Chris Jericho On Facing Will Ospreay: It's A No-Brainer

Chris Jericho On Will Ospreay: I Can’t Think Of Another Match I’d Rather Have At All In

August 23, 2023

Chris Jericho explains why he wanted to face Will Ospreay at AEW All In.

Jericho has had no shortage of first-time match-ups during his time with AEW, and that trend will continue this Saturday at Wembley Stadium. During a recent interview with Justin Dhillon of The Wrestling Classic, Jericho discussed why there’s no one other than Ospreay that he’d rather face at All In.

“Well this came up a few months ago,” Jericho said. “It was actually pitched to me very, very early on in the process. And the reason why, A, it’s Will Ospreay. That’s a no-brainer there. Like I said last week on Dynamite, it’s not a joke or exaggeration, this match would have already happened in the Tokyo Dome in New Japan had there not been a lockdown. In ’18, it was against Kenny, in ’19 [vs.] Naito, ’20 [vs.] Tanahashi. ’21 was going to be Ospreay or Suzuki, and ’22 was going to be Suzuki or Ospreay, whichever one it was, and I wanted to do Ospreay earlier than that.”

A ‘Hometown’ Favorite?

“To me, it’s one of those matches where, will it ever get a chance to happen again? I don’t know, but it needs to happen, and the fact that it’s happening in Wembley, his home country is great. But once again, I’ve been to England more times than he’s wrestled in England. It seems like I’ve been there 50 times for different matches over the years, and I think that obviously he’s a hometown guy, but I think Chris Jericho’s name in the UK is almost like a hometown guy as well.

“I always love, ‘Oh, Jericho’s gonna be the babyface, but Ospreay’s gonna be the [heel],’ but it doesn’t matter. There’s no babyface and heel. It’s like going to the Super Bowl or going to a World Cup Final. People are going to cheer for whoever they’re going to cheer for whoever they want to cheer for, and they want to see a great game. That’s the way I feel about it. So, to me, to get the chance to face Will in Wembley at this show, I can’t think of another match I’d rather have. I really can’t. There’s some other ones that are big, but that one to me just seems like a big fight feel. It’s very unique and it can only happen at All In, in my opinion.”