Unveiling the Process Behind Will Ospreay’s New Multi-Year AEW Contract

Will Ospreay was revealed as the new surprise signing at AEW Full Gear. It was quite a move for Tony Khan’s company, because Ospreay is now All Elite. There is a lot more to the story.

Ringside News provided full coverage of AEW Full Gear. It was quite a show, and there was no shortage of talking points throughout the event.

Sean Sapp noted behind Fightful’s paywall that Will Ospreay’s deal with AEW is a multi-year contract. This is also a move that went down long before his NJPW ran up.

The move happened well before Ospreay’s NJPW deal was up, which left many surprised considering the nature of his deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling how that it happened. We’ve confirmed that Ospreay is still under contract to NJPW and will continue to be through January of 2024. We’re told that Ospreay had communicated to New Japan that he wasn’t re-signing with them, and he had their blessing to sign with AEW, who have worked with NJPW for years now.  The relationship between the two sides allowed this new deal to be facilitated. Ospreay will still be able to work select dates for New Japan while under AEW contract.

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It was also reported that contract negotiations between AEW and Will Ospreay became more active in the early part of the fall. AEW had a positive outlook on securing his services. Ospreay initially expressed a desire to continue residing in the UK, but he later expressed openness to exploring all options, including a potential move to the US. We have learned that Ospreay will be able to maintain his UK residence as part of the AEW deal.

Ospreay had been in Los Angeles leading up to Full Gear, arriving at least on Friday. During this time, he was kept separate from others, despite Andrew Zarian’s reporting and Fightful’s confirmation of his signing. He made his arrival shortly before the start of the PPV portion of the show, and the contract had not been officially signed as of that morning. The signing had been teased on November 15 before AEW Dynamite, although the deal had not been finalized at that time.

The report also went on to confirm Ringside News’ exclusive that there was definite interest within WWE for Will Ospreay. Obviously, he went another direction with things.

We can confirm that WWE had been in contact with Will Ospreay’s representation in recent weeks in an effort to gauge interest. The conversation wasn’t much of a secret within the company, as they were looking to see what kind of schedule and possible relocation would happen. There was also interest from IMPACT/TNA Wrestling, though we’ve not learned how far those talks got. Ospreay had also communicated interest in returning to TNA after appearing there recently.

It was also noted that, “WWE sources that we spoke to claim they had not got an official word of the signing, but figured by this week that Ospreay was AEW bound. By Friday night’s Collision, several talent within AEW were openly discussing the signing.“

We will have to see what Will Ospreay is able to do in AEW. He is very excited about the new deal, but it won’t start until he wraps things up with NJPW, a place that has been his pro wrestling home for nearly a decade at this point.

What’s your take on Will Ospreay signing with AEW? Was it the right move for everyone involved? Let us know what you think in the comments section!