As Jericho’s advice sank in and Ospreay graduated to the NJPW heavyweight division, his style became more physical. While he was still able to perform high-flying moves, things like the “Stormbreaker” and the “Hidden Blade” become more important for the Englishman. Once all this came together, Ospreay believes his bond with the former AEW World Champion and the advice he received was the perfect motivation for him going into the match they had during All In at Wembley Stadium.

“I feel like that was the perfect fuel for what we needed for Wembley,” Ospreay said. “When it got announced for Wembley, a lot of people were like ‘huh? Why? What’s the story?’ Everyone’s impatient man, they don’t want to play it out, but I was dead proud of that promo that we had because it was kind of like why am I facing you? Dude, you’re the biggest f**king star here, it’s Wembley Stadium, there isn’t anything bigger in the UK. So for me, as [NJPW] star is running out and I’m facing the biggest star in the biggest show that has ever happened, why wouldn’t I want to win this match? This is going to set me up for life.”

Ospreay came out victorious in front of his fellow countrymen, adding Jericho to an already impressive resume of Dax Harwood, Orange Cassidy, and Kenny Omega of people he has defeated one-on-one in AEW. That singles record has since extended to include Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher, and at AEW Dynasty on April 21, Ospreay has the chance to add Bryan Danielson to his list of fallen foes.

Please credit “Talk Is Jericho” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.