Last month at All Out 2026, Will Ospreay mounted his first successful defense of the AEW Men’s World Championship, retaining his belt after a bloody battle with the leader of the Death Riders, Jon Moxley. Earlier at the same event, Kazuchika Okada had a successful title defense of his own, retaining his International Championship against Tommaso Ciampa.
During the press scrum after the pay-per-view, Ospreay laid out a challenge to Okada, offering him a World Title match at Grand Slam: France. The Tony Khan-led company had announced earlier in August that AEW would be making its debut in Paris on October 6, just ahead of the 2026 edition of WrestleDream.
Ospreay’s upcoming clash against Okada will be their second one-on-one encounter in All Elite Wrestling. Although the Aerial Assassin will in all likelihood retain his AEW Men’s World Title against the Rainmaker this Tuesday, here, let us consider three arguments in favour of the Don Callis Family member dethroning the Billy Goat at Grand Slam: France.
#1. Kazuchika Okada is long overdue for an AEW World title reign
Ever since he joined the All Elite Wrestling roster in 2024, Kazuchika Okada has been presented as a main event caliber athlete. Shortly after his arrival as the Young Bucks’ newest ally, the Rainmaker dethroned 2023 Continental Classic winner Eddie Kingston to become the AEW Continental Champion. He held on to the belt for the rest of the year, retaining it in the 2024 C2 and cementing his legacy as one of pro-wrestling’s most successful tournament performers of all time.
Okada continued to defend the Continental Championship in 2025, and eventually found himself on a collision course with one of his greatest career rivals, Kenny Omega. At All In: Texas, the former NJPW ace defeated the Cleaner in a blockbuster encounter to capture the latter’s International Title. The victory also secured the Japanese megastar a brand new belt to signify his status as a double champion, the AEW Unified Title.
Unfortunately, Okada was unable to recreate his success from 2024 in last year’s Continental Classic, dropping his Continental Championship to Jon Moxley, and losing his Unified Title in the process as well. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion held onto the AEW International Title until Double or Nothing 2026, where he was unseated for it by fellow Don Callis Family member Konosuke Takeshita.
This past August at All In: London, Okada regained the International Championship in a three-way against Takeshita and defending title holder Kyle Fletcher, who had dethroned the Alpha for the belt at Dynamite: Beach Break earlier in July. Last month at All Out 2026, the former CHAOS leader retained his strap against the “Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa. Later that same night, he accepted Will Ospreay’s challenge for an AEW World Title match at Grand Slam: France.
Okada had already brought up his interest in pursuing the AEW Men’s World Championship on multiple occasions in the past. However, the company has not really booked the 38-year-old as a regular fixture in the World Title scene so far, his only match for the belt taking place on the 5-Year Anniversary edition of Dynamite back in 2024, when he unsuccessfully challenged Bryan Danielson in a double championship match with both men’s titles at stake.
Considering how dominantly All Elite Wrestling has booked Okada so far, it is clear that the promotion views him as a talent worthy of representing the company at the highest level. However, it is also a fact that the reigning International Champion has been in AEW for around two years now, just like Will Ospreay, arguably making him a little overdue for his first-ever World Title run.
Therefore, if the company does intend to crown Okada as the AEW Men’s World Champion at some point, Tony Khan could create a genuinely big moment at Grand Slam: France by pulling the trigger on Okada’s coronation in Paris and booking him to dethrone Ospreay for the World Title.
#2: Will Ospreay could bounce back from a loss to Okada in Grand Slam: France
AEW’s recent booking of the All Elite Wrestling Men’s World Title seems to be more focused on character development and storyline progression rather than trying to legitimize wrestlers by booking lengthy championship reigns. Such an approach has enabled the promotion to keep its main event scene fresh, populated by a rotating cast of players rather than a select group of top talent.
This year itself, the AEW Men’s World Championship has changed hands four times—first at Dynamite: Spring BreakThru, where Darby Allin dethroned MJF for the belt, followed by Double or Nothing 2026, where Big Hebrew reclaimed his strap from the daredevil. Afterwards, at Dynamite: Beach Break, Kenny Omega unseated Friedman for the World Title, which the Best Bout Machine dropped to Will Ospreay at All In: London in August.
The Aerial Assassin mounted his first defense of the AEW Men’s World Title against Jon Moxley at All Out 2026. This retention was quite significant for Ospreay, as he not only avenged his prior loss to the One True King from Dynasty 2026, but also proved to Mox that he is ready to serve as the next “ace” of All Elite Wrestling. Notably, the Billy Goat harbours a similar motivation behind wanting to defend his title against Kazuchika Okada, who had beaten him in the finals of the 2024 Continental Classic.
Standard booking practices dictate that Ospreay will retain the AEW World Title against Okada at Grand Slam: France and even their record in singles competition in All Elite Wrestling. However, a bolder booking decision would see the Rainmaker actually dethrone the Commonwealth Kingpin in Paris. Such an outcome would shake things up in the World Championship landscape from a predictability standpoint, as well as bring Ospreay face-to-face with a massive setback to bounce back from.
The Sky King could regain the Men’s World Championship just over a week later in the Clockwork Carnage World Title match at WrestleDream 2026. Okada could feasibly lose the belt to Ospreay at the PPV, especially considering the latter’s familiarity with the rules of Clockwork Carnage.
#3. Kazuchika Okada becoming AEW World Champion could bring Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita into the World Title picture
Kazuchika Okada’s journey in All Elite Wrestling has been tied up with Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher since he joined the Don Callis Family last year, their interpersonal dynamic taking its first major turn during the semifinals of the 2025 Continental Classic. While facing off against the Alpha, the Rainmaker used a screwdriver against his fellow stablemate that the Protostar had secretly planted beneath the ring turnbuckles to utilize in his own semifinal bout against Jon Moxley.
Okada’s explosive rivalry with Takeshita eventually culminated in the latter dethroning his fellow countryman for the AEW International Championship at Double or Nothing 2026. After the bout, the 2024 C2 winner and his DCF allies seemed poised to attack Takeshita only to be stopped by Kyle Fletcher returning from injury. Although the Aussie Arrow appeared to have his Proto-Shita tag partner’s back, he ended up betraying Takeshita, choosing to remain loyal to his faction.
Although Fletcher unseated Takeshita for the International Title at Beach Break 2026, his relationship with Okada started souring en route to All In: London. At the Wembley Stadium PPV, Okada regained the International Championship in a three-way involving Takeshita and Fletcher, pinning the Australian up-and-comer for the victory, and even forcing the latter to raise his hand afterwards, seemingly to humiliate him.
Fletcher’s relationship with Okada continues to be thorny, as he currently has his sights set on attaining the AEW World Tag Team Titles alongside Kevin Knight. If the Japanese grappler actually manages to defeat Will Ospreay for the Men’s World Title at Grand Slam: France, he may afterwards find himself under Kyle’s crosshairs. Regardless of how he and the Jet might fare against the Young Bucks at WrestleDream 2026, Fletcher could enter the Clockwork Carnage match for the World Championship in a bid to unseat Okada.
Even Konosuke Takeshita could make his return ahead of WrestleDream, and participate in the Clockwork Carnage match at the PPV, rekindling his rivalry with Okada. Putting the AEW World Title on the four-time NJPW G1 Climax winner would thus not only elevate Okada to the company’s main event scene, his coronation at Grand Slam: France could also in turn lead to Fletcher and Takeshita finally joining the Men’s World Championship picture.
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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee
