the match was a WHOLE OTHER THING ENTIRELY. That was the most psychotic I ever seen Kenny wrestle, I mean not even Mox pulled this out of Kenny and they wrestled in an EXPLODING BARBWIRE DEATH MATCH THAT KENNY CHALLENGED MOX TO JUST TO BE RID OF HIM. This was deeply personal for Kenny even though he said at the presser it wasn't. When he mentioned Kota and that night, I knew what it was. Kenny was gonna leave Will leaking, humbled and humiliated. He did all three on that night. Once Will was busted open, that was it. He did what he could but sadly, Kenny at The Dome is like facing MJ in The Finals. It's a whole other level and few if any can reach him much less surpass him when he's there. This promo had me geeked for their match at Wrestle Kingdom and the match was amazing."

TreyHalo wrote on 28.10.2024:

[10.0] "This is one of, if not my number one favorite promo in the history of New Japan, this genuinely never fails to hit me right in the feels every single time, this is as raw and as real as it gets, still my promo of the year for 2023 and one of my favorites ever."

MichaelDavis wrote on 15.01.2024:

[10.0] "Ospreay cuts the promo of a lifetime here. Their Wrestle Kingdom 17 bout was already greatly anticipated, but this turned things up to a whole new level. What more could you want a promo to do?"

Itsover9000man wrote on 04.08.2023:

[10.0] "This promo is unbelievable, A great mix of real life and story which made for an emotional and incredibly real performance from ospreay who seemed to believe every word he was saying. Ospreay's promos have improved exponentially in the last year, he's never really been a good promo guy but recently he's become one of the best currently active. One of the best promos of the year so far but he somehow cuts an all time promo the very next day. Absolutely captivating. Rating: 10"

benmason wrote on 27.04.2023:

[10.0] "Man this promo got me even more hyped for the match than I already was. Ospreay's real anger being let out while Kenny just stands there and listens, not doing anything. Incredibly good."

lukasmgc wrote on 25.04.2023:

[10.0] "This promo was literally pure emotion from Ospreay and you could tell it was coming from a very real hate for Omega. Great promo."

Okaro143 wrote on 16.02.2023:

[10.0] "This was as real as you can get in pro wrestling promo. Ospreay poured his heart out, his rage was so real and Omega was all bussiness mode. Ospreay wanted it to be personal but Omega only cares about business. I didn't expect the feud between these two to go like this but I loved it. NJPW doesn't really do deep promos, most of the drama happens in the ring so this was quite unexpected but absolutely loved it."

arrancar wrote on 28.01.2023:

[9.0] "Awesome promo. Ospreay did a great job of combining kayfabe wrestling drama with IRL drama, and his delivery was the most vicious we've ever seen from him. Ospreay going into detail about his deteriorating mental state due to how screwed around the process became with regards to travelling to and from Japan, as well as the difficulty in just trying to live a comfortable life with all the lockdown restrictions, hit very close for me and I'm sure many, many others. Ospreay showed such great hatred as he forced Omega to listen and realise just how wrong he was in belittling him and acting like he hadn't done a good job becoming the top gaijin after Omega left NJPW. Him tying in the injury to Ibushi from WK13 from the Hidden Blade, thus ruining Omega's last chance to hang with Ibushi -- his best friend -- on Omega's last NJPW show at the time, as a reason why Omega was so unfairly critical of him was another great feature of this promo, putting forth that Omega, despite playing all cool and superior, was actually very bitter and out for revenge, and Ospreay was appropriately showing anger at Omega not being upfront about that (since then Omega would have to admit just how phenomenal of a wrestler Ospreay is, and Omega's ego couldn't allow him to do that). For how much this pushed the personal nature of their classic match a day later, I can't consider this anything other than a fantastic promo. My only real issue with it was the constant swearing. I'm not offended by that sort of thing, I just find it a cheap crutch some wrestlers rely on to appear 'tough', and it was indeed a bit of a crutch here for Ospreay, though not any sort of major one."

MainEventMaster wrote on 27.01.2023:

[10.0] "One of most real and greatest promos I have ever seen, I feel as if this was not just directed at Kenny and AEW but also any dumbasses who hate on and refuse to watch New Japan."

No One wrote on 27.01.2023:

[10.0] "The best and most memorable promos are always going to be the ones that blur the line between Work & Shoot. This was one of those promos."

2bitterforyou wrote on 27.01.2023:

[9.0] "People here saying that this was the promo of Ospreay's career, as if he hadn't gave everyone goosebumps before the G1 Finals when he swore his entire worth depended on him beating Okada cleanly for the first time."

Rigno wrote on 26.01.2023:

[10.0] "Jesus Christ. This is the most realistic promo I have ever heard since the pipebomb. Will Ospreay is a master in every aspect of wrestling."

Ofir wrote on 26.01.2023:

[10.0] "The best promo of Wills career, really sold the match and made it feel even bigger than it already did. Really ties the match together."

Childofthelost wrote on 26.01.2023:

[10.0] "Best promo of Will Ospreay's career. He put so much emotion and passion into this. Was already super excited for Omega V Ospreay and this promo took that excitement to an entirely new level."