Will Ospreay Had "Massive Offer" From Another Company Before Signing With AEW

Prior to signing with AEW, Will Ospreay had a "massive offer" from another promotion.

by Andrew Pollard
Will Ospreay August 23
AEW

After plentiful speculation over his future, Will Ospreay announced earlier this month that he'll be joining AEW once his current New Japan Pro-Wrestling contract expires early next year. But it wasn't just All Elite Wrestling that made a lucrative offer to sign the United Empire man.

Via Mike Johnson over at PWInsider.com, IMPACT Wrestling was said to have been in the running to sign Ospreay, making the IWGP United Kingdom Champion a "fantastic, massive offer" to sign with the Anthem promotion.

One source told the outlet that this was likely the largest offer made to a single talent since Anthem took charge of the organisation, with that offer described as "seven figure level".

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Of course, Ospreay has been extremely complimentary of IMPACT from his experience working for the promotion in October, where he faced 'Speedball' Mike Bailey at Bound for Glory, battled Josh Alexander on IMPACT TV, and then Eddie Edwards at Turning Point as part of the company's UK tour; all excellent matches, all won by the Commonwealth Kingpin.

As a result of how much he enjoyed his time with IMPACT, certain talents within the promotion presumed he'd be coming in full-time in 2024, particularly once Ospreay vs. Alexander was followed by the Englishman cutting a promo where he proclaimed his wish to wrestle in a TNA ring. This comes ahead of IMPACT Being rebranded as TNA in January.

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Will Ospreay isn't the only major name IMPACT Wrestling has recently made a move for, with recent reports noting how IMPACT made a "major money offer" to CM Punk.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.