Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Will Ospreay: All In, AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega, Neck Surgery, 5 Star Matches

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

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! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Chris. Well, how you feeling? Amazing. Like, I generally have no words. It was one of the craziest nights that I've ever experienced. I've never experienced any of those type of emotions before in my life.

So it 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, like, the entrance and seeing how many people that they actually touch. Like, I just bumped into Nick Jackson as we were coming up here. And he was saying, like, I'd rewatch it. I just started crying. And it was just like, it was probably one of the most emotional things

that I could have ever have come up with to walk through my past and to see all the people that got me to where I am there and to going into the future of what I wanted to be. So how did you come up with this now iconic entrance? Like, it was obviously help a lot, like with Mike Mansour, he's one of the lead producers for AEW, so he helped came up with it. But my whole thing was, I remember last year, just at Forbidden Door when I went in the steel cage match.

And I was trying to think of like a real cool entrance for that. And I was just like, oh, I'd love it if like if I could do something there. But like I had no idea that like Al put down like a voice, like a voiceover for the entrance. And it like it stuck with me because it was a it was a scary going into like a steel cage match knowing that I needed neck surgery. and I was just so worried. And I kept like 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 our voice come through, like, telling me,

like the line that got me was if you're not afraid of what's next, neither am I. And it hit me so hard. Like, it made me just feel like I could run through a wall. And 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.

Like 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 bad and hurt. And I think it was just one of these things where, like, I'd love to show my mom 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?

I was in Orlando and I said, oh, Mom, I've got like a proposition for you to, I said, do you remember the one that Al did for me? I said, like, I'd like you to do one for me. And she was just like, I'll do it now. And then she, like, started writing it up, like, and I said, I don't want to hear it. 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 was like elements of it where it was kind of like, okay, she's, my mom's very theater. So she, like, very much pronounces everything that she says. And she treats it like a town hall. So I had to, like, a town hall meeting. And I had to try and tell her, like, hey, just like, bring it back a little bit. Like, I don't want you talking to everybody. Look, you're not town hall.

Talking to your son. She'd done it again. It was spot on. Perfect. So talk to me about your day at Wembley Stadium. I woke up about 7.15. Did you sleep the night before? A little bit.

Like I was up at like, I think I went to bed about 2 a.m. Like I see you're wearing a whoop. What was your sleep score that night? Oh, I think it was like four hours, something on those lines. So it's not the worst, but not the best either. And I had to get my hair died. So obviously, you can see that it's kind of bit yellowy now. So I'm a little bit worried about that.

That was pink for most of the match. Yeah. Honestly, I thought this isn't coming out, even like, because it was like freshly died. Hey, like, so. And like, I got to the, I remember. telling it out, like I was dying my hair blonde, and she was like, please don't do it. I'm begging you, don't do it. And then I did it.

And she was like, oh, you actually look very handsome. So I was like, hey, babe, next thing I'm going to be doing with my hair is I'm going to get dreads. Let's see how that looked like. You was wrong about the blonde. I'll do the dreads next. I won't do it, promise. But yeah, I started about 8 a.m., got my hair done, finish about 10. Boys all came to my room, just like a little team talk just beforehand.

And then we, we walked through thousands of fans to Wembley. Like, I mean, a lot of the guys do, like, the private transfers. I really wanted to walk through all of it because I wanted to feel the energy. I wanted to see all the jerseys as I was going through it. So you were staying at that hotel across the way there? Yeah, it was staying at the hotel like when it was like a two-minute walk. Yeah. And I just wanted to walk through people.

Obviously, we had like security there just to make sure that now one got like any funny ideas and try and break that little momentum chain. but just like no one was above her like everyone was just super supportive everyone was just like cheering me on and match I didn't even start yeah it was just kind of just wanted to feel everybody's energy out there because it was such a huge moment for me man it's a huge deal did that match live up to the expectations that you had for it yeah yeah like so much man like it was this wild just because um going into it i i hadn't really no ideas like i had really no ideas like i had like 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 like me and Kenny like sat down and started talking about stuff and then we would just we just came together and it was just like idea flow and idea flowing and honestly I'd love to be able to tell you guys like when the match like was hours from going on and we found out that there were 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.

And that was like, it's no one's fault. Like, things happen. Like, I don't blame anyone in that situation, but it was as frustrating as it was, what we came up with, what our plan B was, was way, way, way better. So, like, I was dead happy with that. So you didn't have this finalized till right before the match?

Kind of, no, like, it was like, like maybe two or three, two or three matches before. So, like, 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, it was 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, like, naturally things will happen, and we just had faith that, like, nothing else was going to happen that, like, would have stepped on our toes, and thankfully no one did. But, man, it was just what we was able to come up with and what we was able to do.

Like, I couldn't have done that with anybody. Like, there was, there was so many other alternative options for that main event, that what it could have been. But, like, I knew, like, if this was my moment, I didn't want to read anybody else's script. I wanted it to be, like, myself and Kenny. Like, I really wanted that. If you were watching Backlash,

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please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. 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 the license fee from it. I won't put it out there in the ether because maybe one of these days I'll be able to track it down again.

I'd like to leave that as a surprise. But it was Mike Mansourie that came up with the idea of the Who, Barbara O'Reilly. And 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'd done a Brian Danielson tribute to that song. So I have a little bit of a connection to it. I was just, oh, okay, like, I quite like the idea

and who is British as well. So that's kind of cool. But I remember, like, listening to it and on, like, the travels that me and Al did. And I was just, I don't know if I feel it. Like, I don't like, the other song that I wanted, like, got my juices flowing. Hey, and I just want, and it was my favorite song

to have that. And I was just, oh, I don't know if I'd feel it. feel it. And it was only when I heard the voiceover. I heard the, I saw the clips that were all around it. I was like, this is perfect. This is actually like this is, this is it. Don't change a thing. I don't think it could have been any better. Honestly, to have like my plan A, which what I was like envisioning and what I hoped. And then it, none of that happened. Plan A didn't happen. So then you're under that stress of like, what could have even come close. to plan A and just having faith in our production team and in Mansuri to then come up with

that. It was just like, what a, what a video. Like, it touched so many people. And I think, I think about it a lot because obviously, like, going back to my mum, I think I'm at an age now where, like, so many of my mates were losing their mums. And I feel like everyone, obviously, everyone has a mum. Everyone's, like, connected with their mom in, like, some deep way, hey. And I feel like that was so cool because I think a lot of people felt the words from their own mom in that video.

So that was just magical. Well, there's also this message in that video of having a dream, a dream that maybe feels way too big for it to come true. But if you work at it and you chip away at it, dreams can't come true. Oh, for sure, man. Like, I can't hear enough, like growing up in England. Like we never had, like I was saying this a while ago when it comes to like our independency. Like we didn't have Brian Danielson on our Indies.

We didn't have Chris Hero on our Indies on that side out. We didn't have Ring of Honor. We didn't have TNA. Like our independence and we grew it ourselves. We had Jodie Flaj and Mark Haskins, Greg Burridge, Martin Stone. Like we had all those guys and all of them like played such a significant part in my upbringing as a British wrestler. So then to be able to have that connection and it all amounted to something that meant

so much to me. And then obviously you blend that in with the other. So obviously you had Zach Zaber Jr., who was like my first ever mountain to climb in British wrestling. Our story has stretched over to America and Japan and England with fault so many times. And I have such a love and respect for Zach because he was so patient with me. the first time I ever went to Japan, Zach was actually the guy that like,

hey, like this is the kind of etiquette that you've got to get used to. And he was like so gracious and giving there. And to have Michael Oku and Amira Blair, who was my last ever British wrestling indie match where like they were such a significant part in my British wrestling rise. I really wanted them to be there.

And even hearing the reaction, the moment that they came on camera, it was clear that so many people have felt that same connection with that match as well. Ricochet is the obvious one. That was the gateway, really. That was the, but like a lot of people don't realize,

but the first time I ever wrestled ricochet was in the UK. It's the first time I ever touched in, but obviously that best of the Super Junior's match was the thing that launched me and had so many, so many people talking about who I am and what I brought to the table. Swerver and me have had a relationship

from Southside Wrestling, which is another UK indie promotion, which has been best mates from there. And although we kind of went on our separate ways, we always had that connection, we always had that, like, talk with one another, to then walk past Ozzy Open, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis,

who were in the United Empire that, like, obviously turned their back on me and to do their own thing. But it was, I think that was the one that actually got me, like, really emotional because it was this, if any, if there were two lads that should have been ringside for me, like, those two should have been there.

like because they were there for all my greatish-brish wrestling matches. Like the big main events, they were always there for it. And like obviously to have Al there was just magical. Hey, like it's just like what happened last year where she voiced me out, it was just kind of like a scary moment where like I generally believe, like I was so ready for this moment. And just before I wanted to go out, I just wanted to feel, I just wanted to feel her and just make sure that I was, I was going

out there and this was, this one was for her, this was for a little boy, it's for my mom. And then obviously to continue the story between myself and Moxie at the end. I just thought that I was like the icing on the cake for me, the ace passing the flag. Yeah. You got emotional on the press conference afterwards. We were talking about making the younger version of yourself proud. Why'd that moment get you? Oh, mate, honestly, the week leading up to it was so stressful.

And I kept doubting myself, like, because there was, like, little hiccups in the road where, like, I felt like I almost done, like, an own goal with, like, some of the storytelling leading up to it. And that I just started doubting myself. And there were so many, like, little hiccups along the way. Like, there was a promo that I'd done in Glasgow. And it was like the dynamite right before All In. There was like, you need to go out there, cut a promo.

right. And just before they started doing it, they started doing like the, oh, what do you think of this wrestler? Yeah. What do you think this wrestler? Yay. And they said, Osprey. I'm not even joking. Like, I heard booze. And I had a genuine moment backstage. Like, I looked at Brain Buster who's like the photographer because he was getting some like candid photos. And I heard that. And there was a genuine moment of like, are they going to boo me? Like, just like, once again, like, between England and Scotland, there is heat. But like, I've always, I've never said, I'm an English wrestler. I've always said I'm a British wrestler. But they're always always heat in terms of that type of country, right? And I was just, just before my music,

I'm like, please don't boo. Please don't boo. Because I generally think I would have switched it and I would have just gone, I probably would have lent more bad guy. But then thankfully, thankfully, like, they cheered and we just, we end up riffraffing between us. But like, it still wasn't one of my best promos. Like, 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% and like the idea of like, like, because my only feedback at the time is social media and it really, really played like a huge toll on my brain to the point where I was thinking like, man, I don't think I'm going to be the good guy going into my own home country and that like kind of broke me a little bit. And then obviously by the time the weekend got here, I felt 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 Osprey 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, like, man, this is such, like, a magical thing that I just, I never thought I would ever have. Like, I'm a bit of a numbed. I'm thick. Like, I'm barely good at English itself. And I'm able to have connections with so many.

amazing fans that have seen me from, from like such a young age to what I am now. All because you chased after your dream and your passion. 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, like, breathe? Yeah. Like, I did it. Yeah, it was just, like, a little bit. ever cry like in the ring and I had one backstage when I saw all my friends but it was this I don't know when you 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 like my mom ran a drama group and me and all my friends were in that drama group was all in school together and by the time it came like 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 and 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 like that killed me because it was just kind of, oh, I'm useless man, I ain't got nothing to offer the world. Like this is the only thing, I can perform. That's it, but I can't structure sentences

that couldn't work out maths. Like it was so difficult for me. Like I wasn't, doesn't academic. And then now being on this side of things, like I'm the only one out of all those guys that are doing something within the performing arts industry. I think that's, I generally do hope people hear that and just know that. Like, on paper, like, I am a failure. Like, on paper, like, I have failed everything that the school system tells you you need to become a success. And I just stuck at this because I, I know.

never wanted money out of it. Like, if I made money great, but like, I just loved it. I had a ring in my back garden. We were called the neighbors from hell because, like, you would see all of our friends taken superplexes in these, like, in this ring, we'd make our own storylines and stuff. Like, we were the neighbors from hell. And 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, man, like fair. 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. If you say that you're a failure on paper, you're very clearly. not a failure when you're sitting here as the AEW world champion. Oh, mate. What's been the key to your success, do you think? I think I've cashed in at the right times a lot of the time.

Like when I say this, but when I started in British wrestling, Puck just got signed to the W.W. So there was room for a high flyer and I could do all the things that Pact could do. So I was like, oh, great, we go high flight. Right place, right time. Yeah. Then I wrestled Okada in England. and they said, oh, we're going to bring you over

for the best of super juniors, which to me, that was it. That's all I wanted out of wrestling. And then AJ and the good brothers and Nakamura all got signed. So there was this huge opening. So Kenny had to step up into AJ's role, but someone needed to step up in the junior heavyweight role.

And AJ was the guy that put me over to New Japan to say, like, well, give him a chance. So then obviously, I had that time in New Japan. I had a two-year deal with him. That then at the end of that became a three-year deal and then halfway through that three-year deal, we negotiated to a five-year deal. So, like, it was just, like, the timing on everything was perfect. And then when it was, when my contract was running out with New Japan, like, I met Barry Bloom,

who was my representative. And we started, like, talking as well as Jordan, like, we all started talking about, like, what would be the best option? And I just said, like, the one thing I just want to do is make sure that I can come home because I'm a stepdad now. So, like, things have changed. I can't be on the road for six weeks anymore or seven weeks. I don't want to have some type of presence and input into raising this kid.

How much wear and tear do you think the flights have on you? Not just physically, but mentally as well. Like, can we peel back the curtain, like where your travel day looks like today? I mean, yeah, my travel day today was I woke up at 5.30 in the morning. In England. In England, yeah. I showered, got all, like, the, I had a nice little hair mask in. I like my hair, all soft.

But we're in Texas right now. Yeah. And I got on a flight 10 hours. The stewardesses were saying, like, you conked out. And I was like, yeah, you don't know the week I had love. But you're in America for how many hours? Oh, I'm leaving today. So you're here for six hours, eight hours?

10. 10 hours. So, wow. Yeah, 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 like a routine with it, I'll find it very easy. find it like quite easy just got you just got time your sleeps a little bit and and life is

noise being honest with you like when I'm at home and with a seven year old like it's noise it's constantly it's like moving he's got it's got so much energy about him and then when I'm here like although I'm having the most fun it is stressful because like you're wanting to put out the best product physically possible so like it's just noise constantly so when I'm on that airplane for like eight hours I'm like fine with it. It's just like headphones on. We've got to listen to a bit of oasis and I'll be fine. Do you worry about flights getting delayed or changed or weather?

