Will Ospreay: AEW Still Facing 'Lots Of Growing Pains' RE: Recent Dynamite Ratings

International Champion Will Ospreay has fully settled into his role in AEW as one of the company's top stars, and has adapted to the world of live American television seamlessly. However, with live American television comes television ratings, an area where AEW hit a new low recently, as the June 19 "AEW Dynamite" averaged a total of 502,000 viewers, the lowest the show has ever drawn on Wednesday nights.

While ratings aren't the final and ultimate measure of quality and success that some might believe, even Ospreay couldn't help but feel deflated seeing the rating for the June 19 show come in. "That one did suck to see when it came out because, for me, that was a home run Dynamite," Ospreay said while speaking with CBS Sports. "It was an excellent show. There weren't any down points in it for me." Rather than moaning about the low rating, Ospreay saw it as a sign of motivation for him, and the rest of the AEW roster, not to rest on what they know and try and strive for something greater.

"I'm not someone who ignores that type of s**t. I see it and I take note of it. I put it in the checkbook and I make sure whatever we do next week, we come back swinging. We shouldn't ignore criticism or shy away from it. We're still a five-year company and we're still hitting the ropes with these things. For me, AEW still has lots of growing pains to go through." Ospreay used WWE's surge of momentum in recent years as an example of how every company goes through rough patches, stating that the WWE of 2019 is a far cry from the WWE of 2024, and the company got their through working hard.