Will Ospreay Says TNA Pulling Talent From Matches Against AEW Talent Is ‘Cowardly Sh*t’

Will Ospreay takes aim at TNA Wrestling after pulling talent from upcoming events.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that TNA Wrestling had shifted their stance on their talent working independent dates, with a particular focus on shows that also feature talent from All Elite Wrestling. As a result, Moose, Nic Nemeth, Leon Slater, and others have all had matches pulled from upcoming events, and now AEW’s Will Ospreay has weighed in on the situation.

Speaking to Josh Martinez ahead of AEW Dynasty, Will Ospreay was asked how he would handle another company pulling his match, leading him to declare that the situation says everything about how TNA Wrestling view their own talent.

“[A match being cancelled] nearly happened to me once upon a time. We were doing a show in Milton Keynes, and I was the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, and I was taking on Pete Dunne, who was the WWE UK Champion at the time. And I remember New Japan were a little bit like, ‘Hey, you can do the match but we’re a little bit wanting to know what’s gonna be happening in the match.’ And we had to get a lot of things ironed out and sorted. Pete’s always a cool guy. I can’t say enough wonderful things about Pete Dunne. But the fact that WWE and New Japan let that match happen, and TNA out of all people, like, who the f*ck do you think you guys are? I’m sorry. All the f*cking 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 sh*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.”

-Will Ospreay

Will Ospreay is set to challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW Continental Championship at AEW Dynasty on Sunday, April 12, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s United Empire evening the odds against Moxley’s Death Riders.

Ospreay isn’t the only AEW star to voice his displeasure at TNA talent being pulled from shows, as AEW World Champion MJF recently took aim at Carlos Silva over the decision. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the reaction to TNA Wrestling pulling their talent from independent shows as soon as we hear more.

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