West Ham's Vladimir Coufal Performs Will Ospreay Maneuver During EPL Game

West Ham United — the English Premier League team WWE's Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque claims to support — secured three points over the weekend by defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0. However, during that EPL clash, a West Ham player seemingly pulled out a move from Will Ospreay's playbook. Shortly before half-time, "Hammers" defender Vladimír Coufal caught Wolves' Jeanricner Bellegarde with a running elbow — similar to that of Ospreay's Hidden Blade signature move.

The incident was referred to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for serious foul play, but Coufal ultimately escaped without any punishment. Soccer pundits reacted to the elbow and VAR decision on television, with former England and Liverpool player Daniel Sturridge mentioning on Sky Sports (h/t TalkSport), "This is WWE stuff. This is rugby stuff, it's an elbow to the jaw, this is, I don't know man." Meanwhile, ex-Manchester United captain Roy Keane, who is regularly outspoken about his views, called Coufal a "lucky boy" and said that there was no need for the Czech Republic international to use his elbow.

NJPW's — and soon to be AEW's — Ospreay reposted a video of the incident on social media and wrote, "Football players stealing the hidden blade [laughing emoji]." The move has been a part of the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion's move set for a few years. While talking about possibly discontinuing his Stormbreaker finisher due to potentially reinjuring his shoulder earlier this year, Ospreay mentioned that he would need to "perfect the Hidden Blade more and just hopefully that'll do the job."