Will Ospreay (@willospreay) is a professional wrestler and the current AEW World Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Allen, TX to discuss winning the World Championship at All In, making history as the first English World Champion to win the title in England, the emotional video package narrated by his mom, how he celebrated his big win, returning from his neck surgery in time for Wembley, kicking out of Kenny Omega’s One Winged Angel, MJF claiming he is the true World Champion, having the most Dave Meltzer five star matches ever, and more!
Well, how are you feeling?
“Amazing. I generally have no words. It was one of the craziest nights that I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never experienced any of those types of emotions before in my life. So I was just speechless, man.”
Have you had a chance to process everything from All In?
“A little bit, yeah. It’s just been like reviewing the entrance and seeing how many people that it actually touched. I just bumped into Nick Jackson as we were coming up here, and he was saying I rewatched it, I just started crying. It was just probably one of the most emotional things that I could have ever come up with to walk through my past and to see all the people that got me to where I am now and to going into the future of what I wanted to be.”
So how did you come up with this now iconic entrance?
“It was obviously helped a lot. Mike Mansury, he’s one of the lead producers for AEW, so he helped come up with it. But my whole thing was I remember last year at Forbidden Door when I went in the steel cage match, and I was trying to think of a real cool entrance for that. I was just like, I’d love it if I could do something there. But I had no idea that Al [Alex Windsor] put down a voiceover for that entrance. It stuck with me because it was scary going into a steel cage match, knowing that I needed neck surgery, and I was just so worried. I kept a real straight face with people, and I was confident in a lot of the things that I was doing in there, but then hearing Al’s voice come through- the line that got me was, ‘If you’re not afraid of what’s next, neither am I.’ It hit me so hard. It made me just feel like I could run through a wall. Then to have that feeling, I was just kind of like, I want my mum to do my next one, just because my mum has seen me grow up through a TV screen. When I was 22 years old, I got signed to New Japan, and although I kept coming back to England, and I get those tours, but a lot of it was like downtime and rest because I was so battered and hurt. I think it was just one of these things where I’d love to show my mum how much she really meant to me, and I’d love to have had her do the voiceover for one of the biggest nights of my life.”
So, what was the conversation when you asked your mom to do that voiceover?
“We were in Orlando, and I said, ‘Mom, I’ve got like a proposition for you. Do you remember the one that Al did for me? I’d like you to do one for me.’ She was just like, ‘I’ll do it now.’ Then she started writing it up. I said, ‘I don’t want to hear it until the night.'”
That was the first time you heard it?
“So I heard it the night of, and there were elements of it where I was kind of like, okay. My mom’s very theater, so she very much pronounces everything that she says, and she treats it like a town hall meeting, and I had to try and tell her, ‘Hey, just rein it back a little bit. I don’t want you talking to everybody. You’re not at town hall. You’re talking to your son.’ She did it again. It was spot on, perfect.”
Did that match live up to the expectations that you had for it?
“Yeah, so much, man. It was just wild, just because going into it, I had really no ideas. I had feelings that I wanted to feel, but I didn’t know how to relay that in terms of the match storytelling. It was only when me and Kenny sat down and started talking about stuff, and then we just came together, and it was just like idea, flow and idea, flow. Honestly, I’d love to be able to tell you guys that when we were hours from going on, and we found out that some people that did stuff that we wanted to do in our match. So then it put us under even more pressure to try and change things around and try and fit it in within our story. It’s no one’s fault. Things happen. I don’t blame anyone in that situation, but it was just as frustrating as it was. What we came up with, what our plan B was, was way, way, way better. So, I was dead happy with that.
So, you didn’t have this finalized till right before the match?
“Kind of no. It was maybe two or three matches before. So, we still had time on our hands, but I think a lot of it was just because we were putting so much pressure on ourselves, and we were just worried because obviously when you do these type of shows, you’re always communicating with the other wrestlers. But because it was a stadium, it’s so hard to have that kind of communication with everybody. So naturally, things will happen, and we just had faith that nothing else was going to happen that would have stepped on our toes, and thankfully no one did. But man, what we were able to come up with and what we were able to do, I couldn’t have done that with anybody. There were so many other alternative options for that main event than what it could have been. But I knew if this was my moment, I didn’t want to read anybody else’s script. I wanted it to be myself and Kenny. I really wanted that.”
You walking backstage, walking past people that have meant so much to you in your career. Where’d you come up with that idea? How’d you get the music?
