Will Ospreay Opens Up on NJPW Exit, Cites Being ‘Over the Office’

Will Ospreay has shed some light on his departure from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and it sounds like creative frustrations played a bigger role than many may have assumed.

Appearing as a guest on the podcast Marking Out with MVP & Dwayne Swayze, Ospreay revealed that one of the driving factors behind his exit from NJPW was that he had grown “over the office” — a candid way of saying his relationship with the promotion’s management had run its course.

Ospreay spent the better part of eight years with New Japan on a full-time basis, joining in 2016 and building himself into one of the most decorated performers in the company’s modern era. He captured titles at virtually every level of the promotion and became a cornerstone of its international appeal. His final match under the NJPW banner came in February 2024, after which he made the jump to All Elite Wrestling.

Since arriving in AEW, Ospreay has established himself as one of the most talked-about performers in the business, and his comments on the Marking Out podcast offer a rare glimpse into the internal dynamics that pushed him toward the door in Japan. While he hasn’t elaborated extensively on the specifics of those office tensions in what’s been reported, the admission is notable given how synonymous his name had become with New Japan’s product over the better part of a decade.

It’s a candid acknowledgment that even the most celebrated runs eventually hit a ceiling — and for Ospreay, that ceiling apparently had as much to do with the front office as with anything happening between the ropes.