Will Ospreay Explains Why Fans Of WWE's Attitude Era Should Give AEW A Chance

Will Ospreay is heading into the biggest match of his life on August 30 when he challenges Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship in the main event of AEW All In London at Wembley Stadium. It will mark the third time AEW has held an event at the biggest football stadium in England since 2023, something that sounded inconceivable to many wrestling fans not that long ago. However, Ospreay is hoping both he and AEW can get some jaded fans back into the business.

During a recent interview with Shortlist, Ospreay was asked about the casual wrestling audience, or even those who haven't watched since the famed WWE Attitude Era who aren't as in tune with things these days, and what he would say in order to get them to buy a ticket to All In London. In the simplest possible terms, Ospreay explained that wrestling is for everyone these days, and that it has evolved so much since the late 1990s.

"If you've not watched since the Attitude Era days, we have far surpassed those days with just how our athleticism and our in-ring action take front and centre spotlight. It's so important now to present wrestling in a sports environment, for myself anyway, to show people that there are different ways of telling different stories in wrestling. There are so many people now from every walk of life that get to come through as a fan and celebrate all together. It reaches out to different cultures, different races, different religions. It's something that bonds us all, and the fact that it's all going to culminate in Wembley Stadium is such a momentous thing."

At the time of writing, over 35,000 tickets have been sold for this year's All In event with one month to go until bell time, and AEW is hoping to top the 53,000 tickets sold for the previous Wembley event, All In London 2024.

Between AEW running Wembley Stadium for a third time, WWE running stadium shows for all of its "Big Four" Premium Live Events, and CMLL selling out the iconic Arena Mexico on a weekly basis, it can feel like wrestling is in a very good place right now. However, professional wrestling is still somewhat of a niche interest in the eyes of the casual viewer, and when talking about introducing new fans to AEW, Ospreay understands that wrestling isn't for everyone. With that said, the only way he can sell All In London to someone who isn't familiar with wrestling is simply by telling his story.

"If you're not interested, I can't convince you otherwise. The only thing that I can tell you is this is something that I've wanted to do since I was a 14-year-old boy, and I could never imagine that this was the dream in front of me. I couldn't tell you that this was it, because it was never done before. There was wrestling once upon a time in Wembley Stadium. It was in 1992, and then that was it. AEW has come along and has rewritten the book of what professional wrestling is, and if you want to give it a chance, or even just give me a chance, I think I might be able to change your mind."

As far as Ospreay getting a chance to change someone's mind on him, AEW, or wrestling as a medium entirely, he was asked what match he would show someone in order to get his message across. His answer was a match he has previously called one of the proudest moments of his entire career. "That matchup at Dynasty [against Bryan Danielson in 2024] was something where I felt like I finally became the guy that I wanted to become, and to be in there with a legend that is Bryan, I think it is a perfect mix between the technical ground style of professional wrestling and the high-paced hybrid style that I was able to bring into wrestling."

Please give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. when using quotes from this article, and credit Shortlist as the original source.