AEW Full Gear 2023 - November 18th

[Infinity Land]

28 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

It's not Vince McMahon's WWE anymore. I imagine he'd have been a big star for the company, had that been his choice; and had he avoided making a tit of himself while he was there.

If you've seen his commitment to staying in the UK. The rumour is that he would have fronted NXT Europe. Him not signing kicking that can further down the road.

5 minutes ago, 300 said:

Doesn’t look like the show will be on ITV4 this Thursday ?

Does anyone know what’s going on there?

Only All In and WrestleDream have been shown on ITV PPV wise. One made a kind of sense, but WrestleDream came out the blue to most people. May have just been a trial to see if it worked for both parties, and it hasn't.

[The King of Old School]

ITV don't deserve wrestling.

[Hannibal Scorch]

15 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Only All In and WrestleDream have been shown on ITV PPV wise. One made a kind of sense, but WrestleDream came out the blue to most people. May have just been a trial to see if it worked for both parties, and it hasn't.

I think the key here is that All In and Wrestledream were outside of the usual AEW PPV's. They were probably able to make a deal with those outside of purchasing all PPV's. I am not sure when the ITV deal is up and what the next deal may look like.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

34 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I think the key here is that All In and Wrestledream were outside of the usual AEW PPV's. They were probably able to make a deal with those outside of purchasing all PPV's. I am not sure when the ITV deal is up and what the next deal may look like.

The next deal could be a real merry-go-round Scorchers. WWE on TNT Sports looks out of place as it is now owned by Time Warner Discovery. It makes more sense from a brand point of view for AEW to be on TNT. If that happens where do WWE go? Sky would probably be interested as would various streaming platforms. It might get messy. 

[Daaaaaad!]

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

That definitely wasn't the case. Orange got his full entrance, and they dwelled on his celebration for quite a while before cutting away. 

Fair enough. That’s what I get, I suppose.

[theringmaster]

19 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said:

I am absolutely ecstatic that will osprey is the newly signed talent for aew. 

Say what you want about him and he can be a absolute tit, he is so so talented in the ring and he created his own path when every single British wrestler signed to NXT UK and went to the WWE he stayed with new Japan and continued to grow and put on phenomenal matches and put in so much effort to live over there so he really has earned this opportunity in a huge company in the states, and it's definitely the right choice because him in the WWE would be a wasted situation.

We have too get osprey Vs omega 3 at all in in Wembley please God 

Of course it had absolutely nothing to do with the low wages wweuk were paying and his pretty comfortable annual njpw contract.....

[BrodyGraham]

Yup. I can't imagine that little Will would have been able to hustle marks into getting chopped at a tenner a go on NXT UK shows either. I've watched him literally make thousands of pounds just teeing off on kids.

[Merzbow]

He signed with New Japan the same year NXT UK started, but was already in with many of the big Japanese names who personally recommended him to the company and being in Rev Pro sure helped. From the off he was seen as a star of the very near future, NXT must have looked so small time to him.

[69MeDon]

On 11/21/2023 at 10:23 AM, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

There are a number of physiotherapists and chiropractors who are breathing a huge sigh of relief that he signed for AEW. 

I know Ospreay has toned it down a bit, but his back must be ruined already. Had he gone to WWE he certainly would have been reined in a bit more. The one thing that is consistent about pro wrestlers though is their lack of regard for the future of their bodies. I don't like him as a person, I enjoy a lot of his matches but I wouldn't want to see him fully Dynamited and unable to pay his Sky bill. 

But he almost certainly would have been working a lot more. Based on some of what he's said, he knows that he needs to pull back a little and take care of himself a bit more. If he'd gone to WWE, in my view, he'd be expected to prove himself a lot more with that audience and he'd be working, I would think, a helluva lot more dates. Also: he will 100% get a big run on top in AEW. Would he in WWE? Maybe, but by no means the guarantee that it is in AEW.

[DavidB6937]

13 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

But he almost certainly would have been working a lot more. Based on some of what he's said, he knows that he needs to pull back a little and take care of himself a bit more. If he'd gone to WWE, in my view, he'd be expected to prove himself a lot more with that audience and he'd be working, I would think, a helluva lot more dates. Also: he will 100% get a big run on top in AEW. Would he in WWE? Maybe, but by no means the guarantee that it is in AEW.

You would think so but they do have a LOT of top tier talent that have been struggling for that spot even before he joins. It's likely but never guaranteed that he'll get a big run on top.

[waters44]

I was not a fan of the main event but absolutely loved everything else on this show

I echo what everyone else said about the death match. Without a doubt the match of the year, and honesty if Brian Cage hadn’t come out and got involved it may have been the best wrestling match ever for me. I don’t remember being that invested in a match before and screamed out loud when that barbed wire got caught on Hangman’s face. Swerve is the man and hopefully they strap a rocket to him now! 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 hours ago, 69MeDon said:

But he almost certainly would have been working a lot more. Based on some of what he's said, he knows that he needs to pull back a little and take care of himself a bit more. If he'd gone to WWE, in my view, he'd be expected to prove himself a lot more with that audience and he'd be working, I would think, a helluva lot more dates. Also: he will 100% get a big run on top in AEW. Would he in WWE? Maybe, but by no means the guarantee that it is in AEW.

He'd have more matches in WWE sure, but he'd do so little in each one that even with a busier scheduled he would still be taking less risks. Of course he isn't guaranteed a main event run like he is in AEW, but is he a main eventer in WWE? He's not a main event promo at the minute bruv but he is a main event worker. Given the way they've got around Nakamura I'm sure they could iron out his promo. 

What he has done is taken the way that suits him best. I don't blame him, he's put in the hard yards, I'm sure he will have great matches in AEW, it will definitely be an interesting watch. I hope he gets that big Wembley match next year. It will be awesome to see. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

9 hours ago, Merzbow said:

He signed with New Japan the same year NXT UK started, but was already in with many of the big Japanese names who personally recommended him to the company and being in Rev Pro sure helped. From the off he was seen as a star of the very near future, NXT must have looked so small time to him.

Also, when he talks about he wanted to sign for New Japan that isn’t hyperbole. I asked him once about if his dream was to one day make it to WWE, he said he would rather go to New Japan. He must have been 19 or 20 at the time.

[Statto]

10 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I hope he gets that big Wembley match next year. It will be awesome to see. 

I reckon you can basically pencil him into the Wembley main event, and I'm sure it'll be a hell of a match whomever it is with.

I just hope they don't put him on the morning show circuit to promote the show, though. Imagine him on the BBC Breakfast sofa, bruv.

[BomberPat]

Will is one of the first generation of wrestlers post-WCW to have come of age in a time where it might not have been WWE that got them into wanting to wrestle, so that makes a lot of sense - a lot of indie workers of his age and younger decided they wanted to wrestle because they explored stuff outside of WWE, and I think that's an interesting trend, because it means WWE can't necessarily undercut people on contracts by selling them on "opportunity" or tugging at the "childhood dream" heartstrings. Ospreay's heroes are Hayabusa, Jushin Liger and Marafuji, not The Rock and Steve Austin.

There's also going to be a temptation to ask "what if?" about going to WWE, to challenge yourself to see if you could be a main event player there. But Will is only 30 years old. If his body holds up, there's nothing stopping him singing with WWE in three years' time when his contract comes up. In the meantime, he gets to live back in the UK with his partner and near his family after years of being based in Japan, gets to cut back on indie bookings and work a much more relaxed schedule than he's had at any point in his full-time career, and then there's the wrestler ego stuff of probably getting a main event match at Wembley Stadium out of this deal. Really, the ball was in his court no matter what decision he made.