Yeah, yeah. If you got to be on Dynamite on Wednesday, but your flight lands earlier that day, what do you do? I mean, like, 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 like, I've never had one coming over. Relatively, we kind of, like, taking consideration. in the weather and everything as well.

Like I look at the weather the day before just to, or like the week of. So if it looks bad, maybe you jump on. Then, yeah, I can message Bryce who like, I need to shout out Bryce as well because he handles all my travel. And I put him under so much stress. Bryce remember. Yeah, because I always say to him all the time, like, hey, can you just change his flight? I want to go here now instead.

And he's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like, go away and like, like, I need to get him a little gift soon. I don't know what to get him. But like, I do see where everyone says about the wear and tear in the body. But a lot of the time, my legs are up. I'm laying down. I'm very comfortable. Next to my wife, a lot of the times we're playing like Mario Kart as we're,

the actual Mario Car, not the one I said on a promo, but there's actual Mario Kart playing with one another. I think for most people, Transatlantic travel, like, wrecks them for a week. Yeah. The fact that, like, you do it back and forth every week. Yeah, so I'm just constantly wrecked. I like it. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest

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In fact, when you debuted in A.A.W, it was, you know, stuff with Kenny Omega. This match at all in was your fourth match together. So what do you do in this match to make it different and stand out from the previous matches you've had? I think a lot of it is just kind of like revisiting the feelings that we had on the, on the, on like in the trilogy,

like I'm talking about not the PDG one, but like revisiting the trilogy. New Japan, the match in AW and then this one. Yeah, so like revisiting those ones we've kind of wanted to get a sense and a vibe of what it wanted to be. And Kenny brought up so many good points about it. Like, we need to, once again, a CAIF because it's a stadium show.

So then we looked more at the Tokyo Dome one that we did and took inspiration from that. And we just kind of like played with ideas and just seeing like, well, where did this story end? And where could we take it in terms of like the structuring and the movement of it? Because like, once you get ideas flowing, it just naturally happens. Is that the nastiest tiger driver you've ever done? I know. I think that forbidden door one was why worse. I feel like, I feel like Kenny got, got out safely on that one. Like, I know, like, I don't know how you do it.

It was vicious, that one. Yes. But, like, that's why it was, like, banned for so long on American TV is because there's no way to protect people on it. And, like, unfortunately, this is my, my job. I mean, there's, I try and protect people the best way that I physically can, but, like, a lot of it just got a hope that they've got the timing down just right. So what we try and do, instead of, like, going direct.

down, they go at a little bit of an angle so then that way you can roll over the shoulder. Because when you watch that back even in slow motion, it's like, how? How does he survive this? He survived. It was all good. What about the dragon suplex on the apron to you? Was that the nastiest one you've taken? No, like, no, like it was actually kind of pleasant. No, it was okay. But like, you know, there's no sense. There's no sense. It was okay. But like, you know, there's no sense, there's no feeling, you know what I mean? Is there a particular spot in that match that you're most

proud of? Yeah, um, uh, it was a, we labelled it plan B because our plan A got ruins because somebody done it in their match. So plan B was one wing angel, one kick out, Stormbreaker, one kick out

and finish. I was proud of that one. But like, but being honest, the thing that I'm this will never believe me ever, can he allow me to kick out of the one-wing angel wall? 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 Abushi, who was his long-time tag partner.

The fact that he allowed me, like, and you think about the historical feuds that he's had, Okada, Tunna, 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. Yeah, it was protected for so long. I mean, it became a thing that Excalibur would say. Nobody kicks out of the one wing of an angel.

Yeah. It's true. Like, it was almost weird because there's obviously a part of me that wants to protect it still and keep the legacy behind it, but it was just, where else were we ever going to do this ever again? Like, I don't know, I don't think we'll ever have another match.

I think that's it. And it's kind of poetic for me, because now, like, you look at it, and it's too all. And in all my promos leading up to it, the only thing that I've ever said is, like, I've just wanted to be your equal. We're tired. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

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, like, how much of a toll it takes on Kenny after his illness. And I don't know the preparation that he'd done to get into this match. But, like, there were a few shows that he couldn't do because of how, like, 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, hey, like, that's just, as a question, you probably will have to ask Kenny, but at 42 years old, for 10 years, he's been the best

wrestler in the world, and, like, there was, like, a symbolism from some anime show. Name escapes me from what it was of a character passing down. powers to the next generation and that was crazy that's me how'd you celebrate that night how'd you celebrate winning the championship my i had um i i so i didn't get out of the venue until about like half-past one in the morning so like 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 uh 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 heads 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 of, you. If you go out of here, you're going to get swarmed by like everybody wanting to say, thank you, sir. We're going to glue you up here. And then I had to wash all the blood out of my hair. And I generally thought that it wasn't going to happen. And then they, oh, 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 like a, had. free crispy cream donuts. And then I met up with a few of my friends out in a bar. And then they said, my mate saw it out like there's a switching disco or something on those lines. And they kept saying, hey, we're winding down now.

