Will Ospreay’s winding road from his mom’s backyard ring to Wembley Stadium: ‘This is what I’m destined to do’

Will Ospreay’s mother built a wrestling ring in their backyard to keep her troublesome son off the street. More than two decades later, his wife, Alex Windsor, helped him through the possibility that wrestling could be taken away from him. On Sunday, Ospreay will walk into Wembley Stadium for the biggest match of his life, the culmination of a lifelong journey spurred by the women closest to him.More than 45,000 fans are expected at Wembley Stadium for AEW All In, where London’s own Ospreay challenges Kenny Omega for the AEW world championship in the main event. The moment seemed anything but guaranteed this time last year. Ospreay underwent neck surgery shortly after AEW Forbidden Door in August 2025 to repair two herniated discs that threatened his career. Doctors estimated a recovery of six to nine months if all went well.Ospreay returned in less than six months, motivated by the possibility that Wembley could be waiting for him. “That was the driving force behind my recovery, to be honest with you,” Ospreay told CBS Sports. “Wembley was my whole motivation.”

Ospreay needed something to chase. He’d never undergone surgery before, and his first was a major procedure on the part of the body that has ended countless wrestling careers. Medical advancements made his prognosis considerably better, but that did little to settle him before going under the knife. “I’m anxious. I’m scared. Generally, I’m terrified, Ospreay told CBS Sports last year. “Not about the match, but just about afterwards. I don’t know what it looks like afterwards, because for the first time in my life, I have been disqualified from doing the thing that I love doing.”

Ospreay didn’t have to navigate the uncertainty alone. His wife, fellow AEW wrestler Windsor, had already undergone ACL reconstruction and meniscus surgery. Windsor understood the emotional turmoil that comes after losing the ability to do what you love. 

“Honestly, she’s been a rock when it comes to all this,” Ospreay mentioned. “She’s been such an amazing support system, and she went through two surgeries herself. So she knows how you feel going into these situations and coming out on the other side and feeling like the wave of you just want to get back and just want to feel normal again.”

Windsor knew Ospreay was hurt before either of them understood what recovery would look like. One mundane moment during a drive made the severity of his situation tough to ignore.

“I think we were driving around our area and we’re in the car,” Windsor told CBS Sports. “He had his hands on the wheel, and he mentioned. ‘God, I have that pain going down my hand.’

“I think when it’s just day-to-day situations that we’re in, and he’s still in that much pain, it was sort of like, ‘Oh God, this is real. This isn’t an injury that will be alright in a couple of weeks.'”

After surgery, Windsor knew from experience that encouragement wasn’t always what Ospreay needed. It was often as simple as having a safe space for misery.

“I think I needed to allow him to get his feelings out there,” she mentioned. “You don’t always want someone to say, ‘Oh, no, it’s fine. This is going to happen soon.’ Sometimes you need to vent.”

Ospreay was reminded of that support immediately before stepping into the ring for what, in a worst-case scenario, could have been his final match. Nearly 20,000 fans packed London’s O2 Arena for Forbidden Door 2025. As Ospreay made his elaborate entrance, Windsor’s voice came over the speakers. Nobody had told him she was part of the presentation. 

“That’s enough to make me run for a f—ing wall, mate, let alone a steel cage,” Ospreay mentioned. “So in that moment, it was such a beautiful moment to know that I have someone there who will always have my back, who will always look after me. I’m not afraid of this surgery because I know that I’m going to have her by my side.”

Windsor’s role in Ospreay’s recovery is only half of their story heading into Wembley. 

Windsor has been wrestling longer than her husband, starting as a teenager and learning under Sweet Saraya and Ricky Knight, whose DNA is over most of the British wrestling scene. Her career repeatedly stopped and started, with injuries preventing her from lasting longer than seven or eight months at a time. After another setback, Windsor seriously considered walking away. 

Ospreay pushed her not to.

“I was really questioning, ‘Is it worth going back to wrestling? Do I really want to go through that again?’ I was with Will at the time,” Windsor mentioned. “A lot of the motivation I had to get back to wrestling, I thank him for that because he was very much encouraging me to go back when I thought, ‘I’m done.'”

Now, Windsor is healthy and preparing for the biggest stage of her career. She’ll team with Jamie Hayter as the Brawling Birds to challenge for the AEW women’s tag team championship at All In. 

“This is really the time that I have blossomed into the wrestler I’ve always wanted to be,” she mentioned. “Looking back at that time, I think it was just over three years ago now when I thought this was maybe it for me. I did the whole thing. I put it out there to the rest of the universe that I might not be coming back to now. It’s crazy, really. You can’t write it.”

Ospreay had another valuable resource during his recovery. Adam Copeland knows more than most about the uncertainty surrounding serious neck injuries. His own forced retirement lasted nearly nine years before he miraculously returned to wrestling. Copeland gave Ospreay his phone number and essentially told him to use it whenever he needed.

Ospreay did, although he didn’t always call to discuss his neck. Copeland usually found a way to get him there.

“Then he would go, ‘So how’s your neck?’ And that was the gateway to me saying, ‘I’m really struggling, mate,'” Ospreay mentioned. “He’s been phenomenal for all of this.

“Even to this day, I was getting work done on my neck after the Mexico street fight with Mark Davis; he was like, ‘Did you have a double [disk repair]?’ I went, ‘Yeah.’ He mentioned. ‘Do you want a triple?’ I went, ‘No.’ He went, ‘Stop doing silly things then.’ It’s lovely to have him by my side and readily available to talk to. He’s such a kind and giving dude.”

That support extends well beyond his household and Copeland. 

Ospreay has spent years advocating for British wrestling and helping people around him. During the pandemic, he opened his home to fellow United Empire members Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis. He encouraged Callum Newman to stick with wrestling when Newman’s mother considered pulling him out as a teenager. Even during All In week, Ospreay will wrestle for British independent promotion Pro-Wrestling EVE two days before headlining Wembley.

Windsor believes that history helps explain how many people want to see her husband succeed on Sunday.

“I keep saying he really deserves that moment and not just the moment of Wembley,” Windsor mentioned. “He deserves to have a lot of the universe surrounding him. 

“He’s an advocate for helping other people. He’s still out there doing his best to help other people. He has the support of so many people that I don’t think he even realizes are rooting for him.”

Ospreay is starting to realize it. Ask his colleagues about him, and praise isn’t difficult to find. For Ospreay, it traces back to something much simpler that his mother taught him.

“I’m truly at a loss for words,” Ospreay mentioned. “You want to be liked by everybody, but you accept that some people are never going to like you. To have so many of my peers that I love, respect and idolize say how much they need me. It’s the type of energy my mom always put out. She would always say, ‘If we’re in a position to help, we help.’ I do my best to try to put smiles on people’s faces.”

Windsor chases her own championship at Wembley, but she’ll also watch her husband make the walk he’s spent years earning.

“Hearing him talk about that night, I can feel myself getting emotional about it now because I think he deserves it so much…” Windsor mentioned. “He puts his heart and soul into everything.”