Sport
Interview
Will Ospreay never had a Plan B
Ahead of his return to Wembley for AEW: All In next month, The Aerial Assassin takes us through his journey to become a modern great
“I felt a sense of accomplishment and a level of responsibility now that there is a lot of prestige and legacy that’s already behind that belt, and the graft that comes with it,” reflects Will Ospreay after winning All Elite Wrestling (AEW)’s International Championship at Double Or Nothing back in May. “I think it’s now my time to carve out my own peace of destiny with that championship by putting on some of the best caliber professional wrestling matches that the 21st century has ever seen.”
The belt was prised from the Essex-born wrestler’s hands earlier this month by fierce rival Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF), who stubbornly renamed it the American Championship. But this story is undoubtedly far from over, with more drama to unfold perhaps at All In: London, at Wembley Stadium in August. More importantly, no one can deny that Ospreay is a true international titan, having cut his teeth in East London before developing his style and character in Japan, until eventually receiving a call-up to The States to become AEW’s new poster boy.
The 31-year-old has been built, then, on many cultural experiences. His signature Cheeky Nandos Kick likely takes some explaining to international audiences, but most associate him with the Stormbreaker and The Hidden Blade. “As artists,” he says, “because that’s what wrestlers are, artists, we’re constantly trying to think of new ways to create entertainment. The moment you walk through the curtain you have six seconds to get their attention. If you don’t have their attention, it’s hard to get it back. So in those six seconds, I don’t know why, I just associated so much with Assasin’s Creed. I love the video game franchise – the look, how he moves – and I just resonated with the aerial attacks. So I just put two and two together and became The Aerial Assassin. The first time I did it, it was like an eBay cosplay outfit, but people understood what I was going for.”
Photo credit: Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
Ospreay has clearly soared since those early days, and there’s something especially impressive, perhaps novel, that he entered the ring of international mainstream entertainment from a suburban English town. Many (myself included, during the Attitude Era heyday) grew up with a similar love for wrestling that for one reason or another phased out over the years. I’m intrigued why he thinks now might a good time to return to it.
“For ages we have been told that wrestling was done a certain way, right? But now it can be told in so many different fashions. For me, we’ve been drowned out for the last god knows how long by the idea that there’s only way to show what professional wrestling is. But it shows with everywhere that I’ve gone through that there are so many different styles of fan bases. So, for me, this is now about the Ability Era. Everything now is done with a fine-tooth comb where your presence and the way you craft your wrestling matches speak volumes, because the bar is high. The bar is so high that we constantly have to touch that bar. And we do it.
“I think that’s where we have this cool little reputation with ourselves now: AEW is where the best wrestle, and standing right in the centrepiece of it is myself. I’ve gone to every single country in the world and have knocked on their door, I’ve politely asked their toughest guy to step out, and I’ve whooped him in front of his mother and dad. I now stand here as the greatest wrestler of the 21st century.
“I believe everybody, once upon a time, had that feeling of wanting to be a pro wrestler, but didn’t know the road to take. Neither did I, and that’s how I got here. Now I would love people to just follow this journey, because there are so many people like me in our roster, with their own stories and their own individual styles and their own individual abilities.”
Argue with that at your own risk. We certainly didn’t as we got stuck in a lift with The Aerial Assassin himself ahead of his return to Wembley in August.
Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
Dean Malenko. He’d make me laugh quite a lot.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
I don’t hate anyone, but hmm… MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman).
What’s the weirdest interaction you’ve ever had with a famous person?
I met Dara Ó Briain, the comedian, on a flight to Iceland, where I was just gonna take the missus for a holiday. But we were sat right next to one another, and I’ve got all his specials and started listing off all the things he used to say. He probably looked at me and thought, “You dickhead”. But no, he was so polite, he was so cool.
You must have met quite a few of the wrestlers you looked up to as a kid, have there been any times you’ve tried to tell them how much they meant to you and fumbled it?
Nah, I’ve a real good knack for just telling people what’s on my mind, because of my autism. I always think it’s good to just tell people nice things like “yeah, you made be become a better wrestler”. I spoke to AJ Styles just as he was about to leave for WWE, and I just said “I cannot tell you the respect that I have for you, and the craft that you’ve put in – whether it was TNA in Japan or Ring of Honor – it’s inspired not just me but a whole generation of guys, and it can’t be under understated the level that we all respect you”.
