Will Ospreay’s Ascension: Bruv’s Suffering Enough
*Flashforward…
It’s August 30 th , 2026… All In… Wembley Stadium…
The main event:
AEW Men’s World Championship, MJF, makes a kingly/tyrannical entrance, injecting the
previous two London entrances with more grandeur and bloody allusions to executing
AEW’s other top babyfaces.
Except one…
A hype video is played, drawing from the Biblical story of Job to highlight the challenging and
traumatic year of the 2026 Owen Hart Cup winner. Will Ospreay has endured over 365 days
of suffering. A broken arm at Forbidden Door against Zack Sabre Jr… A rushed return and
disastrous C2 performance… Ospreay’s dream home, obliterated in a “gas leak” …
*Fast forward… past the first chords of Elevated and the stadium-sized pop…
Pale, purple-eyed, fractured and uncertain, Ospreay’s flimsy bravado slips when he sees the
two empty chairs ringside.
Excalibur reminds us how, on the go-home Dynamite, Ospreay’s attempts to win back his
now ex-wife, Alex Windsor, ended in disaster… with MJF shoving the sparkling-wielding
Aerial Assassin into Windsor, blinding her.
MJF wasn’t done.
After decimating Ospreay, Will’s former stepson attacked MJF, only for the champion to use
The Salt of The Earth to dislocate not one, but both the child’s shoulders…
It’s over the top, but there’s a point later. Promise…
See Will in Hell?
“If when you consider suffering as a prerequisite, Will Ospreay severely lacks in that
department.” -Neon Ghost.
Ghost’s sentiment from his article, Ascension or Redemption, reflects the sentiment many
folks shared before Ospreay lost to Hangman Adam Page at Double or Nothing. It highlights
the valid point in what’s been an exceptional start for Ospreay. Full of the highest of highs,
plenty of us have been taken to the sky with Ospreay. However, with Page we fell into hell. A
destination where we all have our private suite waiting for us on standby.
With Page, we were next to the cowboy every step of the way as he climbed out. It wasn’t
Everest. It was more real and familiar. Universal.
Realistically, few of us will be a Will Ospreay. An exceptional, genre-defining individual who
makes the wrestling craft look easy. We can identify with one who is like us and dream of
being like the other because very few will or can.
Page as a character is more well-rounded and complete. His story intersects with AEW’s
history and journey. Intricate layers that Ospreay has yet to gain but has time to earn before
inevitably becoming the AEW Men’s World Champion. All In 2026, maybe? After a
challenging road. However, Ospreay doesn’t need to go to hell.
The Feeling Isn’t Always the Same
“Accept suffering with a smile,” various philosophers.
Few things in the ring does Will Ospreay lack. Everything looks effortless because one of the
man’s greatest tricks is masking the effort behind that cheeky Essex lad smile. Within a
relatively short amount of time, Ospreay proved he could cut engaging promos and be a
weekly TV character. Any concerns of failure or becoming another great wrestler on AEW
programming were stealthily killed with an assassin’s finesse early.
A benefactor of good timing, incredible wrestling skills, and joining AEW when it needed a
stabilizing, unifying star. Ospreay capitalised on his time and minutes. His character arc has
been about maturing and becoming something new. Kind of like AEW. Who better
symbolizes the slogan: “where the best wrestle”?
The Billy GOAT has shown, at its best, what AEW offers elite wrestlers’ opportunity and
freedom for artistic expression with meaningful character development and stories. Page is
AEW’s redemption for its current suffer. Combine, and it hopefully cancels both their
languishing in the past.
Page is AEW’s heart and soul. Yet Ospreay is the pulse, a vibe- a living, breathing party.
Bruv embodies the feeling and represents something else of AEW’s spirit.
They are two different stories. Two distinct wrestlers. There is a yin-yang element to their
characters. We could add Swerve Strickland as the third part of the triumvirate (Tri-Force?)
and third story, as the representative of AEW’s mind and power. Notice, despite their
similarities, there are distinct differences, parallels, and journeys.
They evoke similar but different feelings, and that’s a good thing. AEW is at its best when it
offers variety. The problem is…Method Acting is Not Universal
“Only a great mind that is overthrown yields tragedy.” -F. Jacques Barzun.
My biggest concern is that over time, AEW, like all wrestling promotions, tries to copy its
successes to the point of diminishing returns. The Shakespearean and violent tragedy is
achieved with Page’s arc, taking the arc of a wrestler suffering to a new level. One that is
dangerous to try and replicate, especially with the wrong individual.
Ospreay’s struggles and suffering have been finite so far. Moral conflict over whether he
should use the Tiger Drive 91, a key factor in the long-term story arc of breaking away from
The Don Callis Family. There was personal betrayal from a best friend, resulting in a steel
cage match that was innovative and poignant.
Recency bias with the latter might make some forget that for some, the drama around
Ospreay “will he/won’t he” use the Tiger Driver felt, for some, contrived. Ignore the wider
context of wrestlers using (if not more) dangerous moves; Ospreay’s selling of that conflict
was not always nuanced.
That’s because not every wrestler has that ability to sell suffering in a way that feels real.
Within the Elite, only one is great and consistent. Kenny Omega can sell physical
deterioration, but at times during the Elite saga, melodrama has appeared aloof and
disconnected. The Young Bucks’ Corporate takeover saw them more pouty, one-
dimensional, whiny heels than fallen heroes.
Each is unique and a genius in their specialist area of wrestling. Able to evoke emotion from
us using different means. Plenty of fans have seen what happens when a wrestler tries to
treat wrestling as acting when they lack the ability, exposing rather than their hearts, a stilted
and fake performance.
