Will Ospreay reveals the steps that led to the biggest moment of his career
At AEW x Forbidden Door, Will Ospreay defeated Swerve Strickland to win the Owen Hart Foundation 2026.
With his victory tonight, Ospreay has booked himself a spot in AEW All In’s main event match at Wembley Stadium in London. In less than a couple of months, Ospreay will challenge for the AEW World Championship in his home country of the UK.
Recently speaking at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door post-show, Ospreay was asked by Dave Meltzer about the steps that led to the biggest moment of his career (the upcoming Wembley title match). In a detailed answer, the British wrestler described some of his career’s most crucial moments.
”Like, this is the biggest thing that I’ve ever done in my wrestling career, like, by far, right? So I definitely think the time, not the first time I won the Super Juniors, ’cause I think that Ricochet match did, like, help open the doorway to see who Will Ospreay was. But I think the second time I won it when I wrestled Shingo [Takagi] at Ryogoku, I think people started to see me as one of those guys.
“Like I generally think in 2019, which is when AEW was released, I really felt like I was the best wrestler in the world, ’cause I was operating on all cylinders. There was no one in the company that did the New Japan Cup, the Best of Super Juniors, the G1, the Junior Tag League, and Super J-Cup in one calendar year. I did. I have no idea how many matches I wrestled that year. But I feel like that’s the first step of me becoming that guy,” Ospreay said.
He further opened up and revealed the second step when he understood about becoming one of the frontrunners in the industry.
“I think the second step, honestly, was when I was standing in the ring with Bryan Danielson. And I had a genuine moment of like, you know when you see, like you would see AJ [Styles] leave, and then you would see Kenny [Omega] show up, and you would always see, like, these moments where Kenny and [Bryan] Danielson would stand in the ring and everyone was losing their mind, like before they even did anything. Having that moment with Danielson, it made me feel like from, from wrestling in my garden to now, like there’s a point where I was like, ‘Oh s**t, like I’m one of these guys now. I’m one of the front-runners. I’m one of the leaders. I’m one of the guys for the next generation to look at and to inspire towards,'” Ospreay added.
“Like, I take that responsibility so much. So it’s such a huge weight to put on me, but I think I’m comfortable in those situations, being able to carry it out. I like my personality. I, I think I’m a cheeky chappy. I work hard. I make sure that everyone f***ing is around me is okay. But I think this is the moment right now, like this third step, is winning the Owen [Hart Foundation].”
Ospreay concluded by saying that he is always willing to follow great matches and believes that he can main-event shows consistently, and that he is the “best wrestler in the world.”
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.