“There was a song that we wanted, but we just couldn’t get a license fee for it. I won’t put it out there because maybe one of these days I will be able to track it down again. I’d like to leave that as a surprise. But it was Mike Mansury that came up with the idea of The Who Baba O’Reily. I’ll be honest with you, I have a connection with that song because there was a music video from the MV Zone. It was like a kind of little backyard wrestling music video group, and they did a Bryan Danielson tribute to that song, so I have a little bit of a connection to it. I was just okay, I quite like the idea and The Who is British as well, so that’s kind of cool. But I remember listening to it and on the travels that me and Al did, and I was just like, I don’t know if I feel it. The other song that I wanted got my juices flowing. It was my favorite song. I don’t know if I feel it. It was only when I heard the voiceover and I saw the clips that were all around it. I was like, this is perfect. This is it. Don’t change a thing.”
Yeah, you got emotional in the press conference afterwards. We were talking about making the younger version of yourself proud. Why’d that moment get you?
“Honestly, the week leading up to it was so stressful, and I kept doubting myself, because there were little hiccups in the road where I felt like I’d almost done like an own goal with some of the storytelling leading up to it. I just started doubting myself, and there were so many like little hiccups along the way. There was a promo that I’d done in Glasgow, and it was the Dynamite right before All In. They were like you need to go out there cut a promo. Just before they started doing it, they started doing the ‘What do you think of this wrestler?’ Yay! ‘What do you think of this wrestler?’ Yay! And they said Ospreay, and I’m not even joking, I heard boos, and I had a genuine moment backstage. I looked at Ben Foster, who’s the photographer, because he was getting some candid photos, and I heard that, and there was a genuine moment of are they gonna boo me?
Because once again, between England and Scotland, there is heat. But I’ve never said that I’m an English wrestler. I’ve always said I’m a British wrestler, but there is always heat in terms of that type of country. Just before my music, I was like please don’t boo, please don’t boo, because I generally think I would have just switched it and I probably would have lent more bad guy, but then thankfully they cheered and we just ended up riffing between us, but it still wasn’t one of my best promos. I love the fact that I got the Monster Munch line in there. I love that I was able to get my cheeky mannerisms, but I felt so under pressure to make sure that I got this promo done in this exact time that I didn’t feel the words that were coming out of me.
So then it was just adding more and more to this anxiety that I was just kind of like, man, it’s going to be like 70% me and 30% Kenny, and I was so worried that the 30% was going to drown out the 70%. Because my only feedback at the time is social media, and it really took a huge toll on my brain to the point where I was thinking I don’t think I’m gonna be the good guy going into my own home country, and that kind of broke me a little bit. And then obviously by the time the weekend got here, I felt like the good guy because all you would just see is the shirts all around the place. I was lucky enough that I was doing like a little meet and greet, and there was a little kid, man, and he made his own Ospreay jacket, and his dad was telling me that like I’m one of his heroes, and that he’s actually about to go through the assessment for ADHD himself, and you just think man, this is such a magical thing that I just never thought I would ever have. I’m a bit of a numpty. I’m thick. I’m barely good at English itself, and I’m able to have connections with so many amazing fans that have seen me from such a young age to what I am now.”
All because you chased after your dream and your passion, and that’s such an amazing part about this-you’re doing the thing that you love, and you’re inspiring people because of it.
“Yeah, I think this is awesome, man. It’s such a crazy feeling to be able to put into words.”
So you were feeling the pressure all week. So when you got to the press conference, was it just a chance to finally breathe?
“I had a little bit of a cry in the ring, and I had one backstage when I saw all my friends. But it was just, I don’t know. When you try and make me think back to when I was 16 years old, and I failed all my exams, and sorry if this one goes long. But my mum ran a drama group, and me and all my friends were in that drama group. We were all in school together, and by the time it came, I wanted to go to this performance arts college. It was the top one in Essex. It was called Palmer’s College, and I needed a C in English, maths, and science to be able to even get into that college. I didn’t get it, so everyone in my mum’s drama group went to that performing arts college, except for her own son, and that killed me because it was just kind of I’m useless, man. I ain’t got nothing to offer the world. This is the only thing I can perform, that’s it. I can’t structure sentences. I couldn’t work out maths. It was so difficult for me. I wasn’t academic.
Then now being on this side of things, I’m the only one out of all those guys who are doing something within the performing arts industry. I generally do hope people hear that and just know that on paper, I am a failure. On paper, I have failed everything that the school system tells you need to become a success. I just stuck at this because I never wanted money out of it. If I made money, great, but I just loved it. I had a ring in my back garden. We were called the neighbors from hell because you would see all our friends taking superplexes in this ring. We make our own storylines and stuff. We were the neighbors from hell. Honestly, if wrestling became illegal tomorrow, I’d be in my back garden wrestling, and that’s the reality of all of this. So I just think, fair enough, I did it. I stuck with it. I never compromised. I never wanted to move away. I never moved away from the UK. I’ve always had a connection with it, and I think that was the thing that always kind of made me think. Well, maybe I’m just going to be the kid in Japan for the rest of my life because no American company is going to sign me because I don’t want to live over it. Somehow I did it.”
