Tony Khan has confirmed in an interview that Will Ospreay will be able to go back and wrestle for New Japan “virtually any time” under his deal with AEW.
Khan was speaking in the full version of a BBC interview conducted yesterday by reporter Steve Hermon. In a clip from the interview released yesterday, Khan said he could not “legally talk about” CM Punk’s debut in WWE.
When asked about the possibility of a London-based episode of Dynamite or Collision, the AEW President confirmed that All In at Wembley Stadium would be the only UK show the promotion stages in 2024.
Reflecting on All In 2023, Khan said:
What a way to bring pro wrestling to the new Wembley Stadium. It was incredible. And it was a different kind of experience. I mean, again, over 80,000 fans — 81,035 to be exact. And the show was streamed worldwide live, not on tape delay or anything like that, which was how [SummerSlam] in 1992 had been delivered to a lot of people. So this was really a cultural event of its own.
When asked how he balances his commitments to AEW, Fulham FC, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, he said:
It’s a real pleasure. It’s like having a family with three kids that I love so much. And, you know, if you have a family, you know that you don’t always divide your time equally between family members. But it can change day to day, week to week. Who you’re visiting, who you’re seeing, how you’re spending your time, but you care about them all. And I love Fulham so much.
I love the Jacksonville Jaguars and working in football for the Premier League and in the NFL. It’s a dream come true. And then being able to launch AEW was a dream come true. And the biggest night of our lives was to go to Wembley Stadium. And I’m so excited that we’re coming back. I
t’s a great tradition we’re trying to build. I want to keep it going and bring that big show to Wembley Stadium every year. When AEW came to Wembley, it felt like a cultural moment in England. And it’s something we can create and bring every year that nobody can take away.
He was asked whether he already had some ideas for All In 2024:
Absolutely. I really have been thinking a lot about it. I promise it’s going to be a great show. I believe it’ll be even better. There are things we can do this year that weren’t possible last year, such as Bryan Danielson wrestling. And we have other great members of the roster like PAC and Jamie Hayter, former champions in AEW, who I hope will be back. And they are, of course, both from England and very popular in the UK. I hope they can wrestle.
On Will Ospreay’s signing:
One of the great things we’ve been able to do with AEW is build a great relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. I think Will Ospreay has been one of the great New Japan Pro Wrestling stars of this era. And with Will Ospreay coming up in free agency, he made it clear he wanted to get out and have new experiences.
But he’s had a great time in New Japan and has a great relationship with them. So that’s why I thought it would be good to go to New Japan and preemptively try to sign Will with their blessing, trying to keep him in our family so that everything they’ve built together, all those great moments will still live on, that the traditions Will Ospreay has built, he can bring to AEW, and that he’s able to go back to New Japan virtually any time.
We can always work that out any time he wants to go back. And I know that is something he will want to do. And he’s going to finish out there the right way and then come to AEW full time.
On Sting’s retirement run:
I think it’s incredibly, incredibly important for us to make sure Sting gets a great send-off. He absolutely deserves it. He’s a legend in wrestling with decades of experience. Sting is beloved. And I’m very excited about Sting’s retirement tour, which is embarked.
He’ll be finishing up at Revolution. Of course, Sting was a huge part of the original AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. And when Sting came out to Metallica, what a great moment. Seek and Destroy will be something that will live on in perpetuity in the video library. It’s a great moment.
And I hope Sting will come. He’ll be retired at that point, but I hope he’ll still come and be an ambassador because he’s in many ways AEW’s greatest legend. And I think he’s one of wrestling’s greatest legends.
Khan was then asked about the possibility of running Dynamite or Collision in London. He said:
I can promise you, Steve, that AEW All In will be the only wrestling show that we do in England this year.
Tickets for AEW All In 2024 are now available to those who signed up for the pre-sale. They go on general sale on Friday, December 1st.
