Summary

Will Ospreay says he is still learning how to work after the neck surgery that sidelined him following Forbidden Door last year, and one of the clearest changes is that he no longer feels able to do a shooting star press.

Ospreay returned to AEW at Revolution in March and has been back in the ring for several weeks. Speaking in a new interview, he said the recovery has been uneven and that his range of motion is still limiting parts of the style that helped define him as "The Aerial Assassin."

Quote from Will Ospreay

"Up and down quite a lot of the time. I'm getting by, but it's still a new thing for me right now. This was the first surgery I've ever had, and it turned out to be one of the most major surgeries you could have. It's still a bit of a learning experience, trying to learn how to wrestle with a new structure, I guess. It's a challenge, but I'm doing fine."

Ospreay later went on to say:

"It's mainly my range of motion right now. There are so many things where I just don't feel comfortable doing certain tricks anymore, so I've kind of knocked them on the head. For example, I won't do a shooting star press anymore because that required me to really put my head back and get a good arch, and I just can't do it anymore."

What this means for Will Ospreay in AEW

Will Ospreay removing the shooting star press is a real adjustment for AEW because it shows his comeback is still an active recovery, not a full return to the exact version of himself fans saw before the surgery. If his neck mobility continues to limit some of his biggest aerial offense, Ospreay's matches may keep leaning more on timing, striking, and move selection than pure risk.

That does not make him any less important to AEW's upper card, but it does underline that this phase of his return is still about adaptation. For a wrestler whose identity has long been tied to explosive athleticism, even one missing signature move says a lot about how serious the recovery process has been.

Sources

Will Ospreay while speaking with Forbes