Will Ospreay Draws Samoa Joe at AEW Double or Nothing
Will Ospreay is set to face Samoa Joe at AEW Double or Nothing in the Owen Hart Invitational, and the matchup will be their first one-on-one meeting. For Ospreay, it lands as a full-circle bout after Joe helped spark the drive that pushed him toward wrestling in the first place.
Ospreay and Samoa Joe
Ospreay said he wanted to become a professional wrestler when he was 12 years old, after watching the A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels match at TNA Unbreakable 2005. “There was just something about how A.J. moved,” he said.
That same match now sits behind a first-time singles pairing that gives Ospreay a direct shot at the wrestler who helped shape his early ambitions. Christopher Daniels has since retired from the ring and now works as head of talent relations in AEW, a reminder of how much time has passed since that 2005 inspiration.
Wembley Stadium and the U.K.
Ospreay is also looking ahead to AEW All In at Wembley Stadium on Aug. 30, and he said he went out at Wembley Stadium in 2024. “That feeling never goes away,” he said.
“As a kid we all dreamed of competing in Wembley, imagining you’re a footballer like David Beckham, Paul Scholes, or Michael Owen, so to go out there now,” he said, adding that his 2024 appearance was different for the crowd reaction. “It was just so special when I went out there in 2024. Everyone in the crowd is chanting me mum’s maiden name.”
Neck, back and style
In the present, though, the bigger change is physical. Ospreay said injuries to his neck and back have forced him to reinvent his style at 33 years old, and he has been working with Jon Moxley and the Death Riders on his neck and on slowing his approach down.
“The results speak for themself. I can’t argue with them,” he said, and he was more direct about the adjustment the injuries have demanded: “I need to move a bit slower now,” he said. “we’ve been working on my neck, slowing things down, transforming me into something else.”
That shift will be part of the test against Joe, whom Ospreay described as having both a weight advantage and probably a reach advantage. “It’s a scary drop, yeah. Trying not to really visualize being in that position. Obviously, Joe has the weight advantage, think he has the reach advantage too — so this is going to be a stick and move for me.”
The result is a match that carries more than one layer of pressure: a first singles meeting with the man who helped inspire him, and a new version of Ospreay trying to navigate it after the body changes forced on him. When Double or Nothing arrives, the bout will show whether that slower, adjusted style can hold up against Joe’s size and reach.
