Will Ospreay credits AEW's struggles to 'growing pains'

AEW has rapidly risen in popularity since its launch in 2019. It's the biggest wrestling promotion outside the WWE. It has an elite roster that is consistently getting better. Some of the biggest names in the world have recently chosen AEW over WWE, which should be an encouraging sign.

However, AEW's viewership continues to decline. Its perceived lack of storylines, character development and a bloated roster have all been cited as reasons for its sudden drop-off. 

Things went from bad to worse for AEW on June 19, when an episode of Dynamite recorded record-low numbers. During a recent appearance on "SHAK Wrestling," Will Ospreay attributed AEW's rocky few months to nothing more than "growing pains."

"We're still a five-year company and we're still hitting the ropes with these things," Ospreay said. "For me, AEW still has lots of growing pains to go through ... As a wrestler, you find yourself hitting a plateau five years in ... There's always that five-year growing pain. I think every company goes through it. If we look back five years to what WWE was doing, they were at a low ... We need to change the bar and see what we must do to change things up."