What was the last show that you went to?
My missus is a professional wrestler as well – she works for a company called Pro-Wrestling: EVE, an indie show that only uses women wrestlers. I’m super passionate about women’s wrestling, and I believe that they’re not given the tools it takes to do other style matches. They normally just do either one-on-one matches or four-way matches, and EVE allows them to play around with different storylines because the sole focus is them. Recently I have actually stepped into a producer role there, so I’m actually helping out on the shows. I was cutting some of the shows with them and just helping them put their matches together, so getting to be a part of that show was nice.
What did 12-year-old you imagine that you’d be doing now?
I honestly don’t know. When I was a kid I wanted to be a wrestler, but I didn’t really know what that takes, because I fully understood that you’d have to live in America to be a professional wrestler and be like the people that I grew up watching. I honestly think I’d be working nine to five somewhere and on the weekends I’d be wrestling because even if this was made illegal, I would find some way to do it.
I feel like most 12-year-old boys want to be a wrestler, I certainly did, so what was that first step you took to make it happen?
I’d get in trouble in school all the time, I was just a menace, man. I’d just want to ruin people’s day, not like me at all now, but I remember coming home and I knew my mum would find out I was doing some bad shit on the street but it was coming up to my birthday at the time and there was a wrestling ring in my back garden. I was like, “how long is this here for?”. And she went, “Forever”. From that day on I was just in that ring constantly. I was like, this is an actual wrestling ring like the things that the WWE wrestlers use and it’s in my garden. I’m in Rainham in Essex… if this is possible then what else is possible? I can create my own wrestling company and I did – I created my own backyard wrestling company – then it’s just finding out that you’ll meet people along the way that help branch off into different journeys.
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given?
“Have a Plan B.” I mean, it’s not the worst advice, because people should always have a Plan B, but I was just always hyper-fixated that I wanted to do something in wrestling, even if it was to become a referee, I wanted to do something with wrestling around it.
If you had to have a song playing every time you walked into a room, what would it be?
We usually ask this to comedians, but this should be an easy one for you given that you already have a song that plays every time you walk into an arena. Tell us more about ‘Elevated’ by It Lives, It Breathes…
The band got on my radar because they would do cover version of WWE songs – they did Shinsuke Nakamura, they did Edge, all these guys. I just left a comment one day, I was like, “Please make me a song”. I don’t know what it was about his voice but it made me want to run through a wall. So then he messaged and he was like, “What are you after?”. I said I wanted an anthem, something that people could sing, something that when the moment the beginning beat hits people are excited. When the glass breaks you know that music is Stone Cold Steve Austin’s. I want the moment my music hits for people to know they’re about to see a GOAT in his work. I’m in god-mode the moment I walk in.
I remember playing it and I remember calling Rocky Romero, who was the guy from New Japan, and I went, “Can you just listen to this?”. He listened and he was like, “This is good“. From then on it was just about getting the rights and everything; we had a few hiccups along the way but we’ve got all of the paperwork for it now. It’s my song.
Who do you often get told you look like?
My missus says I look like Tom Hardy a little bit. I’m flattered by it, because he’s one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen, but a lot of people go, “You look like my mate from down the pub”.
What’s the skill that no one else knows that you’re great at?
I used to dance. I used to do ballroom dancing. Every now and again for her drama group my mum would bring people who knew how to dance, and I took to ballroom.
There’s obviously a big element of theatricality to wrestling, so do you think joining that group helped with that? I’m sure there are plenty of amazing athletes who can’t cut it at wrestling because they just don’t have that performative side…
I believe it did help me out, but my my mom’s speciality was panto which is obviously a very English thing. But a lot of English wrestlers have this, my missus is one of them, they kind of do this “EZEHH, EHHH,” kind of voice, it’s almost childish. When I went to Japan, I had to almost learn how to get rid of that and focus on the trade. But then once I learned that, there was a case where I needed to put a character to this trade. So I was The Aerial Assassin, but this is how I carried myself, it’s just an extension of who I am, a very cheerful, cheeky chappie guy.
What’s your controversial food opinion?
You can eat steak every day of the week, every morning and that’s absolutely fine and shouldn’t be frowned upon. I just like steak and my missus thinks I’m weird for having it almost every morning.
AEW: All In comes to Wembley Stadium, London, on 25 August – find tickets here
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