We're winding out. It's like free 30 in the morning. And then I kept like, oh, I mean, my nights over here is done. I mean, I can try my best to come in. And we got there and they were like, sorry, guys, you can't come in. You can't come in. And then they promote a message, Brooke, to say, go around the side, but there was like a fence that you had to hop over.

And like, I don't know, I was just kind of like, oh, am I going to really hop over this fence? And I heard my music play. And I went, I went, screw it. I'm up in it. And I like got up on the feet and people lost their minds, eh? It was this. And it's like four in the morning at this point? Yeah, it was like 3.30 in the morning and like, and like, and then bless them, those switching guys, they're part of a what culture. I think like they've got like a little side hustle where they do like the after parties. But like, like, they were so cool with me. They were just constantly being like,

what can we do to make the night better? Like, do you want to put some music on? We want to do this. They gave us so much alcohol. It was just, it was so cool. It was awesome to see like so many of the boys

that I grew up with along the way, just all like partying and having a good time. Yeah. Like, I wish I had more time to have like been out there and like, like had a bit more drinking. But like, Wembley,

there isn't really much around there. There's a few bars, but there isn't much you can do around there. So, like, I think, honestly, I'll probably, I'll probably do this show, maybe the next show, and then maybe I'll go to Amsterdam with the misses. What's the drink of choice when you're celebrating? There's an AU vodka where they've got, like, different flavors now. There's like a blue raspberry or, like, a strawberry and lime.

So, like, I like venturing with that. Yeah, I'm a vodka guy. I don't mind that, but, like, majority of the time, I just, I don't really drink, I'll be honest with you. Well, it's a cause for celebration. For sure. one makes sense. That one makes sense. My days in Japan, I used to be like a nightmare drinking, but like I just kind of like

tone back on that now, a lot more of the relaxing stuff. 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 fault, but I had the thought of like, I don't think I'll be able to wrestle the style that I've popularized so much. And I think that that was a thing that like 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 never once considered, like, that I needed surgery. Like, even with everything that was going through with my neck, like, I never once thought

it was as bad as I needed a double, a double fusion. Like, I never once thought about that, to be honest with you. But the moment that it became apparent, I just, I had this under, like, my first question was going to be, like, can I still wrestle again? And they said, yes, but there's going to be limitations. There's going to be you can't do this anymore. You can't do that anymore. There's like, 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 Rana's ever again. And I just had this moment of like, what? What do you mean I can't take a reverse Rana? It's like they're my go-to, like strike, strike, strike something, reverse Rana, bam, everybody lay down, right? That's kind of like my go-to. But like, and it blew my mind because it wasn't those moves that like 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, like, that's so weird. And obviously, like, Cope would pull me one side away and like, but no one cares about a reverse runner. They care about you. Yeah. So, and that was really like eye-opening to hear. But obviously, like, once my surgery was done and rehab started, then it. It was just kind of, okay, let's play around to see what we can do.

We've done a few things. And obviously, I went straight into the feud with Moxley and the Death Riders. And 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 power driver. And I hadn't taken one like in ages. Like, I was like, oh, this is one of the movies I wasn't meant to be taken. Fine.

And then after that, it was just kind of like, all right, we'd rest of our dynasty, we'll do it again, but we'll up it a little bit more. Absolutely fine. And then it was just kind of like, oh, okay, like I actually can do relatively all the things that I did beforehand. You had said leading up to the surgery, quote, I'm generally scared of coming back and being even 50% of what I once was. Yeah.

It's pretty clear you're not at 50%. No, I'm shocked at it being honest with you. Like, I was expecting a lot, lot worse. And even like post-surgery, I was kind of wondering what I would look like. And like, am I going to need a wheelchair to get out of this hospital? And it was like, no, I walked out. I done my surgery and I walked out on my own feet. I took a three-hour walk with my wife on the Jacksonville Beach.

It was beautiful. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. And once I started rolling again, like, I mean, I started honestly, it was like, after like two months, I was just like, okay, back bump on the bed. And just like, okay, it still doesn't feel like my head yet. And it was just every now and again, I would just like sneak off to an indie

and just be like, hey, can I just get in the ring for a little bit? Just to feel the ropes. And the ropes were the weirdest bit for me because as I would hit the ropes, my head would jack back because I hadn't like built up any of the muscles around the incision. So that bit hadn't like completely,

rehabed yet. So are you using the iron neck to build that up? That's brilliant. That was such a brilliant device. Once again, Cope's been amazing at this. I will say he has been like top form. He said like get yourself an iron neck,

get you this, get you that. And like he's been, he's been brilliant for all of this. Well, you've got a lot of people whose brain you can pick, right?

