AEW International Champion Will Ospreay recently spoke with Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports on a number of topics including what he believes is the state of the company right now.
Ospreay said, “It’s all fairly new to me. I do believe we’ve had this string of bad luck when it comes to criticism where the ratings come in, and a lot of people live on that. Right now, we’re in a rebuilding phase, and they’re always hard. I was discussing this with some of my friends a little while ago. Even as a wrestler, five years in, you do find yourself. You always hit a plateau. Whether that’s within your character or ability or trying to get booked elsewhere, there is always that five-year-old growing pain. I think every company goes through it. If we were going to look back five years to what WWE was doing, it was low. The way that they’re thriving right now, it’s inspiring and something to hit. ‘Okay, you guys are doing that; we have to change the bar and see what we have to do to change things up.’ I’m not one of these people who shy away from it. I enjoy criticism. Someone was criticizing the way I dress. I completely understand that’s their flavor of a championship representative. If I ever walk around my area of Essex, that is how people dress, the complete authenticity of how I look, and how the people around my area talk. I do get it, but I live in a world where this is how people dress, act, and talk. I do love saying, ‘Look at all the good we’re doing. Look at all the killer matches we’re doing.’ In the same sense, we do have to take the criticisms on board because that’s how we’re going to grow as a company.”
On his relationship with top WWE star AJ Styles:
“I do see the influence that I have had on so many people, and the worst thing that I would want to do is fall into the category of never meeting heroes. AJ gave me so much, was complimentary, and has opened the doorways to allow me to not only make a lot of money but to inspire the next generation. I’m extremely grateful for that, and I’m so just thankful that I can be in a position where, like, so many guys have come up to me and said, ‘You’re the reason I got into wrestling.’ Like a 14-year-old or an 18-year-old kid said, Oh, your match with Ricochet got me into wrestling, and it freaks me out because now I’m 31 years old. It’s been over eight years now. As you know, it’s just the approach in eight years, so I take that with every bit of like, and I’m proud of that. I hold that required because guys like AJ opened the door for me, and it’s still like every now and again like drops me a message just to say ‘Well done’, gives me a phone call when it came to my negotiations, and like try to wave the flag for his company. Honestly, it’s so no, it’s beautiful, and it’s one of those things where I’ll never be able to fully say, like, Am I living in a dream because 14-year-old Billy would be losing his mind? You know what I mean? I do lose my mind on a regular basis.”
You can check out Ospreay’s comments in the video below.
