Will Ospreay reveals Tony Khan covered cost for neck surgery: ‘It was more expensive than my f**king house’
Will Ospreay revealed restrictions on in-ring moves after his neck injury and gave Tony Khan a shoutout for covering the surgery cost.
Ospreay told Forbes that following his surgery he has certain limitations on his in-ring agility. He explained that they prevent him from performing high-risk moves like the shooting star press, or any move that requires significant arching that could apply pressure on the neck area.
“It’s mainly my range of motion right now. There are so many things where I just don’t feel comfortable doing certain tricks anymore, so I’ve kind of knocked them on the head. For example, I won’t do a shooting star press anymore because that required me to really put my head back and get a good arch, and I just can’t do it anymore.”
Ospreay admitted that the fear of never wrestling again crossed his mind during recovery.
“I mean, that always kind of creeped in, but I knew I was going to do everything physically possible to make this go as quickly as possible and get back in the ring. It was always a conversation, and I had great phone calls with my surgeon, Dr. Wallace, who deserves the biggest shoutout because he’s given me a second chance at having a career doing this.”
He expressed how years ago an injury of this magnitude was sufficient to sideline a wrestler for good. Ospreay extended gratitude to AEW President Tony Khan for covering the cost for his neck surgery.
“I mean, 10 years ago, this was the type of thing that medically disqualified you from wrestling. So the fact that medical science has come so far, man, I’m just grateful and so blessed. And I must give the biggest shoutout to Tony [Khan] for paying for that surgery because the moment I saw that f**king bill — bro, it was more expensive than my f**king house. It was crazy.”
After undergoing surgery for two herniated discs, Ospreay returned to AEW Revolution after six months away. He targeted Death Riders and competed in his first match back on the March 18 edition of Dynamite against Blake Christian.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.