A new report has emerged suggesting that Triple H was unaware of the full extent of Will Ospreay’s talents.
The Aerial Assassin officially signed with AEW in the fall of 2023, and has already emerged as one of the company’s hottest superstars. It was known that WWE did have interest in the former IWGP World Champion, but Ospreay himself said in many interviews that AEW was the place he would rather be.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, there is a belief within WWE circles that Triple H may not have fully grasped Ospreay’s ability to resonate with audiences beyond his exceptional in-ring talent, especially after cutting multiple fiery promos on AEW television. Meltzer said the following:
I just think that if Paul Levesque is watching this, he’s going like, ‘Holy fuck’. They know he’s a good wrestler, but I don’t think they know that he’s the charismatic person and talker and can get over. Keep in mind, this is his…yeah he did a couple matches before and he certainly has a rep with the hardcore fans because he’s the best wrestler in the world. But he was in there in front of a lot of fans that were probably not regular AEW fans, including many that probably came to see Mercedes, and that guy was over like crazy after literally 2 matches on this run. And granted they were incredible matches, but it’s still 2 matches, he started just a couple weeks ago — and he’s getting this kind of reaction. I know people in WWE when this was going down – it was becoming very clear he was going to AEW and not WWE, and they (WWE) offered a lot less money. I know people there were going like, ‘He (Triple H) didn’t realise’. They knew, but he just didn’t realise. He just thought, ‘Ah, he’s one of these great workers’.
Ospreay will be taking on Bryan Danielson at the April 21st AEW Dynasty pay-per-view.
(H/T and transcribed by WrestlePurists)