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Will Ospreay


Dylan Waco

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  • 6 years later...

SOO... what do people think now?

I have no clue. I'm not in love with everything he does, but he does have tons of great matches, at least in my opinion. He was above average as a junior heavyweight even if all of his performances weren't exactly good. It kind of depended on who he was in the ring with. But I really like him now that he's a heavyweight. He's cut down on the flippy bs and he's looked so much better. Five years ago I would've said no, he's not enough, but now I think he might be able to sneak onto my list, even if it's 100-90. I don't know. I feel like if I were to watch some of his early junior heavyweight matches I would be turned off. I like current Ospreay, he's one of the better wrestlers right now IMO. Maybe the best in the world. 

 

 

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Personally, I think Ospreay was at his best as a Jr. Heavyweight working from behind against established NJPW stars. I'm probably in the minority of people who feel that way, but the style appeared to (at least initially) reign in some of the worst aspects of his performances that often got out of hand on the indies, while still emphasizing those athletic flips and dives that look genuinely outstanding. I don't think he ever really transitioned out of the acrobatics, just that he wants to be strike heavy alongside the high-flying offense. In theory I think that last part sounds a bit like Misawa, except I don't find it appropriate at all for Ospreay in practice. Hate the way he carries himself, groan at the way his matches all come across as Okada-like, loathe the overacting and his selling nowadays, care less and less for the big spots each time I watch them done, and have really despised how he's picked moves from various wrestlers to input into his finishing stretches, most recently teasing and even hitting the One-Winged Angel. Very frustrating wrestler, especially now that he's able to dictate the direction and pace of most matches he's in.

To his credit though, he's one of 6 or so wrestlers to have over 100 matches with an average rating of >8.00 on Cagematch (the others I know of being Danielson, Chris Hero, ZSJ, Okada and Tanahashi). Maybe that fact will hold weight with some fans.

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I love the match where his leg gets worked on for half of it and then he starts throwing out big flips in response, great psychology

But yeah Ospreay's a great spot worker but his direction and ability to put a match together are dreadful: you end up having a mess of stuff all across the board and usually rather bloated as a result. His best matches come when he's forced to work with somebody who course-corrects his antics and makes them palpable. Other than that, you have a weird blend of traits that should realistically give a ton of great matches to work with but instead kinda just results in confusing matches most of the time. He's improved from his earlier years; I'll give him that. Top 100 wrestlers? Absolutely not.

 

 

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He's a worse version than Kenny Omega's worst version. I actually really enjoyed his early NJPW run as a Jr from 2016-19, you can see him learning to find an accurate balance to his style over time. I will even say he was NJPW's WOTY for 2019. But as soon as they pushed him to the moon in order to find another Kenny, he went back to being this insufferable attention whore kind of wrestler that I hate, with double the ego. Everything about him cringes me nowadays.

 

Oh and his pre-NJPW stuff is hit or miss.

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Ospreay's 2016-2019 Jr. run was fantastic, and he was often unfairly maligned for just being a spot monkey when matches like the ones he had against KUSHIDA dispel that notion. Since turning HW, he may have become more well-rounded, but he's lost what drew me to him in the first place and he feels like some mix of Omega and Okada but without the strengths of either. I will say he has had a strong year this year, but not to the WOTY level like some people are saying.

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Very athletic, some very impressive flips, dives and acrobactics. All that is good. However, it feels like that without the proper partner, his matches are all style, no substance. We saw, in a span of like three weeks, Dax and Orange Cassidy work circles around him.

I just really don't like how he uses all his tools or carries himself. Feels like a bit of a waste.

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  • 1 year later...

We're now at the point where this guy has a half decade plus of being the WOTY or among the top few.  If he retired tomorrow he'd be in my all time top quartile and I'd have to think long and hard about just how high to place him.  His best days should be ahead of him but between injuries, booking and selective opportunities that's far from a given and yet it can't unwind one of the best careers to date.  Really remarkable.

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I don't think he would crack my top 200 as of now. A lot of his matches fall flat with me. I think Ospreay sums up some of the issues with the "Fight Forever" style of wrestling that is so dominant in today's industry. A lot of his matches are about getting moves in and letting his opponent get their moves in as well, but there is a serious lack of urgency and struggle.

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On 9/1/2022 at 12:09 PM, Tetsujin said:

He's a worse version than Kenny Omega's worst version. I actually really enjoyed his early NJPW run as a Jr from 2016-19, you can see him learning to find an accurate balance to his style over time. I will even say he was NJPW's WOTY for 2019. But as soon as they pushed him to the moon in order to find another Kenny, he went back to being this insufferable attention whore kind of wrestler that I hate, with double the ego. Everything about him cringes me nowadays.

 

Oh and his pre-NJPW stuff is hit or miss.

While I still feel this way, gotta admit, his 2023 has been amazing. He's probably the WOTY at this point. Also, saw him live in Wembley and man, I just connected with everything he did there. They were the same spots of every match, I know, but something about watching him being this athletic freak, such fluid movement, just in front of your eyes, you just mark out. So I get why he's always so over with the crowds.

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4 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

something about watching him being this athletic freak, such fluid movement, just in front of your eyes, you just mark out.

This is absolutely how I've felt every single time I saw him live, there's something special about seeing him do this crazy stuff both so gracefully & impactfully that I don't think other wrestlers I've seen in person match.

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  • 5 months later...

He's extremely good. As others have said, and true athlete who just moves so smoothly. He's also among the most-self indulgent wrestlers I've seen and that can make things a slog to get through. He's an all-dessert kind of wrestler. It sounds great at first, but too much makes you sick and craving for some protein and vegetables.

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I'd have to think long and hard about how high to rank someone so young, but would likely end up going irrationally high on someone who's only turning 31 in a couple weeks. We're now at at over half a decade where he's arguably the best wrestler in the entire world. Top 10 sounds like something I'd potentially regret. But 20? 30? It'd seem silly to put him any lower given everything he's already done.

EDIT: Ha! Just realized I expressed the same thought 6 months back. Certainly no less conviction today.

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Been following Ospreay since he was 20 working the British Indies. I'm glad that he has gotten as far as he has. He's always been a fun but flawed wrestler but emphasis on fun. He's excelled in every role he's undertook. He was a great Junior Heavyweight, transitioned to Heavy well, had good-great matches with almost every he's had with maybe the exception of Shingo Takagi. Something about those two together leaves me cold and unmoved. And he seems to have instantly connected with the American audiences, although he's been in and out for years, so it's not exactly an instant thing. 

If I had to rank him among the european peers, I'd rank him beneath Gunther (AKA WALTER) and Zack Sabre Jr and that it. I would put Jim Breaks but I haven't seen enough in my mind to justify it. Ospreay just isn't my particular tastes to rank him over these two, let alone some of the best wrestlers of all time but I'll find a spot for him somewhere.

 

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9 hours ago, Troyvang said:

He's extremely good. As others have said, and true athlete who just moves so smoothly. He's also among the most-self indulgent wrestlers I've seen and that can make things a slog to get through. He's an all-dessert kind of wrestler. It sounds great at first, but too much makes you sick and craving for some protein and vegetables.

That's where I was in 2022, and that's where I am in 2024. In terms of being an athlete, he's among the top. He's strong, fast, jumps high, bumps like a madman, has insane acrobatic ability, yet what he does with all that just doesn't connect with me.

I don't think him and Gunther are in the same league, really. 

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