Brian Danielson, Adam Copeland, you know, it's crazy to think that you have the same type of injury and you've even said it in the lead up to your surgery that if you had this

10 years ago, you'd be done. Yeah, that scares me. Hey, like, the idea of, like, I think wrestling has been my identity for so long. Like, since I was 14 years old, I've been taking flatbacks in a wrestling ring. And the idea, and sometimes not a wrestling ring, sometimes it's just mats in a field. But, like, the idea that if this was 10 years ago, I'd be done and I'd be forgotten about. I don't know about that. No, I don't know.

feel like I would have, like, because wrestling just moves on. Like, we're saying, like, today, like, it's a Wednesday. We've got, we've got a TV show that we've got a film. We've got to roll the ball at, and you can't, can't live in that moment forever. Like, it's lovely to look back on, but, like, I need to keep pushing forward and I need to keep finding, like, that next emotional attachment that we can all gravitate towards. I don't think I'll ever, like, come. No, I'd say that, though, but, like, I reckon one of these days I could probably top it,

but maybe not for another dot 10 years maybe, I don't know. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain were you in leading up to your surgery? 10. All the time. It was horrible. How were you wrestling through that? That just, like, it was just, I didn't know. You had a cage match.

Yeah, but I didn't know how bad it was. Like, I realized, I don't know that sounds stupid. But I just remember, like, the Continental Classic started, and I started getting these weird feelings in my hands. Like, it was just, like, kind of like pins and needles, but, like, it just would never go away. like vibration white thumb almost like um and then as it got like more and more like down the road like we done like the Spanish fly off the cage we've been doing like crazy stuff like my matches haven't been relatively house show stylized it's been very much go go go and then it was like

double and nothing after that I really started noticing that I was like in pain I would take a back bump and my arm would completely shut off like it would spasm and I couldn't like pick it up and it got to all in Texas. And I basically said to him, 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 I said that it was going to go for an MRI and that was on the Thursday. Got back. And like once again, my arm every now and again would just cut out.

It would just, I wouldn't even be bumping. It would just be like my head would go here and it would crows. wrap out. Oh, man. And then I had a phone call from Tony Chivani, and he was just kind of like, hey, we've just got your MRI results back. You're done. What do you mean?

I'm done. Like, so they're having to have conversations with our medical team. And they're basically saying, like, oh, like, 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,

I just, like, this is me as well. Like, I ignored a lot of what the doctor said and just like done what I wanted to do. And because of that, I suffered from it. And then it was only when I spoke to my surgeon, Dr. Wallace, which the biggest shout out to Dr. Wallace, it'd save my career, man, save my life. It was in Epic Universe with my kid.

Like, freshly open Epic Universe. I can feel his excitement, Super Nintendo World's there. I'm excited. Sure. And then phone calls out, babe, go, go, quickly take this phone call, took it, and he told me, it was a scone, I don't know who told you need an epidural, you need surgery, you've got stenosis, like, the narrowing of the spinal, spinal cord, spinal column, one of them.

Sure. And, like, they've compared so much that they're wrapped up in there. We need to get them out. Were you getting atrophy? A little bit. I've got, like, a little bit of atrophy, but, like, nowhere near as bad as, like, your arms is still bigger than everybody else. I don't think they are, mate.

Like, they are very, like, my left one is very fit in comparison. And like, in comparison to my body, like, my arms are a lot more nudely. But, like, no one near as bad as, like, some of the other lads that I've got it. But, like, there is a little bit of atrophy. It's just amazing to think that's where you were a year ago. Yeah. And, like, you just had this goal in mind of, like, I got to get back. Wembley Stadium, all in.

I need to be there no matter what. Yeah. It has to happen. Yeah. And that was the ultimate test. The ultimate test was to see if I can recover in time. And I remember hearing about Sina having kind of like the same surgery. And I think he came back in like, I think he did six months.

He came back. So I was, and he even said like, if you look at that rumble where I did came back, like, I hardly did anything. Like I done this, I'd done that. Then I got to five months and three weeks and they went, you're good to go. Man. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was going to be out for like nine months. I know things change a lot in wrestling, but do you remember the conversation when Tony Kahn said to you, yes, you're winning at all in at Wembley Stadium?

No, like, honestly, it's just, it was, there was like a conversation of this kind of like, you definitely, it's made event, Wembley, for sure. And like, obviously, the part of me that I understand wrestling would almost be like, well, like, it was nearly, it could have been my time last year. like it could have easily been me instead of hangman for sure but I just I don't know like I feel like we we needed to play it smart because Wembley needed something big in the main event and I think a British boy going for the world title was the right decision to do but obviously it never really I never want to naturally assume but I felt like it was like almost written in the stars age it should be me going in there I think it was more just the battle to try and convince Kenny to to do the match because at first he was kind of very much

he didn't know that he could do it and he was like kind of worried about if he was able to be fit enough for it but as he started coming back he was showing like he's fine and he could do it like obviously I don't know how bad it is but it's like the fact that he was able to do all of that preparation just for me was one of the greatest honors that I could ever have in wrestling You mentioned this match with Kyle Fletcher. Talk to me about this Spanish fly off the cage. How did you even know you could pull it off?

