The Aerial Assassin Takes Aim At Wembley: Will Ospreay’s Rise To The Main Event Of AEW All In

After a stunning victory over Swerve Strickland at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door back in June, Will Ospreay became the 2026 winner of the Owen Hart Memorial Cup. By virtue of the victory, “The Aerial Assassin” set up a date with destiny as he earned a AEW World Championship match at AEW’s biggest show of the year, AEW All In London at Wembley Stadium on August 30.

A little over a week later, Kenny Omega became AEW World Champion again after defeating MJF in at the Beach Break Dynamite, officially setting up a clash between two former rivals in “The Billy GOAT” Will Ospreay and “The Best Bout Machine” Kenny Omega for the company’s top title at All In. Arguably the most anticipated championship match in AEW history.

Both men have faced off in two high profile matches before, both in 2023. Omega defeated Ospreay at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 , and Ospreay got his win back at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door. 1-1. The rubber match is now set.

Main eventing at the iconic Wembley Stadium is a dream come true for Ospreay (33), who originally hails from Rainham Essex (just an hour outside of London). Will conveyed exactly this when he sat down with Sports Illustrated back in June. The Essex native has always proudly represented the UK whilst wrestling all over the world.

“I’m essentially in a World Cup Final, representing my country, going into one of the most important battles- would be a dream come true. For so many kids at my school, it was about scoring the winning goal at Wembley. For me, this is my chance to take that kick for everybody”.

-Will Ospreay

Originally training at London’s Lucha Britainna school of wrestling under Greg Burridge, Ospreay would go on to wrestle regularly in 2012, forging a connection with the British fans on the independent scene wrestling for promotions such as RevPro and PROGRESS.

In fact, RevPro owner and promoter Andy Quildan saw something in Ospreay early. Thus, he tested him by putting him in high profile matches in Rev Pro against the likes of AJ Styles and Drew Galloway (McIntyre) to help raise his stock. Ospreay felt that Quildan helped his maturity in wrestling, allowing him to make mistakes and grow up.

Speaking with Fightful in 2024, Will Ospreay praised Andy Quildan’s patience and belief in him.

“I feel like there are so many times that I drop the ball and I am aware that I drop the ball, and having to come back to Rev Pro with my tail between my legs, having to prove myself not only to the wrestlers, but to the fans and to Andy, because Andy’s the one that got me over to to New Japan in the first place. There’s so many times where I’d feel like I let him down. Whether it was… from anything I did on social media to even attitude backstage. So he’s allowed me to just grow up, I feel he’s allowed me to be a young man in wrestling and slowly mature”.

-Will Ospreay

With each passing match, Ospreay became a stand-out performer on pretty much every show he wrestled. Early on, his style was that of a fearless high flyer who regularly performed death-defying moves such as 630 sentons and shooting star presses. In fact that when “The Aerial Assassin” injured himself on a 630 attempt early into this career, fans would chant “jump, tuck, pray” at him before he performed high risk moves to encourage him to be safe. With fans solidly behind him, Ospreay created a catalogue of classics on the UK scene. He did so against high-profile opponents the likes of AJ Styles, Zack Sabre Jr., and Mark Andrews, and it didn’t stop there.

Ospreay would also compete in the popular US Indy promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrila (PWG) in their Battle of Los Angeles Tournament in 2015 and 2016, reaching the semi finals on both occasions. This led Ospreay to expand his presence in the United States, venturing to Ring of Honor between 2016-2018. During his time with ROH, he tested himself against names such as Jay Lethal, Jay White, and more.

However, it was his match against Kazuchika Okada at RevPro Global Wars on October 3, 2015, that skyrocketed Ospreay to international fame. During this match, the British indy standout impressed officials at New Japan Pro Wrestling. As such, he was offered a full-time contract with NJPW, which began in April 2016. 

After an impressive NJPW debut match vs Kushida at the Invasion Attack in April 2016, it was off to the races for Ospreay in New Japan. From there, he competed in the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors. One of the highlights of the tournament was Ospreay’s suddenly controversial match with another current AEW star in Ricochet on, creating a lot of divisive opinions across the internet.

Modern fans and wrestlers saw the match as athletic, innovative, and fast-paced. Whilst veteran wrestlers such as Vader criticised the match as nothing but a display of synchronicised gymnastics with no real psychology or storytelling. Despite the criticism of the match, it went viral online in GIF form, giving the former RevPro British Heavyweight Champion even more attention from fans around the world.

Ospreay would go on to win the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament on his first try in 2016, becoming the first British wrestler to do so. At only 23 years old at the time, Will Ospreay was making headlines in the industry.

Following his first year success in NJPW, Ospreay continued his upward trajectory. In fact, his years in Japan helped him become a far more complete performer. He went from someone who many reduced to nothing more than a glorified gymnast, to a wrestler who understood in-ring psychology and storytelling.

In New Japan before graduating to Heavyweight, Ospreay would go on to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in 2017. He would also win another Best of the Super Juniors Tournament in June 2019, this time defeating Shingo in a match rated the full 5 stars by Dave Meltzer.

“The Aerial Assassin” had seemingly conquered the New Japan Junior Division and was ready to move on to bigger things. So, when the time came, he did just that by moving up to the heavyweight division and competing in his first G1 Climax tournament in 2019. Whilst Ospreay would not win, he would have strong showings against the likes of Okada, Tanahashi, and Zack Sabre Jr. 

