Will Ospreay

[El McKell]

11 hours ago, David Mantell said:

On a general level Mason, Allmark, Breaks, Bryant and others including Robbie Dynamite (Berzins), Tony Spitfire, Jack Starz, Harry Sefton and Nino's younger brothers Xander and Leland have perpetuated the Traditional British style into the 21st century whereas Osprey and ZSJr are just two guys who fit the bill of what is deemed trendy by the US indie cognoscenti and who just so happen to b3 British.

Firstly, I will say I think you are absolutely correct that James Mason and Dean Allmark wrestle in a style that is a clear continuation of the British wrestling that came before them (no comment on the other wrestlers you've mentioned because I haven't seen them). And I think you're correct that Will Ospreay is a guy who epitomises what is  now the pervasive (almost homogenous) international wrestling style shaped by an amalgamation of Dragon Gate and 90s AJPW 00s ROH and 10s PWG. But Zack Sabre Jr does not fit that bill, Zack Sabre Jr works a style that nobody else works, he is not a continuation of the British wrestling style that came before him (although he takes some influence from it) but he also definitely does not fit the bill of anything that has ever been trendy on US indies.

And because this it the Ospreay thread, I do wanna say it may look like in the paragraph above that I think ZSJ is better than Ospreay. Or maybe just that I am saying Zack is better than Will in one specific way. But I am not saying that. I do not think it is any better to be the only one who does a particular thing, than to be the absolute best at something too many people do. And I don't doubt for a second that when it comes to that internationally pervasive wrestling style of the 2020s nobody does it better than Will Ospreay.

[David Mantell]

4 minutes ago, El McKell said:

Zack Sabre Jr ... is not a continuation of the British wrestling style

The salient point.

[David Mantell]

8 minutes ago, El McKell said:

no comment on the other wrestlers you've mentioned because I haven't seen them

I shall be posting separate matches involving both Tony Spitfire and Jack Starz to the British and German threads at the weekend and you can judge for yourself.  I have seen both live and saw Tony working as a ring announcer less than 2 months ago.
Nino and Jordan I have not seen in the flesh but have seen plenty of on Youtube, particularly on my Smart TV, to the point where they are regular current TV wrestlers in my life.

[highflyflow]

What’s the use of being the absolute best at a style that’s amongst the most aggravating in wrestling today?

[David Mantell]

23 minutes ago, highflyflow said:

What’s the use of being the absolute best at a style that’s amongst the most aggravating in wrestling today?

Which style are you referring to? 

Osprey's high flying stuff or Old School British Wrestling? 

If you mean the latter then grrr, frankly. 😄

(unless you're serious in which case you and I need to have a debate)

[highflyflow]

10 minutes ago, David Mantell said:

Which style are you referring to? 

Osprey's high flying stuff or Old School British Wrestling? 

If you mean the latter then grrr, frankly. 😄

(unless you're serious in which case you and I need to have a debate)

The former, I was directly quoting @El McKell's post. To be clear, I understand that plenty of people love this stuff, but I really don't have much use for a deeply flawed wrestler perpetuating a deeply flawed style and being considered the best of the bunch in one of the weaker decades for wrestling in recent memory.

[David Mantell]

On 12/11/2025 at 9:18 AM, David Mantell said:

I shall be posting separate matches involving both Tony Spitfire and Jack Starz to the British and German threads at the weekend and you can judge for yourself.

Done!  (both)

Quote

The former, 

Fair enough.

[HeadCheese]

On 12/10/2025 at 1:36 PM, David Mantell said:

On a general level Mason, Allmark, Breaks, Bryant and others including Robbie Dynamite (Berzins), Tony Spitfire, Jack Starz, Harry Sefton and Nino's younger brothers Xander and Leland have perpetuated the Traditional British style into the 21st century whereas Osprey and ZSJr are just two guys who fit the bill of what is deemed trendy by the US indie cognoscenti and who just so happen to b3 British.

Teenage Mason was the hot prospect Old School British Wrestling needed in the mid 90s, regarded by some as the last great product of the old time system of brining up talent in the game, (FOOTNOTE: some would argue he shares that distinction with Jason Cross and Justin Hansford and I could add a couple more mid 1990s names like Stevie Bee and Robbie Michaels, but anyway ...) a light in the seeming oncoming darkness of tribute act hell By the Noughties he had the reputation of being able to have a great match with even the proverbial broomstick (no less than Chic Cullen has used those terms in private correspondence to me when discussing James) and charming good guy while equally capable as both a thuggish villain and a slightly edgy tweener on the verge of getting upset with a situation and going heel.

Dean Allmark was in 2001 the frontman of a crew of around half a dozen teenage rookies from the Staffordshire area whose hardcore promotion GBH was shut down by the local council and who were retrained from scratch by All Star veterans into an entire new generation of Old Schoolies. If Mason kept the lights on, the Staffs gang banished the darkness permanently.  The charismatic and boyish Allmark quickly became star turn of this crew and a natural top blue eye for All Star for many years. His long running feud with fellow Staffs crowder Robbie Dynamite was for several years the natural match of the night on many All Star shows.  Mason and Allmark's style meshed well enough for them to have state of the art Grad Brit matches. While some saw mason go into paranoid heel mode others remained technical masterpieces to the climax

Jordan Breaks is a blossoming retro wonder, a serious scholar of the less flashy lights of yesteryear - such as his namesakes Mike "Flash" Jordan and Jim Breaks. Often breaking out in the modern era spots and sequences last seen decades earlier and breathing new life into them. 

 

 

Current British Lightweight Champion Nino Bryant is the heir apparent to the lineage  of the great parade of TBW wonderkids in the 70s/80s like Bobby Ryan. Dynamite Kid (whom the curly mopped Nino physically resembles.) Davey Boy, Danny Collins, Kid MCoy etc. Able to on the one hand have speed and skill masterpieces for his title and on the other to be the raging  fuming underdog in his feud with heavier arrogant heel Tate Mayfairs.  The emergence of his kid brothers Xander and Leland have allowed Nino to walk his first miles in the shoes of the experienced veteran helping to build a younger generation, jobbing a trophy tournament final  his his brother and giving him a competitive title match before ultimately retaining, germinating the next generation.

 

Will try to watch, thank you for sharing

[David Mantell]

5 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

Will try to watch, thank you for sharing

It all comes down to an Old School/New School schism in Britain since the 1990s (and highlighted in an invasion angle the FWA did in 2001) with the neo Trad Brit scene as the Old School and the Americanised promotions as the "New School".

Allmark, Spitfire, Robbie Dynamite, Mikey Whipwreck etc were the heirs  to 90s kids James Mason/Justin Hansford/Jason Cross etc who in turn were of the final generation of ITV wrestlers (Robbie Brookside, Doc Dean, Kid McCoy, Peter Bainbridge).  Jack Starz, Jordan Breaks, the Byrant Brothers etc are the next generation after Deano/Robbie Dynamite etc.

On the other side of the coin, someone like Will Opsrey/Pete Dunne etc is the successor to people like Alex Shane, Mark Haskins etc- people who were trained in the Americanised promotions and consequently are a good fit for modern American indie promotions.

(Incidentally, Doug Williams and Nigel McGuiness are in a halfway house as they come from the New School originally but can both work Old School fluently and can fit in nicely on All Star or Premier shows when booked on them.)