A lot of it was just getting up there. I mean, if there was any two that could do it, it was us too. Like, Kyle was the right amount of crazy to my right amount of crazy. We both have a similar mindset of what we kind of think wrestling looks like and what we enjoy at our wrestling anyway. Like I'm not saying our version is right and your version is wrong, but this is the style that we just generally enjoy doing. We love pushing the envelope.

We love seeing how far we can take it. And honestly, sometimes it's good because the agents will pull us back in because we will sometimes go a little bit OTT. It was only when we saw the cage and both went up there and it was just like, Matt, this is stupid. Like one of us is getting hurt, like for sure. And at this time, like I was feeling weird stuffed out of my arms anyway. so I was just kind of like

alright like if you like Kyle was the one that kind of convinced me to do it like I it wasn't too hard to being honest with it I was just kind of oh cool I'll do it all right I'll do it but it was like one of those moments where like

when I was up there and I was looking down and like I just saw phones hey like everyone's had the phone but there was one guy in a green shirt just doing this like it looks like Him doing that made me so much more.

Like, I just locked in on this one dude. I was like, stop looking at me. It was terrifying, man. But the odd bit about it all was the moment it happened, fine, fine. A lot could go wrong. But you guys landed that perfectly. You could over-rotate, you could under-rotate.

I landed on my hip as well. Like, I didn't land, like, how I wanted to land. I was meant to try and, like, land on my, like, Like, I wanted to land on my knees being honest with it because I was, no way, I'm taking a front bump from that high. But, like, as we went, I didn't get that with my legs. So then I was like, oh, God, I'm going to come down on my hip. And I feel like Kyle probably just exorbed every bit of the impact. And I just, luckily, it was just like, way.

Like, almost like as the ring went up, like, as the ring just, like, verberated me back up. So it was almost like, oh, I got away good. At what point did you start using the style? clash and what was that conversation with AJ Styles? Oh, when did I start using it? Um, I think I actually, I might be right here, but I think I first used it against Okada in the G1 climax. We done, it was during, during COVID, so I can completely understand if, uh, people

haven't seen it, but it was like one of my favorite matches that I've ever done. Um, and the story that I kind of wanted to tell was obviously with me and Okada, like, I've only beaten him once, and it wasn't clean. I needed people's help with it. So then my full process was, okay, well, I'm going to go into the move bag of all the guys I have beaten you. So then I'd use Tanahashi's High Fly Flow, and then I used the Stiles Clash. And then from there, I didn't use it again until I wrestled Kenny. And then I used the Stiles Clash on him because it kind of made sense,

because he kicked AJ out of the bullet pub. And from there, it just stuck around. It just was one of these things where, like, I just, I just kept doing the styles question. Like, it wasn't that I asked AJ's permission to do it, but it was just one of these things where AJ had been so kind to, like, call me and message me, and he's always been, like, within texting reach, eh? And he's just always been fine with it.

And then, to be honest, seeing, like, because I remember, I feel like I did a styles discussion on AEW and someone, someone just like berated it and like tagged AJ, me thinking that AJ, if he sees it, it might be just like, yeah, he's not going to do it better than me or whatever. He's going to like, little bro me. But instead, he was just like, I love the fact that all he does my move. I was just like, thank you. Where do things go from here with the AEW championship? I've like spoken to Tony about like some different matches that I'd like to try out.

like ones that haven't been done before. Like this is just, this is just me just sitting by my, by myself and just like talking and just getting ideas together and just going like, well, I like this match and I like this match, but is there a way we can combine together? Kind of like the casino gauntlet,

like Tony's ingenious idea where like it's, it's kind of like got that royal rumble feel to it, but it's one fall and like it can end. So like I kind of like the fact that Tony experimented with that idea. And I've kind of like taken inspiration for myself with it. And I love sports-based wrestling.

I love, like, the World Cup was such a big thing. Like, I love watching people come together. I love the sports aspect of it. I love seeing people come from behind and, like, find ways of, like, getting the victory there. So I've got, like, ideas of match styles that I want to try out. But a lot of it is this kind of, I'd love to test myself against all the old pillars of AEW, because it's been seven years now with AEW.

and in those seven years there's been so many amazing champions that I would just like to test myself against all those champions and to see what stories we can create out of it. Is there anyone you haven't, any former champion you haven't worked with? Jericho? No, work Jericho at All In, the first one. But I would really like to revisit that again

just because he's the first ever champion. So there's something that I could easily revisit with him. Yeah, there's a lot of great matches there. MJF claims to be the real champion, so maybe there's something... He is delusional, man. He is, like, out of his mind, hey. Like, the fact that, like, he's walking around with that, and no one has confiscated that belt is just...

