Will Ospreay has joined All Elite Wrestling, in what Fightful Select is told is a multi-year deal, that will go over three years.
The move happened well before Ospreay’s NJPW deal was up, which left many surprised considering the nature of his deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling how that it happened. We’ve confirmed that Ospreay is still under contract to NJPW and will continue to be through January of 2024. We’re told that Ospreay had communicated to New Japan that he wasn’t re-signing with them, and he had their blessing to sign with AEW, who have worked with NJPW for years now. The relationship between the two sides allowed this new deal to be facilitated. Ospreay will still be able to work select dates for New Japan while under AEW contract.
Contract discussions between AEW and Ospreay really picked up in the early part of the fall, and AEW was very optimistic that they’d be able to land him. Ospreay had previously indicated that he wished to remain in the UK as far as residence, before opening up and saying that that he was willing to explore all options, should a move to the US have been necessary. We’re told that Ospreay will be able to stay in the UK as a part of this AEW deal.
Ospreay had been in LA ahead of Full Gear since at least Friday, but was kept away from everyone else, despite Andrew Zarian reporting and Fightful confirming him as the signing. He arrived shortly before the PPV portion of the show started, and the actual contract was not finalized and signed as of the morning. The signing was teased on November 15 ahead of AEW Dynamite without the deal actually signed.
We can confirm that WWE had been in contact with Will Ospreay’s representation in recent weeks in an effort to gauge interest, and we're told that an offer was made.. The conversation wasn’t much of a secret within the company, as they were looking to see what kind of schedule and possible relocation would happen. There was also interest from IMPACT/TNA Wrestling, though we’ve not learned how far those talks got. Ospreay had also communicated interest in returning to TNA after appearing there recently.
WWE sources that we spoke to claim they had not got an official word of the signing, but figured by this week that Ospreay was AEW bound. By Friday night's Collision, several talent within AEW were openly discussing the signing.
As one would expect, we're told it's a seven figure per-year deal.
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