AEW World Champion Will Ospreay has opened up about the origins of his high-flying wrestling style, revealing how his childhood fascination with WCW cruiserweights and an unusual addition to his family’s backyard helped shape his career.
Speaking with WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando, Ospreay discussed the athleticism and endurance required to compete in demanding matches such as AEW’s Clockwork Carnage.
The British star began with a cheeky remark about his conditioning. “Thankfully, I’m a cardio machine. I’m very good at that. Ask the wife.”
Ospreay then explained that his interest in aerial wrestling began when his mother installed a trampoline in their backyard, giving him an opportunity to imitate the moves he watched on television. “My mom put a trampoline in my back garden, and I used to watch the WCW cruiserweights. Now you’re really finding out what I used to watch,” Ospreay recalled. “I used to watch them practice their tricks, and I would pause, rewind, and see where their arms were and stuff, and how they moved their bodies. Then I’d go on the trampoline and try it.”
As his enthusiasm for wrestling grew, Ospreay revealed that his mother became concerned about him getting into trouble at school and elsewhere.
Her solution was to bring his passion for wrestling even closer to home by installing an actual wrestling ring in the garden. “My mom saw that I was getting into trouble with school and on the outside, so she was going, ‘How do I keep him in school? How do I keep him in my garden? How do I keep him safe in the house?’ Put a wrestling ring in his back garden.”
Ospreay joked that the constant noise from his training sessions probably didn’t make his family particularly popular with their neighbors. “So you can imagine how wonderful we were with all the neighbors, hearing ‘crash, bang, wallop’ all the time, and then it’s just me practicing stuff in the ring.”
Looking back, Ospreay credited those early experiences with helping him develop the skills that would eventually become central to his professional wrestling career. “So that’s how I was able to do it. I just had a little bit of a trampoline background, only a small bit, and then I brought it into pro wrestling.”
Ospreay’s comments offer insight into the foundations of his signature in-ring style, which has become a defining feature of his performances throughout his career.
