Will Ospreay reacts to TNA talent restrictions: ‘That’s cowardly s–t’
Will Ospreay has commented on TNA Wrestling blocking its talent from working with wrestlers contracted to other companies.
During an interview with Josh Martinez, Ospreay recalled a time when he was IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and was set to wrestle Pete Dunne, who was WWE UK Champion at the time. Ospreay said that NJPW wanted to know what would happen in the match, and there were certain things that needed to be discussed beforehand, but the match ultimately took place.
Ospreay said:
“I remember New Japan were a little bit like, ‘Hey, you can do the match but we’re a little bit like wanting to know what’s going to be happening in the match, if you know what I mean. And we had to get a lot of things ironed out and sorted. Pete’s always a cool guy.”
Ospreay then commented on NJPW allowing his match with Dunne to go through and compared it to TNA approving wrestlers for matches and then going back on what had been agreed upon.
Ospreay continued:
“But the fact that WWE and New Japan let that match happen and TNA out of all people, like who the f–k do you think you guys are? I’m sorry but it’s like all the s–t talk that they were giving about being a number two and it’s like you want to give permission for these guys to do that match and then pull them? I think that’s cowardly s–t, I’ll be honest with you.
I think that says everything about what you view your talent as. You view them less than AEW talent and that they don’t want to grow and that they don’t want to develop and that they don’t want to give back to fans. So that’s my kind of standpoint on it. And that’s me being a hard TNA fan. Those beginning years that I watched, that 04 to 05 era will always be my favorite era in wrestling especially.”
Both TNA Wrestling and AEW have pay-per-view events this weekend. TNA Rebellion takes place at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, and AEW presents Dynasty from Vancouver, BC, Canada on Sunday.
Ospreay’s full interview with Josh Martinez is available below. The video is cued to his comments about TNA Wrestling:
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.