Will Ospreay’s controversial AEW Dynamite promo had fans arguing all over social media, but the bigger story might be that Paramount apparently had no problem with it.
The whole thing started on the June 17 episode of AEW Dynamite, when Tony Schiavone congratulated Ospreay on getting married and pointed out that he skipped his honeymoon to show up for work. Ospreay explained that his wife, Alex Windsor, supported him chasing his dream, then dropped the line that lit up wrestling Twitter.
“I got a good wife, man. So here’s what I did to treat her—I took her upstairs, I smashed the life out of her, bruv. I said, ‘Babe, clean yourself up, I gotta go to Houston.’”
The live crowd laughed, but plenty of people online didn’t. One fan called the line “gross,” “dehumanising,” and “misogynistic,” even while saying Windsor was probably fine with it herself. Ospreay fired back at the time by telling the critic to “Touch grass Katherine,” which only kept the argument going. Ospreay later addressed the backlash while speaking to 107.7 The Bone, and he made it clear he still doesn’t understand why people were so upset.
“Oh, it was hilarious, but I’ll be honest with everyone, I don’t know why everyone was so mad about it.”
Ospreay then claimed fans got the whole thing wrong. According to him, the line wasn’t about sex at all. He said he was talking about beating his wife in Mario Kart before heading to Houston for AEW Dynamite.
“This is the thing — I said she was a good wife, and I was explaining how amazing she was to follow my dream. Then I said I took her upstairs and smashed the life out of her… at Mario Kart. Like, I beat her so bad at Mario Kart, and when I said to her, ‘Clean yourself up, love,’ she was sweating, mate! She was trying to play this game. It’s 38 degrees in England. It’s so hot.”
Then Ospreay dropped the line that may end up being more important than the original joke. He said AEW, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and his wife all had no issue with what he said.
“I don’t mean any harm. I’m just being funny. Here’s the thing — my boss didn’t care, Warner Bros. didn’t care, Paramount didn’t care, my wife didn’t care. So I politely disagree with all of you if you have a problem with it. Don’t come into my relationship with my wife. F** off.”*
That Paramount mention immediately stands out. AEW’s current relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery is one thing, but Ospreay specifically saying Paramount “didn’t care” suggests the company was aware of the promo and still had no issue with it.
Dave Meltzer brought that point up while discussing the fallout on Wrestling Observer Radio with Garrett Gonzales. Meltzer said people were missing the Paramount part of Ospreay’s comments, and that it caught his attention more than the social media outrage.
“Okay, so the one thing he said that nobody picked up on, I actually wanted to bring it up at the press conference, but it just, you know, I mean, I had other questions that I had higher on my list, and there’s only so many. When he’s talking, he goes like, ‘my boss was okay with it.’ You know, WBD was okay with it. Okay, my wife was okay with it. You know who else he said was okay with it? Said Paramount was okay with it.”
Meltzer said the way Ospreay said it made the comment feel more interesting. To Meltzer, it sounded like Ospreay had received some kind of confidence from Paramount after the promo.
“I was fascinated he said that, because the way he said it, like, it’s like he wasn’t. You know what I mean? He’s not saying to say. You know what I mean? It’s like somehow he got a vote of confidence after that promo from Paramount, which tells me that they, in some form, in some way, are more following this product than maybe any of us thought.”
That is the part that changes the conversation. This wasn’t just Ospreay brushing off angry fans online. If his version is accurate, Paramount knew about the promo, had a read on the reaction, and still didn’t see it as a problem.
“I mean, I know they are, and, you know, they are, too, but I just thought that that was like. When he said that to me, like, that was like, the most interesting thing there, because it was like, okay, this is a re. You know, it’s like, this is not just, oh, we bought this company, and, oh, this thing comes along. You know what I mean? Like, this thing’s along, and they don’t even know what’s going on. It’s like, you know, for whatever this means, they know what’s going on.”
Garrett Gonzales then noted that people may underestimate how connected Tony Khan and his family are in major business circles. Meltzer agreed, but said the key detail was that Ospreay, not Tony Khan, was the one who said Paramount was okay with it.
“But it wasn’t Tony who said it, that was Will who said it, which I thought made it a lot more interesting because sometimes with Tony, Tony has developed a certain media style and everything like that.”
Meltzer also said Ospreay doesn’t come off like someone who filters every word through a PR machine, which made the Paramount comment feel even less like spin and more like something he genuinely believed in the moment.
“The one thing with Will is, this is who he is. And when he says something, it’s not like he’s full politician. Not saying Tony’s politician, but just saying Tony’s become a very practiced media person. Will is it. Will can be an outstanding media person, but it’s so completely different.”
Gonzales agreed that Ospreay sounded like he was speaking off the cuff rather than running through a clean corporate answer.
“That is not him going through a filter, you know, for a PR filter. That’s just what he’s thinking at that moment.”
So while fans can keep arguing over whether Ospreay’s joke was funny, offensive, or just dumb locker room humor that didn’t land with everyone, the business side is what really sticks out now. Ospreay says Paramount was okay with it, and Meltzer believes that shows the company is paying closer attention to AEW than some fans may have realized.
What do you think about Paramount being okay with Will Ospreay’s controversial AEW Dynamite promo? Was the whole thing blown out of proportion, or did Ospreay go too far? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.
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