If Everyone Suffers, No One Suffers
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Karl Marx
Repetition that causes diminishing, particularly in terms of in-ring action, is part of AEW’s
psyche. AEW and Tony Khan’s lack of restraint in giving us what we want. Sometimes to
excess.
The uniqueness of the Lights Out match was watered down by Adam Cole vs. Orange
Cassidy, then further reduced on Rampage with Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks. AEW
did six Casino Gauntlet matches before the matches’ first birthday. The Forbidden Door was
normalised to a revolving door. Matches, like Blood and Guts and Anarchy in the Arena,
have become obligations for yearly events.
Normalisation is always a risk in wrestling. Trying to force or overuse match types, tropes,
and the same tricks for that pop or engagement is as much part of AEW’s DNA as any other
wrestling company.
Yes, these matches, such as the most recent Lights Out variation between Page vs. Swerve
and the most recent Anarchy in the Arena, revitalized the concepts. Yet renewal requires
deterioration.
WWE has an iron-cast cookie-cutter mold for their top champions, embodied by John Cena.
A mold where once strapped with the championship, the company’s representative might
lose their edge, become homogenised, and flattened into stereotypical roles.
If everyone suffers, that suffering is lessened. If everyone suffers, no one suffers, but
perhaps we, the audience, suffer from repetition and wallowing in misery.
Something AEW has in three successive stabs at the impossible-to-replicate company
takeover angle has done. AEW’s been wallowing in a self-created identity crisis and civil
unrest built on the suffering after CM Punk left for too long. It’s not just the Hangman who
deserves some happiness.
Suffering shouldn’t be a parameter, prerequisite for AEW’s world champions. It’s only
recently that it has. Or at least appears.
Myth of Suffering
“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” Buddhist teaching.
I mean, Swerve only suffered post-run because his hubris, making things personal, saw
karma chair-shot Strickland to the skull. Samoa Joe made his opponents suffer. MJF
suffered in part due to context. Friedman had to 180 his character away from a company-
hating heel who was going to jump ship because it was too close to home at the time. Jon
Moxley suffered with us during the Pandemic and his transitional reigns, offering the promise
that better days were ahead. Chris Jericho had the time of his life.
Since MJF’s championship reign, AEW has been caught in a main event cycle of self-
imposed tragedy and suffering. We’ve been told the company is broken. Three takeovers
failed to land, and the suffering was insufferable. Insisting things were broken when
wrestlers like Swerve and Ospreay were there assembling the scaffolds and repairing the
damage was why it took me and other fans so long to get behind the Death Riders. It’s only
because Page’s parallel suffering seems destined to end this tragedy and bring a happy
ending.
AEW is coming out from under a Pepsi-coloured dark cloud. It’s wrestling, another dark
storm will emerge. Maybe a Burberry-tinted one. In between and on the road, Ospreay
needs obstacles and challenges. The Billy Goat needs to suffer, but not like Hangman with a
mental relapse into imposter syndrome.
Suffering With a Smile
“Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not
through insensibility but through greatness of mind.” Aristotle.
In some ways, Ospreay’s journey could mirror Kenny Omega’s ascension, but with its unique
parallel. Omega’s journey was about transitioning and self-actualisation. Proving his best
bout machine status and overcoming self-doubt. Omega suffered psychologically and then
physically as a champion, but that wasn’t kayfabe or part of the story arc.
Omega became a heel because it proved to be the only means. If Ospreay can fight that
battle and do things the right way, there’s potential for another larger narrative about who is
truly the goat of goats.
If Ospreay suffers, as he has done this week at Summer Blockbuster by taking a blow for
Strickland, a blow for AEW, then that helps reinforce that Ospreay represents AEW. Ospreay
will take thumbtacks and criticism for those three initials. Having doubts, facing internal and
external threats, yes. Manufacturing a crisis for the sake of drama, no.
We need stories of overcoming, but also stories where we don’t always see the hero slip are
also necessary.
Ospreay is the feeling in human form. He puts on his crime-fighting pants one leg at a time,
and like his bird namesake, Will is meant to soar. At some point, if he can and we fly
alongside him, we perhaps forget about the hell that’s waiting below.
That acting skill is rare in wrestling. The problem of comparison is that when standing
opposite or back-to-back, it’s easy to suggest that deficiencies can be solved with a solution
from what’s closest. The issue Page and Ospreay’s strengths and weaknesses or potential
room to grow aren’t and won’t ever be symmetrical.
Most wrestlers struggle with showing weakness. Dialogue turning stilted with the cadence of
the exposition in a porn film. If Ospreay were to do theatre, it would be panto.
Whilst Neon Ghost’s assertion that the best in AEW need to suffer, there’s some truth but it’s
not universal. Plenty of AEW men’s world champions were and company face/aces suffered
little. Chris Jericho was a larger-than-life embodiment of the sports entertainment threat to
AEW’s existence. Moxley suffered with us through the Pandemic, but a symbol of hope and
brighter days. Kenny Omega suffered setbacks and the threat of not being as good as
reputation and legacy suggested. His initial lose to Moxley played on expectations and
perceptions.
Skipping the messy middle, MJF had the unenviable task of pivoting due to CM Punk’s exit
with his suffering being a overegged means of 180 degree company champion babyface.
Samoa Joe was badass and solidity in a time when the cracks showed. Fools suffered, not
Joe and we loved it. Swerve Strickland was ruthless and morally grey.
Weakness and suffering helped humanize some like Omega, Moxley, and Strickland post-
title reign. Suffering for his art is Page’s USP. Mirroring something from the other.
The problem with this is that things become homogenous. Worse, it becomes glaringly fake.
Samoa Joe
If everyone suffers, then no one suffers. It becomes a cookie-cutter mould similar to what is
used to crown WWE champions in the shape of John Cena.
Art by Neon Ghost