During the pandemic era in 2020-2021, Ospreay chose to stay in New Japan under quarantine protocols and very proudly represented the company during difficult times. The two-time former Best Of The Super Juniors winner would also form his own stable in New Japan around this time, alongside Mark Davis, Kyle Fletcher, HENARE, Jeff Cobb, and Great-O-Khan, The United Empire.

The young Brit became a guy that New Japan could rely on. As such, he was rewarded for his efforts in 2021, when he captured his first major championship. In April 2021, he was able to call himself IWGP World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Kota Ibushi.

Ospreay would also successfully defend the championship against Shingo in a 45-minute epic that May. From there, the former IWGP champion would also main event the Tokyo Dome in January 2022 against New Japan’s top star Kazuchika Okada, cementing his spot as one of the elite in Japan. Ospreay would also compete for AEW sporadically in 2022 around Forbidden Door season as a member of the NJPW roster. 

By 2023, Ospreay was largely considered one of the best wrestlers in the world by many critics. During the year, he had classic matches against Kenny Omega, Naomichi Marafuji, Chris Jericho (which was his first Wembley appearance), Josh Alexander and others. No matter the opponent, it seemed the Essex-born star could create a classic. This naturally led him to the company “where the best wrestle”, All Elite Wrestling. 

Ospreay officially announced his signing with AEW at Full Gear in November 2023 in an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone, and it soon came time to thank those who helped him get there before moving to one of America’s two big promotions.

Not forgetting his roots, the former RevPro star had farewell matches in February 2024 for the two companies that gave him his big breaks. First in RevPro against Michael Oku in a fantastic match at High Stakes. He also wrestled alongside United Empire against Bullet Club War Dogs in a multi man cage match for his New Japan swan song. All before officially landing in AEW in March of 2024, and when he arrived, Ospreay wasted absolutely no time in showing his level.

His debut match in AEW after signing was vs Konosuke Takeshita in a MOTYC at AEW Revolution. He then took on and defeated Bryan Danielson in a dream match at AEW Dynasty in April. Ospreay would even challenge for the AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door 2024 in a losing effort against Swerve Strickland. All extremely heavily praised outings.

Despite coming up short in his initial bid for an AEW World Championship, Ospreay did capture the AEW international championship in May 2024 by defeating then champion Roderick Strong. This title reign included a memorable series with MJF where MJF would defeat Ospreay for the title and rename it “The All-American Championship” before Ospreay won it back from MJF at All In: London 2024.

Ospreay would ultimately lose the International Championship to Konosuke Takeshita in a three-way match at AEW WrestleDream in October 2024, which also included Ricochet. Ultimately, the match came down to when Ospreay’s former stable mate Kyle Fletcher turned on him and cost him the match, leading to a series of excellent matches between Ospreay and Fletcher in late 2024 and into 2025 and culminating in a bloody steel cage match at AEW Revolution on March 9, 2025. This series certainly helped elevate Fletcher to new heights in his career.

Whatever Ospreay touched seemed to turn to gold. He was putting on some of the best matches in the world and also getting fans behind him with his fired up promo work. So much so, he became someone AEW could rely on as he was featured heavily on AEW’s weekly TV shows Dynamite and Collision.

Despite working for a US based company in AEW, Ospreay still resides in the UK and flies over each week to the US for AEW events. This is a hectic travel schedule, but something Ospreay takes in his stride. It also allows him the flexibility to have a good work and life balance.

After coming up short in the finals of the Owen Hart Memorial Cup in 2025 against Hangman Adam Page, Ospreay would then hit the devastating hurdle for any athlete, neck injury which required surgery. After 6 months out, Will Ospreay triumphantly redeemed last year’s loss with a win over Swerve Strickland in the same tournament in 2026.

Ospreay achieved this with the support of Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. Ospreay, joined the Death Riders after losing to Jon Moxley at AEW Dynasty in April 2026 in a grudge match. Ospreay made sense of this by crediting the faction’s intense training for helping him to strengthen his neck following his injury and also making him become the killer he needed to be to win the Owen Hart Tournament.

Since this time, however, Ospreay has left The Death Riders group, put off by their efforts to brutalise Kenny Omega to close AEW Redemptiom. Now, he’s laser focused on Omega and his AEW World Title match at Wembley, wanting to prove himself as better than the champion without any asterisks.

With everything the British number one contender has been through, all the highs and lows. The return and comeback from neck surgery that almost ended his career. All In: London will be the biggest match of Ospreay’s life. A chance for his star to shine brighter than ever, on the biggest stage in AEW.

Ospreay has competed at Wembley for AEW before at All In: London 2023 against Chris Jericho and 2024 against MJF. However, never in the main event in an AEW World Championship match.

Can Ospreay defeat Kenny Omega one more time at Wembley in front of his countrymen and become AEW World Champion for the first time in his career? Will the former IWGP champion score the winning goal at Wembley and give his fans something special?

Winning the biggest championship AEW has to offer, in London, the place where his career began, would be a full circle moment for Ospreay.

It remains to be seen if he can pull it off. However, you can bet that if it does happen, Wembley Stadium will erupt in an emotional outpour in what would be the defining moment in Ospreay’s career.