Like, that's how untitled the guy is. Like, do you know what I mean? 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, it gives us a tosser. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick.

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Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. When we sat down for an interview in 2023, you had 25, five-star matches, according to Dave Meltzer. Oh, I don't know how many I've got now. Okay, so when we sat down last year, it was like, I think, January last year, you had 47. Do you know what you have now?

No, I can't clue. What is it? 57. Yeah. No one is beating me. Oh, that's funny. The bar is so high when you go out to have a match that it doesn't feel like you can have just an okay match now. Do you feel that pressure?

Uh. Sometimes I do, but like I feel like a lot of this year I haven't needed to be the five-star guy. I've needed to be kind of like a little bit of a storyteller guy. And then when it's time for me to do like the five stars, I bust it out. Like, for example, I think I got one with swerve. Like, I think so maybe. But I think that was the only one that I had until then. So like I came back and I already had like a plethora of matches.

But, like, there weren't ones where I needed to be like, oh, this is, this is that. Like, I don't, like, angle my matches towards trying to get a five-star, but, like, I have an idea of what, what I, what my version of a five-star match looks like, I guess. What does it look like? Like, if you and I were putting, if you and I were putting together a match, how would we approach it? Well, it just depends on, like, the story that we've told leading up to it. Because, like, obviously, there are matches that can easily get those, get the five. Hey, like, you mean, you look at that, uh, like, the dragon.

and gate match where it was like the six-man tag where like no one knew the story it was his action but because of that it was mind-blowing at the time he didn't need the story behind it the action was that like what a five-star match looks like but like for me the way i kind of like map it out is i kind of feel like what the story needs for it like how we take them like if we did this what are the crowd doing and then if that crowd are doing this or i'll swerve them this way and it's honestly it's it's so hard for me me to explain without completely ripping the curtain off, hey, but it's just kind of like, it's just how I just plot matches together. It's just something like I love action.

I hate sitting around too long. It's the ADHD in me. I don't know it is. I want to go through a list of people that you have some history with an AEW and some history with them just in pro wrestling and give me a one word or one sentence to describe them. Right. Brian Danielson. Legend. Kyle Fletcher. Soulmate

MJF Dickard Swerve Strickland Uh Best friend Swat No two words You can use a sentence

if you want Rurcache Inspiration Okada Mental Takashhta Oh Legitimate greatest

Like he's actually Like so sick He's like my favorite One of the favorite guys to watch Russell Park I'm trying to to figure what the correct word would be, but he was like the bridge for all of us British guys to be able to go over to Japan, the bridge.

The bridge. Kenny Omega. Grace to ever do it. You think he's the best ever? I think so, man. I obviously, like, I'm a hard AJ styles guy, and I know I am, like, here's a reason why I got into wrestling. But if you were to compare the two, like, I'd gravitate more towards Kenny's vision of what

pro wrestling is like yeah that's what i got on that one hey like i don't know how to really go into depth to explain it other than like i i just i was there when the rise of kini omega happened i was like in the golden age of new japan when it was all happening and he was doing the crazy g-1 matches and like the he was just out of this world like there's no one that could ever even come close to his style of wrestling or his style of storytelling you guys make magic together too Just, it's mainly him. He brings it out of me. I got one more for you.

Okay. Alex Windsor. Greatest human being that I've ever met in my entire life. I know it's not one word. It's one sentence. But like, I don't know how else I can tell you that. Shut up. I don't want to.

She's just awesome, man. She's, she's the, she's everything I could ever want out of a life partner. Isn't that amazing when you can find someone. that just completes you. Yeah. Don't flip me in hell, man, dude,

I get it with my wife. She's the best. I can't imagine life without her. Yeah, no. I'm good. I ain't crying anymore. I'm done.

I'm done crying. I've cried so much this week, man. Nah, she's right. I'm better at Mario Kart than her, though. Like, I will say that. I am the Mario Kart champion in our ass.

So good to see you. congratulations on everything. I'm going to hit you with a question that I've asked you many times before, but maybe your answer is different. What are three things right now today, Will, that you're grateful for? Right now today, I am grateful for my family.

That includes my wife, my... Congratulations on that. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, me. I'm married man. I am, yeah. I'm off the market now, people. Stop sliding in my DMs.

I've had enough of dickpicks, all right? I'm grateful for dickpicks. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful that I'm still after this horrendous surgery that I am able to still be the Will Osprey that I know I can be. And I'm grateful that I got to have

one of the greatest matches, moments at Wembley Stadium in front of my heart. hometown and I'm now the AEW men's world champion. Do you feel it? Do you feel how, like you feel that moment? You feel? I feel it in my heart, man. Like I have no idea.

Like there will never be a drug that I can find that comes close to the feeling that I felt that night. It will just, it will live for me forever. Amazing. Great to see you. My friend. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so, so much. Appreciate you.