NJPW's Will Ospreay Provides Update on Contract Status, Interest in AEW or WWE

By Liam Crowley

The professional wrestling world's eyes have been locked on Will Ospreay. The current IWGP United States Champion boasted six five-star (or higher) matches in 2022 alone while also venturing to the west for his AEW debut. In Tony Khan's promotion, Ospreay impressed with his AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door bout against Orange Cassidy and his pair of AEW World Trios Titles tournament matches against Death Triangle and The Elite. In the latter, Ospreay had his long-awaited showdown with Kenny Omega, battling the Best Bout Machine for a couple of one-on-one encounters in the multi-man contest.

Following his AEW run, many have clamored for Khan to sign Ospreay to a full-time contract, but according to the Commonwealth Kingpin himself, that can't happen anytime soon. Speaking to Fightful Select, Ospreay reiterated that he's still on his five-year deal with NJPW, which isn't due to expire until early 2024. That contract pays Ospreay "very well" and "his heart is still with the company."

Back in 2019, Ospreay noted that he would not sign with AEW unless they partnered with NJPW. While the two companies were distant then, AEW and NJPW have had a working relationship since early 2021. That relationship has allowed for co-branded pay-per-views as well as the odd exchange of talent, such as Omega and FTR being allowed to work the upcoming NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 event or Tomohiro Ishii and Minoru Suzuki wrestling on AEW Dynamite.

Even with this relationship in place, Ospreay added that he is hesitant about living in the United States on a full-time basis, as he prefers his home in the United Kingdom. That said, he emphasized that AEW "made him feel at home" when he competed on episodes of AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage.

It's worth noting that while Ospreay has not had any explicit contractual interest from WWE, he was personally offered an EVOLVE contract from Paul Heyman in 2016. EVOLVE has since been purchased by WWE, but even as far back as 2016 the purple and silver promotion was largely seen as a feeder system for WWE, as stars like Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory migrated from there to NXT. Ospreay was offered a spot in 2016's WWE Cruiserweight Classic, which he ultimately turned down.

"I have no aspirations of going to WWE, at all," Ospreay said earlier this year. "It's not because of the product or anything, I'm not a fan of it, I will happily say, but my lifestyle, I never wanted to be the big star pro wrestler. Japan allows me to do a tour and come home and live my family life. If anybody has ever spent more than a couple of days with me, family to me is everything."

Ospreay takes on Omega at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 next Wednesday, January 4th.

Fightful's full interview with Ospreay premieres on December 30th at 12 PM ET, which you can watch here.

Trending Now: