Will Ospreay was a guest on a recent edition of The Sessions with Renee Paquette. The former IWGP United States Champion discussed the history of his controversial tweets, his learning disability, and ADHD diagnosis.
You can check some highlights from the podcast below:
On his regret for his controversial tweets: “I have actually done a lot of soul-searching with this because I feel like I was an absolute c*** when it comes to this thing. I feel like I don’t think about what I write. I’m dyslexic as f**k. I don’t really understand it. Like, I’m on the spectrum for f**king autism and I got mad ADHD. So I don’t think about s**t, I just do it. I feel like I’ve used it as like a diary for so long not realizing I’m tweeting to f**king hundreds of thousands of people. I’ll be honest with you, I feel like I’ve let myself down, and I’ve let down anyone that simply wanted to be a firm supporter of me. I do feel like an absolute twat sometimes when I read back some of my old stuff.”
On working to make amends and mend fences: “I think the best thing I can do right now is… everything I’ve ever done with social media, and someone’s told me that I’ve f**ked up? I put my hands up and say hey, I am f**king sorry. I came to a realization where I went, no one gives a f**k about your opinion! No one cares about my opinion so why the f**k am I even tweeting it? I’m really trying hard to educate myself and be more mindful towards other people. I’ve gone and above beyond the line of duty to make amends with people I’ve fallen out with and s**t like that. I can admit, right, I’m a c***. But I’m a nice c***. I’m trying my best to really mend fences.”
On getting diagnosed with dyslexia: “I was dyslexic after I finished school. I essentially failed everything. The only thing I passed was drama and PE. So my English, math, science, all the things that you need to get to college, I failed at. So I had to just go to work. I feel like I got to a point where I wanted to get into college, and the term used was “Irlen syndrome”? I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it’s like full dyslexia. You can’t read very well, you’re not very good at writing. The words have got to be f**king huge for me to read it. I’ve always struggled with that. Sometimes I tweet something and I haven’t even read it properly, so then there’s a bunch of f**king spelling mistakes. It’s proper embarrassing, innit? As a grown ass man. I’ve got a mortgage, somehow, I can’t even read and write!”
On his ADHD diagnosis in 2019: “The ADHD stuff came about in 2019. I had a call with my doctor, I weren’t feeling good. I got sent home with some tests. It was kind of a little bit like… I don’t want it to ever be an excuse, but it was always like “that’s why you’ve got yourself in so much trouble.” It’s because you’ve not thought about the repercussions, you’ve just done it. I’m growing up now, I’m nearly thirty, I’ve got to grow up sometime soon.”
On the pandemic delaying further investigation into being on the spectrum: “The autism thing, I went in for like a doctor thing… f**k, when was that? I think it was in the start of 2020, yeah, it was. And the pandemic came in and I’ve never heard back since! I’ve always tried, but like, I do feel like I’m on the spectrum? But I haven’t had that like “Boom” guarantee. It’s a little bit like, the other two, yeah, I’ve got diagnosis. The other one, still yet to have answers for. The waiting list, especially in England, is f**king long, bruv.”
On seeing his neurodivergence as a positive: “Even if I did have it, I don’t see it as a detriment. I sort of see it as a superpower. All of us autistic kids, we’re so much better than the regular normal people. We can f**king lock into s**t. We can just do it. To all the autism kids out there, we’re f**king top.”
On what he hyperfocuses on: “Wrestling. It’s just like, I can’t f**king stop. I lock into it. It’s cool, I think it’s a really cool superpower.”
