Will Ospreay on leaving New Japan: ‘I was just over the office’

Will Ospreay spent nearly a decade blossoming into Stardom in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He left in 2024 to join All Elite Wrestling, but now he’s saying the new opportunity wasn’t his only reason for moving on. 

Ospreay talked about his departure from New Japan in an appearance on Marking out with MVP & Dwayne Swayze. 

“I kind of knew that [2023] was gonna be my last year,” Ospreay said. “There was some things that were happening behind the scenes. I was just over the office. I loved the boys and I loved the fans.”

Ospreay’s growing family also played a part in his decision.

“I got a new girlfriend,” he said. “I became a dad to her kid. So it was just one of these things where I wanted to be present and I wanted to be there more so I knew I needed to go to my next stage of my career.”

AEW then provided Ospreay with the best of both worlds, allowing him to work in both the East and the West.

“I didn’t wanna cut my ties with Japan,” he said. “So that’s why AEW was amazing, right?”

Ospreay initially said goodbye to New Japan at New Beginning in Osaka in February of 2024, when he and the rest of United Empire lost a steel cage match to Bullet Club War Dogs. 

He returned to the promotion this year, wrestling a trio of trios matches alongside United Empire stablemates HENARE and Great-O-Khan. They won New Japan’s NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships from Hirooki Goto & Oleg Boltin & YOSHI-HASHI at Wrestling Dontaku 2026 in Fukuoka, Japan, in May.