Following AEW All Out 2026, Will Ospreay issued a challenge to Kazuchika Okada for an AEW World Title match at the upcoming Grand Slam France event.
On Tuesday, October 6, Ospreay and Okada will rekindle their legendary rivalry with one another.
With their connection and history, this will prove to be a huge test for “The Aerial Assassin” during his maiden reign as AEW World Champion.
Here are four reasons why Will Ospreay must beat Kazuchika Okada at AEW Grand Slam France.
Kazuchika Okada brought Will Ospreay to NJPW
In 2015, Kazuchika Okada made his way to the United Kingdom to compete in RevPro Wrestling.
At RevPro Global Wars UK, Okada defeated Ospreay, but it was this night that changed Will’s career.
Seeing him as the future of pro wrestling, Okada took the 22-year old Ospreay under his wing and offered him a spot on the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster as the newest member of CHAOS.
Pulling him from obscurity, Okada put Ospreay on the map and led to him winning his first Best of Super Juniors tournament the year after.
Ospreay turned on Okada to create United Empire
In 2020, Will Ospreay made it his mission to finally score a victory over Kazuchika Okada.
After going 0-4 against his mentor, Ospreay’s desperation led to his betrayal of “The Rainmaker.”
Aligning himself with The Great O Khan to create United Empire, Ospreay finally beat Okada in the G1 Climax 30 tournament, leading to a more personal rivalry between the two.
Now all these years later, Ospreay is looking to establish United Empire in AEW and will have to do at Okada’s expense again at Grand Slam France.
Okada’s dominance against Ospreay
As previously mentioned, Kazuchika Okada has had a level of superiority and dominance over Will Ospreay over his entire career.
Over the course of 11 meetings against one another, Okada has won nine times, while Ospreay has only won twice.
This level of dominance has been something that has haunted Ospreay a lot of times.
After losing their last and only match against one another in All Elite Wrestling, Ospreay looks to avenge this and all of his other losses against “The Rainmaker” come AEW Grand Slam France on October 6.
Last mountain for Ospreay to climb
At AEW All In London 2026, Will Ospreay defeated Kenny Omega to win the AEW World Championship. This proved to be his first clean win over “The Cleaner.”
Then, Ospreay finally beat Jon Moxley for the first time in his career to retain the gold at AEW All Out 2026.
Following his victories over Omega and Mox, it feels like the next obstacle for Ospreay to overcome will be in the form of the man that has dominated him for years.
As one of the only man to beat him since signing with the company, Ospreay trying to climb the mountain known as Okada should prove to be one of the most difficult tests of his entire AEW World Title reign at Grand Slam France.
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