In our study, we investigate the influence of the proximity of an antiferromagnetic CoO layer on magnetic properties of ultrathin wüstite (FeO) films. Comparative Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements for MgO/FeO/MgO(001) and MgO/FeO/CoO/MgO(001) show that the neighboring CoO layer can significantly enhance the ordering temperature (TN) of wüstite. Importantly, we find that the proximity of antiferromagnetic CoO strongly influences the exchange interaction at the Fe/FeO interface in the Fe/FeO/CoO heterostructure. We observe a 500% enhancement in the exchange bias field and a double increase in the blocking temperature compared to the Fe/FeO bilayer. Our results show that the limitation of the low ordering temperature of a seemingly application-useless antiferromagnet can be overcome by antiferromagnetic proximity.