Will Ospreay shares his thoughts on AEW: All In London at Wembley Stadium.
On August 27, All Elite Wrestling will make its debut in the United Kingdom with AEW: All In London at Wembley Stadium. The arena holds 90,000 fans, so the move has been viewed as a major swing by AEW. The presale for the event proved to be a remarkable success, as the company sold 50,000 tickets. The event is still over three months away, and fans continue to speculate about potential dream matches for the card.
NJPW star Will Ospreay, who wrestled for AEW on multiple occasions in 2022, often comes up in the conversation, as he is from London, and he is widely viewed as one of the best wrestlers in the world. Plus, he has plenty of history with former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega. They clashed at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, where Omega beat Ospreay to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
In an interview with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Ospreay was asked about potentially being involved with AEW All In, and he noted that he hates London.
"Oh, mate. Don’t ask me, I stay in Essex. Go to South End, bruv. There’s a little adventure island down there, lovely pier. I’d stay away from London. I say all the time, I fucking hate London. I can’t be bothered with it. Nah, fuck it off. Go Essex," Ospreay said.
Rumors and reports about Ospreay being booked for the card are already swirling, and the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion shot them down.
"I would love to know who said this. Because I didn’t even fucking know. So this is all fucking news to me," he said.
Ospreay continued by describing how he feels like England is the hotbed for Europe. He shared his belief that the country should have gotten a WrestleMania by now. Ospreay noted that England will get to host WWE Money in the Bank and stated that he thought it was cute.
"It’s fucking insane, isn’t it? But I feel like our country, we’re like the hotbed for Europe, personally. Because we get so many flights from even really shitty airlines like Stansted, Ryanair. We can go to every bit of Europe and you can come to England for like thirty quid. For Europeans, it’s an easy place to get to. I feel like England’s been starving for a real good pay-per-view quality. In reality we should have gotten a WrestleMania. We should have. Do you know what I mean? We should have. But it’s nice that they’re gonna give us a Money in the Bank. I think that’s cute," Ospreay said.
The NJPW star highlighted AEW's decision to book Wembley Stadium, which has 90,000 seats, and admitted that he initially thought it was a big ask. He stated that the company's reported ticket sales up to this point are insane, but he's not surprised because the United Kingdom has been starving for a spectacular wrestling event. Ospreay cited the rumors about his involvement with the show and emphasized that, if they're true, he's very grateful.
"It’s just mad that AEW’s gone, ‘Fuck it, we’ll do a stadium.’ Even I was like, ‘That’s a big fucking ask.’ But my God, if the rumors are true, 66,000 have been sold. That’s insane. But I’m not surprised either because we’ve been starving for a good quality wrestling spectacular over here. If the rumors are true, and I’m apparently a part of it, I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I really do mean it. I wrestled at Wembley Arena in Impact. Fucking Mark Andrews got knocked out. So I had to look after his ass. But it’s a fucking stadium, do you know what I mean? It’s fucking crazy," Ospreay said.
Ospreay made it clear that England and the United Kingdom as a whole have a strong fan base. He again brought up WWE Money in the Bank and noted that both companies are going all out. He described how he loves the Money in the Bank match and called it one of his favorite stipulations.
"I hope so. Once again there clearly is the fan base here. They even done it with the NXT: UK. Now I don’t know if there’s a difference. Obviously I think fans kind of want to see John Cena and Randy Orton and all those guys. But there’s enough of a fan base and a market here to make an off brand. I think that’s the good bit about it. Both companies are going balls to the wall. They’re giving us Money in the Bank. I love Money in the Bank. CM Punk and Cena is one of my favorite fucking matches ever," he said.
Overall, Ospreay made it clear that he loves the concept of All In, and he thinks it's "sick" that AEW is doing it. He recalled how former AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes previously asked him why he didn't do the first All In, to which he replied that he wasn't asked to be a part of it. Ospreay looked back on WWE SummerSlam 1992 being held at Wembley Stadium and noted that Tony Khan is a madman for going for it with his decision to run the massive stadium.
"So it’s so sick that they’re doing that. I love the concept of the All In. I got a message from Cody ages ago, he said like, ‘Why didn’t you do All In?’ I was like, ‘Because you didn’t fucking ask me.’ He’s like, ‘I thought I did.’ I’m like, ‘No, you cunt. You didn’t ask me.’ ‘I’m so sorry.’ It says everything. All In is like gambling. It’s about just going for it. 31 years ago we had British Bulldog and Bret Hart in Wembley and no one would ever think we would bring wrestling back there. Tony Khan’s a madman going for it," Ospreay said.
Ospreay previously expressed his interest in competing at AEW All In. Click here to see what he had to say.
Chris Jericho has said he thinks that AEW All In will be a cultural event. Check out his comments here.
Jim Ross recently shared his thoughts on AEW All In. Click here to see what he had to say.
Ospreay missed several weeks with a shoulder injury, but he returned to the ring at 1PW, and he will compete at NJPW Resurgence on May 21. Check out the card here. Tickets for the show can be found here.
