Jeff Jarrett believes Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega gave AEW a match that could become a standard for the promotion. He stopped short of declaring their All In main event the company’s definitive in-ring performance, pointing instead to the match’s timing and the meaning it held for the people around Ospreay.
Jarrett discussed the August 30 Wembley Stadium match on a September 24 clip from My World with Jeff Jarrett. Co-host Conrad Thompson asked whether Ospreay’s AEW World Championship win could stand as the promotion’s gold standard.
Only time will tell. And I know that’s the most simplistic response or reply, but I mean that because we don’t know what the future holds. … I really enjoyed talking to Andy Quildan, promoter of RevPro, the guy who really gave Will Ospreay the real platform to develop his career. … But to hear Andy talk about the significance that he wanted to be on the Wembley Stadium floor watching it live, those are the kind of responses that lead to, is it going to be the gold standard? Is this going to be that event that plants the flag in the ground?
Jarrett also compared the match with the body of work AEW has produced since its launch. He saw the competitive dynamic and Ospreay winning on home turf as reasons the performance could endure beyond one night.
When you think about, all right, is that going to be the match that sets the standard bearer of AEW? Well, I think you have to say that you can compare the last five, six, seven years and Will and Kenny, and there have been a lot of great matches, but I think the unique set of circumstances … it was really, let’s go out there and tear the house down and be as competitive as we possibly can be. And they did. … They both dug deep and go, we’re going to leave it all in the ring, and Will getting his hand raised on his home turf. I think it definitely has the opportunity, Conrad, to be the standard bearer because the timing of the event, I think, is significant. I really mean that, not just internally AEW but around the world, and it came at the right time.
Jarrett likened the role of timing in wrestling to Hulk Hogan and André the Giant at WrestleMania III. His point was about whether a major performance lands at a moment people continue to remember, not a claim that the two matches were identical.
I definitely think it has an opportunity, but only time will tell. But they, and I say they, Will and Kenny, they did everything in their power for us to be able to sit here and even have that conversation.
Ospreay defeated Omega to win the AEW World Championship in the All In main event. Jarrett’s assessment was about the match’s possible place in AEW history rather than a prediction about either wrestler’s next program.
Source: My World with Jeff Jarrett, “Is this match AEW’s new gold standard?”.
