Jonathan Coachman sharply criticized Will Ospreay over remarks the AEW World Champion directed at WWE during the All Out media scrum on Saturday in Chicago.
Ospreay retained the AEW World Championship by defeating Jon Moxley in the main event. After the show, though, he said the fans in attendance had chosen the right company and sent a strong message to the competition.
“Everyone who came to this show tonight chose the right company… Do not fucking step to us ever again,” Ospreay said.
Speaking on a recent episode of Two Count Tuesday, Coachman said Ospreay should have assessed the situation more carefully before going on the attack.
“There’s a saying that I like, and it is, ‘Read the room and put your toe in the water.’ When you’re talking trash, normally you do it from a place of power, and not a one-off show when you’re going against WWE. I couldn’t believe he said it,” Coachman said.
Coachman, a former WWE commentator, made clear that he considers All Out a success for AEW, but he believes Ospreay’s jab lost some of its force when measured against the numbers the two events drew.
According to WrestleTix’s final estimates, All Out distributed 9,456 tickets at NOW Arena. Worlds Collide, presented by WWE and AAA at Allstate Arena, reached 14,037 by the same count, a difference of 4,581 tickets.
“The most important thing you said was they almost had 5,000 people more than what AEW did in attendance,” Coachman said. “So, yes, they got what they wanted out of it. But if you only have 9,500 and say, ‘Don’t step up to us again,’ that can’t happen, and he’s gotta understand that.”
As previously reported, Worlds Collide was held specifically to cut into All Out’s ticket sales, and WWE sources admitted they were surprised by how All Out performed given the impact Worlds Collide had in the region.
Coachman closed by saying Ospreay could take a lesson from MJF on how to deliver that kind of trash talk.
“I understand he’s world champion and he’s supposed to say that,” Coachman said. “But he could probably talk to MJF. MJF knows how to do that without stepping backwards into it.”
Ospreay is now preparing to defend the AEW World Championship against Kazuchika Okada at Grand Slam France on October 6.