You fly back and forth between England and America. Do you think that this ends up wearing on you mentally and physically?
“I can see it wearing on me a little bit, but I’ll be honest with you. Once you get into a routine with it, I find it very easy. You just gotta time your sleeps a little bit, and life is noise. Being honest with you, when I’m at home and with a seven-year-old, it’s noise. It’s constant. He’s got so much energy about him. Then when I’m here, although I’m having the most fun, it is stressful because you’re wanting to put out the best product physically possible, so it’s just noise constantly. So when I’m on that airplane for eight hours, I’m fine with it. It’s just headphones on, got to listen to a bit of Oasis, and I’ll be fine.”
Do you worry about flights getting delayed or changed or weather? You got to be on Dynamite on Wednesday, but your flight lands earlier that day; what do you do?
“I mean, thankfully, I’ve never had one on the way over. I’ve had one where I’ve come over and they’ve lost my bags. That was actually my first day at work, which is hilarious. But I’ve never had one coming over. Relatively, we kind of take into consideration the weather and everything as well. I look at the weather the day before. Then I can I need to message Bryce [Remsberg]. Shout out to Bryce as well because he handles all my travel, and I put him under so much stress. I will say to him all the time like, ‘Hey, can you just change this flight? I want to go here now instead.’ He’s just like, ‘Yep.’ He’ll go away and do it. I need to get him a little gift soon. I don’t know where to get him, but I do see what everyone says about the wear and tear on the body. But like a lot of the time, my legs are up. I’m laying down. I’m very comfortable. I’m next to my wife a lot of the times. We’re playing Mario Kart. The actual Mario Kart, not the one I said in a promo.”
Is there a particular spot in that match that you’re most proud of?
“Yeah, we labeled it Plan B because our Plan A got ruined because somebody done it in their match. So Plan B was One Wing Angel, kick out at one, Stormbreaker, kick out at one, then finish. I was proud of that one, but being honest, the thing that will never leave me ever. Kenny allowing me to kick out of the One Wing Angel. The significance and the importance behind that move cannot be understated. He has protected that move for 14 years. The only person to ever kick out of it was Ibushi, who was his long-time tag partner. The fact that he allowed me, and you think about the historical feuds that he’s had: Okada, Tana, Ibushi, Hangman, and he saved it for me. That’s like one of the biggest honors and the biggest accomplishments I think I’ve ever been given as a performer, as a wrestler.”
Do you get the feeling that Kenny Omega is starting to wind down his career, he might not have any other big matches like this?
“I think people need to realize how much of a toll it takes on Kenny after his illness, and I don’t know the preparation that he done to get into this match, but there were a few shows that he couldn’t do because of how he’s feeling. I want to believe that he’s still going to be doing some type of big matches, but at that level, I really do not know. That’s a question that you probably will have to ask Kenny. But at 42 years old, for 10 years he’s been the best wrestler in the world. There was a symbolism from some anime show, a name escapes me from what it was, of a character passing down his powers to the next generation, and that was crazy. That is me.”
How’d you celebrate that night? How’d you celebrate winning the championship?
“So I didn’t get out of the venue until about half past one in the morning. So I don’t know what time the show ended, but obviously I needed to go say thank you to Tony, go say thank you to everyone that was there. Then I got back to my locker room, just had a little bit of a moment. Medical came in and said we need to sort out your head because you’ve got a bunch of cuts and gashes everywhere. So then I sat for a little bit. They came back in because they were like, ‘You’re not getting out. If you go out of here, you’re going to get swarmed by everybody wanting to say thank you. We’re going to glue you up here.’ Then I had to wash all the blood out of my hair, and I generally thought that it wasn’t going to happen. No, sorry, I washed my hair out. Then they glued me up. Then I got in my jersey, done that. Then I went back to my hotel room, had three Krispy Kreme donuts, and then I met up with a few of my friends out in a bar. My mate sorted it. There’s a Sweet Chin Disco or something along those lines, and they kept saying, ‘Hey, we’re winding down now. We’re winding down.’ It’s like 3:30 in the morning. I mean, my night over here is done, I can try my best to come in. And we got there, and they were like, ‘Sorry, guys, You can’t come in.’ Then the promoter messaged Brooke to say, ‘Hey, go around the side.’ But there was like a fence that you had to hop over. I don’t know, I was just kind of like, am I going to really hop over this fence? I heard my music playing, and I went, screw it, I’m hopping it. I got up on the fence, and people lost their minds.”
With your injury, did you ever have to come to terms with I may not ever wrestle again?
