AEW's Will Ospreay Details Lingering Effects Of Neck Surgery, Recovery Process

AEW's Will Ospreay recently returned to action in NJPW to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions alongside his United Empire faction. Ospreay notably suffered a neck injury that threatened his career last year, and in an interview with Forbes, he looked back at his recovery process.

Ospreay admitted that his morale was up and down over the months he was recovering, but even now he's getting by and trying to adjust following surgery.

"This was the first surgery I've ever had, and it turned out to be one of the most major surgeries you could have," he noted, adding that he's had to adjust his wrestling style as a result of the surgery as well.

The former AEW International Champion explained that his range of motion has been affected by his surgery, and he specifically won't be doing something like a Shooting Star Press anymore because of the rotation his head would have to undergo. Ospreay then admitted that there were moments where he considered entirely stepping away from pro wrestling because of his injury.

"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 explained. "Ten 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."

Adam Copeland is one of the best examples of a wrestler who suffered a neck injury, was forced to retire, made a seemingly miraculous recovery, and returned to pro wrestling. Because of this, Will Ospreay claimed he specifically spoke to Copeland a lot, especially because Copeland had undergone three of the same surgeries Ospreay had.

"He gave me the whole backstory of when he found out about his surgery and what was going to happen," he claimed. "He gave me his number to keep in contact because he knows it can get really depressing at times."

Copeland was not the only person Ospreay claims he reached out to, as he added that he'd speak to Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bryan Danielson — all of whom had suffered severe neck injuries across their careers.

"Everybody's just been super cool because it really is such a good group of people backstage," he said. "I feel like news got around very quickly, and it was one of those things where it was really lovely having the support of my peers and everybody wishing for me to come back."

While he's back in the ring today, Ospreay added that doing something as simple as hitting the ropes gave him a sense of anxiety.

"There was a part of me that was like, 'Have I been running the ropes wrong my entire career, or is this just because my neck muscles haven't built up enough strength yet?'" he admitted, explaining that neck strength is crucial when running the ropes. "But it was weird things too, like doing forward rolls or back rolls, where I had such great flexibility and range of movement before the surgery."