Will Ospreay believes if he had gone to WWE, fans of the company would view him differently.
As his time in New Japan Pro Wrestling came to a close in late 2023 and early 2024, Ospreay was pursued by both WWE and AEW, with Ospreay eventually deciding to sign with All Elite Wrestling at Full Gear 2023. Since then, Ospreay has achieved success in the promotion, capturing the AEW International Championship on two seperate occasions, as well as challenging Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Title.
While speaking to Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Ospreay discussed WWE fans who are critical of him, noting his belief that if he had signed with WWE, those same fans would be 'wanking into tissues' over him.
"No, but if I had gone there, they’d be fucking wanking into tissues over me. It’s the same. You have to seperate it, otherwise you drive yourself insane. Wrestling is my passion and my job. If you have something that you are passionate about, you really don’t care what people are saying who have never impacted your career in your entire life. Once upon a time, they were big hits, anyone who ever complained about AEW, like the grifters or whatever they are called, even if they say something, they’re not impacting our show, the second most profitable wrestling company of all time. That’s not talked about enough and everyone wants to dig at it. I get it, there are things we could generally improve on, and it’s fair to listen to some criticism. For me, I don’t lose sleep over anyone trying to tell me how to wrestle because look at me. I’m a fucking idiot. I know I am, but I’ve carved out this little lane for myself. I was destined to be someone that either worked at McDonald’s or pushed trolley’s at Tescos, but because I learned the trade over in England and Japan, and my enthusiasm and my passion comes over here, I don’t let things...if people are like, ‘Oh, this is shit.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because it’s shit.’ That’s not fair. If you give me criticism and points that I can work on, then I’ll try my best to work on it. I’m not going to get it right away, but I think that’s the stuff people need to speak more about."
Ospreay competed at AEW Revolution over the weekend, taking on Kyle Fletcher inside a steel cage.
Elsewhere in another interview, Ospreay noted that he and Kenny Omega will be viewed in the same way he viewed Bryan Danielson and AJ Styles. You can read more about that here.
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