“I don’t know if I had that thought, but I had the thought of I don’t think I’ll be able to wrestle the style that I’ve popularized so much, and I think that was a thing that really broke me a little bit because I just wanted to be able to perform the way that I performed and the way that I envisioned my pro wrestling, and I’d never once considered like that I needed surgery. Even with everything that was going through with my neck, I never once thought it was as bad as that. I needed a double fusion. I never once thought about that, to be honest with you. But the moment that it became apparent, my first question was going to be can I still wrestle again? They said yes, but there’s going to be limitations. You can’t do this anymore, you can’t do that anymore.
Do you know, the one thing that they said to me, and I talked to Cope about this because there was this kind of like, ‘Yeah, you probably can’t take any more reverse Ranas ever again.’ I just had this moment of like, what!? What do you mean I can’t take a reverse Rana? It’s like my go-to. Strike, strike, strike, something, reverse Rana, bam, everybody lay down, right? That’s kind of like my go-to, but it blew my mind because it wasn’t those moves that messed up my neck and went down my arm. It was every time I took a back bump, my arm would just shut off. So it was just kind of like, oh man, that’s so weird. And obviously, Cope would pull me one side [and said] ‘No one cares about a reverse Rana. They care about you.’ But obviously, once my surgery was done on the rehab side, it was just kind of okay, let’s play around to see what we can do. Obviously I went straight into the feud with Moxley and the Death Riders. There was one show that we did, I can’t remember where it was, but I think we was with the United Empire Boys, and Moxley just out of nowhere just goes take a piledriver, and I hadn’t taken one in ages. I was like, oh, this is one of the moves I wasn’t meant to be taking. Fine. Then after that, it was just kind of like, all right. When we wrestle at Dynasty, we’ll do it again, but we’ll up it a little bit more. Absolutely fine. It was just kind of like, oh, okay. I actually can do relatively all the things that I did beforehand.”
On a scale of one to ten, how much pain were you in leading up to your surgery?
“Ten, it was horrible.”
How were you wrestling through that?
“I didn’t know how bad it was. I know that sounds stupid, but I just remember the Continental Classic started, and I started getting these weird feelings in my hands, it was just kind of like pins and needles, but it just would never go away. Then as it got more down the road, we did the Spanish fly off the cage. We’ve been doing crazy stuff. My matches haven’t been relatively house show stylized. It’s been very much go, go, go, and then it was Double or Nothing. After that, I really started noticing I was in pain. I would take a back bump, and my arm would completely shut off. It would spasm, and I couldn’t pick it up. It got to All In Texas, and I basically said, I think there is something going on in my neck, and I don’t know what it is because it just keeps shutting down. So they said that I was going to go for an MRI, and that was on Thursday. Got back, and once again, my arm every now and again would just cut out. I wouldn’t even be bumping. It would just be my head would go here and it would crap out.
Then I had a phone call from Tony Schiavone, and he was just kind of like, ‘Hey, we just got your MRI results back. You’re done.’ What do you mean I’m done? Had to have conversations with our medical team, and they’re basically saying ‘So you do have two discs that have wrapped up into your spinal cord, bad, and we can probably do an epidural to get them out. We’re going to need to mitigate the risks in your tag match with Swerve and the Bucks to make sure nothing does happen in that one.’ But obviously, this is me as well. I ignored a lot of what the doctor said, and just did what I wanted to do, and because of that, I suffered from it. Then it was only when I spoke to my surgeon, Doctor Wallace, the biggest shout-out to Doctor Wallace. He saved my career, man, saved my life. It was in Epic Universe with my kid, freshly opened Epic Universe, and I could feel his excitement. Super Nintendo World’s there. I’m excited. Then my phone rings. ‘Ah, babe, can I quickly take this phone call?’ Took it, and he told me, ‘I don’t know who told you you need an epidural. You need surgery. You’ve got stenosis.’ The narrowing of the spinal cord, spinal column. One of them. They’ve compressed so much that they’re wrapped up in there. We need to get them out.”
You just had this goal in mind of I gotta get back. Wembley Stadium, all in. I need to be there no matter what.
“Yeah, that was the ultimate test. The ultimate test was to see if I can recover in time, and I remember hearing about Cena having kind of the same surgery, and I think he came back in like six months. He even said, ‘If you look at that Rumble where I did come back, I hardly did anything.’ Then I got to five months and three weeks, and they went. ‘You’re good to go.’ I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was going to be out for nine months.”
MJF claims to be the real champion, so maybe there’s something.
“He is delusional, man. He is out of his mind. The fact that he’s walking around with that and no one has confiscated that belt. That’s how entitled the guy is. That’s how much sway and how much pull he’s got. He can just bring his own belt and call himself that, and it’s all well and good. But let’s be honest, the geezer’s a tosser.”
What is Will Ospreay grateful for?
“Family, that I’m still able to be Will Ospreay after the surgery, and to have one of the greatest matches inside Wembley Stadium.”
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