Tony Khan Credits Will Ospreay For AEW's Recent 'Comeback'

AEW CEO Tony Khan has showered praise on Will Ospreay for the key role he has played in AEW's resurgence.

Ospreay appeared in AEW programming even before he signed with the company in 2024, and immediately became an important part of the roster. In Khan's interview with "The Takedown on SI," he discussed how Ospreay's arrival at AEW helped give the promotion a huge boost in 2024.

"Will Ospreay is amazing. When Will Ospreay came to AEW full-time in 2024, it was so huge for us. 2024, there were a lot of really great things about the promotion, and Will Ospreay to me is one of the very best things about AEW since he arrived. He had amazing matches. Some of the biggest successes we had in 2024 were directly related to Will Ospreay," Khan said. 

He specifically mentioned matches against MJF, Swerve Strickland, and Konosuke Takeshita as some of the best matches of the English star in AEW. Khan believes that AEW had a "comeback" of sorts in 2025, and he credited Ospreay for being a vital component of it.

"2024 was a lot of awesome things about AEW. I think 2025 is a total year in totality, probably better in some ways, but I also think that 2024 set this up and made it possible, building off what we did in '24 to have this great — some people would call it a comeback in 2025 — and I'm very proud of it. But I think Will Ospreay is a huge part of it. And to be honest, I'm very glad Will Ospreay is going to be okay and going to be back."

Khan pointed out how he frequently used Ospreay whenever he was available, to emphasize what an important star he was for him and AEW. Ospreay has been on the sidelines for the last few months after undergoing surgery, and reports suggest that he could return by the time of AEW All In in August 2026.