Add as a preferred source on Google Will Ospreay will be one of the major names to watch at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door this Sunday in San Jose, California. The British star will face Swerve Strickland in the men’s Owen Hart Cup final.
The tournament winner will earn a shot at the AEW World Championship at All In: London, which will take place on August 30 at Wembley Stadium.
Ospreay defeated major names to reach the final, including Samoa Joe and Mark Davis, while Swerve got past Bandido and Brody King.
During a recent interview with Baby Huey of 107.7 The Bone, Ospreay explained how he usually puts his matches together and made it clear that he does not like when someone tries to force ideas without at least some collaboration.
“I’m on that wavelength more (collaborating more with the opponent). I hate the idea of people coming into my matches and just telling me, ‘This is what I want you to do.’ That pisses me off more than anything. Because for me, wrestling is a little bit like a team sport. Behind the curtain, wrestling is like team mentality and if you don’t have that team mentality, you’ll find friction behind the boys and the girls. So I’m very much along the lines of like I’m a collaborative person when I do my stuff.
I come in with ideas. I say, ‘This is kind of what I’m thinking.’ I want their thoughts, their feelings and then give their points. Then we find clever ways of meshing it together. There’s aspects of the job where I think so detailed about why this move belongs here, why it doesn’t belong here and like I shouldn’t be able to do this at this point. Because in my younger years, I was just eager to get out there and do it. But then once I got to Japan, it was all about the psychology, knowing how to break down these moves, why they were so important and why like you shouldn’t be able to do this point at this part of the match because you need to show the exhaustion and show the story beats of the match.
It’s more than just putting moves together for the sake of moves together. It’s taking the audience on a ride of a roller coaster. Like, go to Disneyland by any chance, you’re a dizzy world. One of my favorite rides that they got there is the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. They take you on a story. It’s not just a ride. It’s like a whole going around that big old globe. It’s just like, you’re having a good time. That’s exactly how I think about wrestling matches. I see where I am in the card and I think, ‘All right, who’s on before me? What can I do differently?’”
Ospreay and Swerve previously faced each other at Forbidden Door 2024, where Strickland retained the AEW World Championship. They later met again at Summer Blockbuster, going to a time-limit draw, before teaming together at All In: Texas against the Young Bucks.
On the final AEW Dynamite before the pay-per-view, Ospreay defeated El Phantasmo, while Swerve defeated Daniel Garcia.