WON: Will Ospreay is expected to sign with AEW when his NJPW deal expires

40 comments

1. With the way Tony has been buttering ospreays biscuit, this doesn’t surprise me

2. While I’ll miss Ospreay in Japan, I’m happy that he’ll be able to provide for his family while working a lighter schedule.

3. I mean, he’s been treated the best out of talent who’ve crossed over, won’t have to change his style too much unless he wants to, and, as stated, won’t be on the road as much. Only thing I can see being a downside is if WWE offers more money.

4. Ohbari is the dumbest man alive if he keeps allowing his talent to work for a guy who’s actively looking to sign them away. That’s far worse than anything Meij did.

   I’d also like to see what Dave is basing this statement on here. Does he actually have concrete info, or is it his speculation that’s getting telephone gamed as fact?

5. Ugh 🤦🏾‍♂️ Welp, there it is. Hoping it’s a false report. It’d be a real bummer to see Ospreay leave.

6. Good riddance. Maybe they will release someone who can be a good signing.

7. 😔

8. NJPW is so atrociously bad at keeping foreign talent lmao. They consistently build their top gaijins, so much that many consider them to be the best wrestler in the world, just for them to leave and ride that clout until they become irrelevant somewhere else.

9. Were people expecting otherwise?

10. Thus continues Tony Khan’s legacy of “Poach NJPW with my lunch money, but make it worse!”

    This guy should show an ounce of restraint, stop signing everything that moves, and focus on building his homegrown talent. AEW was much better when it was focused on building Darbys and MJFs. The more he picks every other promotion’s bones, the worse his show is getting.

11. While i’m all for getting that bag I’m worried he will be used as Don Callis’s goon. I’m just glad The United Empire wasn’t retconned as Don’s creation like they did with Jericho & Suzuki-Gun

12. On a completely unrelated note to the news itself, that account might be the most annoying in the IWC. Happy for Ospreay though, get the bag. Hopefully he can still make the odd appearance here and there

13. When will it end

14. Think the tattoo kinda gave that away.

15. Another toy for Tony Khan’s collection…

16. I’ll follow him where ever he go but wwe

17. BRUV

18. Damn I ain’t gonna lie I was hoping for Ospreay to sign with Impact/TNA with its rebranding and all

19. It’s a pity none of the other members of the United Empire are really in a position to break into the main event scene. Ideally, The Great O-Khan or Jeff Cobb would take over the faction and Ospreay put them over on his way out.

20. at least if he signs with aew or impact he will still wrestle in njpw a bit

21. The newsletter does not say this? Drain is twisting Dave’s words lol

22. So Zack as top Gaijin?

23. Seemed fairly obvious with the way he’s being treated over there.

    I’ll miss the guy, but I’m curious to see who’s going to be the de facto leader or UE now. Probably O-Khan?

24. Totally understand but that’s a huge loss for New Japan if so, and kinda sad cuz it means Ospreay will never really get a PROPER IWGP title run.

25. It makes sense. You only need to see PAC in that he’s mostly in the UK and only comes over when called for. So the same applies for Ospreay in that he won’t be booked on Dynamite every week unless the storyline calls for it. The only real downside is like PAC, we won’t be seeing Ospreay for *months* in AEW until maybe All In ’24.

    On that note, AFAIK, PAC and Ospreay have yet to have their singles match, so that’s one factor of having Ospreay in AEW besides Omega, Jericho, et al.

    The alternative would’ve probably be TNA/Impact, given how they taped their episodes in advance and only do live shows on PPVs.

26. Will Ospreay gave everything in his body for NJPW. He deserves the move.

27. Such a shame that Gedo doesn’t know how to book O-Khan well. He should be the obvious next leader for UE but with the way he’s been booked it’s going to be difficult for the fans to really believe in him. Didn’t get any big wins this year, only big losses and he’ll obviously lose against Moxley at Power Struggle. That doesn’t get him anywhere.

    I don’t get why Gedo is doing this, just like I don’t get why he feeds so much people to Ospreay when he’s obviously going to leave. (WWE, AEW whatever, he made it clear he’s leaving) Not saying he should lose to everyone but keeping the belt on him is a waste of time. I’m not a fan of him beating Tsuji and soon Shota, two key guys for NJPW’s future. Especially Tsuji, the crowd was totally ready to see him win, they already wanted him to win in his first match back against SANADA. A missed opportunity.

    Shota losing for a fourth time against Ospreay in singles match will do absolutely nothing for him, he’ll just be used for the next Ospreay vs Moxley match which is pretty much an AEW program at this point. And Ospreay beating Zack, their most loyal gaijin, is just beyond stupid. Zack loses way too much big matches. Like ok he finally won a singles belt this year but does he really feel like a bigger threat than in 2018 ? Absolutely not.

28. Ah it’ll mean he’ll no longer do RevPro. Crystal Palace might be his last date with us here so he might be putting Gabe Kidd over.

    Good thing is British Wrestling has a lot of guys coming up to take his place, but there’ll never be another Ospreay

29. Won ain’t believing shit when it comes to that bc history shows that its like this person is meant to sign and then dosnt or the history of oh I said this I’m gonna back track and make excuses instead of I was wrong

30. If it happens, good for him and bad for all of us that enjoy good wrestling. Besides the money, I honestly have yet to see a njpw talent move to AEW or WWE and get treated better in regards to TV time or creative freedom that was provided to them previously.

31. I’m keeping my expectations in check until I see a “Will Ospreay is All Elite” graphic. I’m sure there’s always a chance WWE could pick him up (which I’d be disappointed by because their product isn’t for me, but I’d hope to see him have every success possible there) until something is signed. It really feels like the writing is on the wall for his NJPW run, which is a shame.

32. But will he bring PAC back from the UK?

33. We all downgrade sometimes

34. no suprise

    all those talk about Impact and WWE probably a way to increase his demand for contract negotiation.

35. Tweet was deleted. Drain didn’t read the article.

36. If AEW is serious they are going to have to up their schedule. They already have upped their programming to three shows and they need to concentrate talent.

37. what a great partnership

38. Immediate World title push , dude is the best wrestler in the world currently.

39. fuuuuuuuuu I really don’t want a bunch of Ospreay promos

40. Can anyone tell me when him and Blair’ broke up?