Will Ospreay misses backyard wrestling.
Before he competed in the main events of NJPW and AEW, Will Ospreay began his career running the ropes in backyard wrestling. Training in the United Kingdom, Ospreay trained amongst the likes of Kib Sabian before moving to the Lucha Britannia’s London School of Lucha Libre. Years later, “The Aerial Assassin” has soared to new heights, most notably capturing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship last year. However, Ospreay never forgets his roots.
In speaking with The Commentary Booth, Ospreay opened up about his possible plans to produce a backyard wrestling show this past summer. “I really wanted to do a backyard wrestling show over in England in the summer,” he said. “I wanted to fence off a park and just invite all of my friends.”
Ospreay continued on to recall battling current and former NXT talent in backyard wrestling. “I do look back, especially at the British scene, there were so many lads just used to backyard [wrestle] all the time,” he noted. “There were guys in NXT UK, and I remember them as backyard wrestlers. There’s guys over in NXT now, and I remember them as backyard wrestlers. I always wanted to put out a little invite, and just [say] ‘hey all of these guys are gonna be here at this time,’ have a campfire, we’ll get a camp going and just put on mad wrestling matches.”
“I’ve always wanted to do it, and I wanted to invite the HVWA [Hunter Valley Wrestling Association], but I understand everyone’s low on money these days, no one really has the dollar to be splashing around. But, I don’t know, I miss backyard wrestling so much. The idea of doing all those as professional wrestlers now would be so sick.”
Although he didn’t hold his proposed backyard wrestling event this summer, Ospreay did appear in All Elite Wrestling. Notably, he defended the IWGP United States Championship against Orange Cassidy at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
RELATED: Will Ospreay Finishes Up With AEW, He’s Even With Kenny Omega ‘For Now’
