The panorama of All Elite Wrestling has quickly modified in its transient however eventful five-year historical past. Critically acclaimed matches and storylines have been produced and new marquee names have emerged.
AEW’s success is usually unrecognized. Curiosity within the firm has waned since its sizzling begin in 2019 however it stays the most important different to WWE since World Championship Wrestling (WCW) folded in 2001. Its flagship present AEW Dynamite is one 12 months shy of outliving WCW Monday Nitro, continues to promote 1000’s of tickets weekly and pulls robust viewership numbers on cable. That being mentioned, some issues are legitimate. The June 19 episode of AEW Dynamite registered the bottom score within the present’s historical past, in keeping with Programming Insider.
One of many headliners from that night time was AEW worldwide champion Will Ospreay, who’s slated to problem AEW world champion Swerve Strickland in the principle occasion of the Forbidden Door pay-per-view this weekend. Ospreay spoke with CBS Sports activities this week and mirrored on that alarming score.
“That one did suck to see when it got here out as a result of, for me, that was a house run Dynamite,” Ospreay mentioned. “It was a superb present. There weren’t any down factors in it for me.”
Ospreay is a part of a current wave of top-tier expertise — alongside former Mercedes Mone and Kazuchika Okada — recruited to hold the corporate into the longer term. It is a essential 12 months for the corporate because it seems to lock down a brand new media rights deal by the top of the 12 months. Ospreay proudly waves the AEW flag and says it is his mission for the corporate to thrive.
“It sucks that it was such a low score however it’s simply motivating me and I am certain it is motivating others to try to suppose out of the field and are available again swinging,” Ospreay mentioned. “I am not somebody who ignores that kind of s—. I see it and I be aware of it. I put it within the checkbook and I be certain no matter we do subsequent week, we come again swinging. We should not ignore criticism or shrink back from it. We’re nonetheless a five-year firm and we’re nonetheless hitting the ropes with this stuff. For me, AEW nonetheless has tons of rising pains to undergo.”
The previous New Japan Professional-Wrestling star views AEW’s present incarnation as a difficult rebuilding part, one thing that is frequent within the trade.
“As a wrestler, you end up hitting a plateau 5 years in,” Ospreay mentioned. “Whether or not that is inside your character or your capacity or attempting to get booked elsewhere. There’s at all times that five-year rising ache. I believe each firm goes by means of it. If we glance again 5 years to what WWE was doing, they had been at a low. However the way in which they’re thriving proper now’s inspiring to everybody. It must be one thing to hit. We have to change the bar and see what we should do to alter issues up. Like I mentioned, I am not the kind of particular person to shrink back from it. I take pleasure in criticism.”
Struggles apart, there’s nonetheless a lot to be enthusiastic about as an AEW fan or performer. That is very true for Ospreay as he seems forward to the corporate’s All In pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium in London on Aug. 25. Final 12 months’s present attracted greater than 72,000 followers and this 12 months’s occasion has reportedly offered greater than 40,000 tickets already. Ospreay defeated Chris Jericho eventually 12 months’s present in his dwelling nation, however this 12 months marks his first All In as an official AEW star.
“The truth that I get to say that I am going again to Wembley Stadium — even that sentence alone — it is loopy,” Ospreay mentioned. “The who’s who {of professional} wrestling, a few of them have not even wrestled at Wembley Stadium. It is such a historic venue. It is the most important venue in the UK.
“It is such an unimaginable feeling realizing I get to be an hour away from one of many best venues of all time. Being in there with a few of the most unimaginable roster ever recognized to skilled wrestling, I can not imagine how fortunate I’m to reside on this technology {of professional} wrestling.”
Forbidden Door 2024 takes place this Sunday on the UBS Enviornment in Elmont, N.Y.
