Will Ospreay

[Control21]

7 minutes ago, fxnj said:

Who does this? I enjoy Ospreay's big matches for the high octane stunt shows that they are, but can't say I see more than superficial similarities between him and 90s AJPW.

I see a lot of comments to that degree on Twitter or the Discord channels I visit. 

[donsem43]

He's the Mary Sue of pro wrestling to a fault.

[Kadaveri]

12 hours ago, InYourCase said:

I don't particularly like Hiroshi Hase or Yoshiaki Fujiwara, but I vote for them, because they are overwhelmingly great.

Dude if you don't like a wrestler don't put them in your Top 100 Ever list.

And I'm gonna use that as a jumping off point because I've never experienced the feeling that I'm being peer-pressured by some astroturfing campaign into saying a wrestler is "objectively" great like with Will Ospreay the last year or so. It's really quite weird. I've actually seen him live many many times in 2013-16 when he was a regular on the UK indies and I can't remember ever having strong feelings about him. He was just a guy. If people enjoy his style of wrestling then more power to them but it's not something that interests me at all. To me his kayfabe character is "guy who is phenomenally great at every aspect of wrestling" (I wonder if that makes people think he's actually that in real life), like you've put in a cheat code to give your video game character maxed out stats on everything. It all feels aimed at people who mainly appreciate the most surface elements of pro-wrestling (e.g. athleticism and moves) which most obviously require "real" skill to uninitiated eyes, but there's no pro-wrestling soul to any of it. He's like the culmination of "sports entertainment" over pro-wrestling. I don't believe in any of it. The comparisons with Misawa feel bizarre to me as I simply cannot imagine ever believing in a Will Ospreay comeback the way I get sucked into e.g. Misawa's big comeback against Taue 4/15/95. Misawa has a certain level of vulnerability and determination to struggle against the odds that Ospreay can't convey because nothing ever really affects him. I don't hate it, there are a bunch of Will Ospreay matches I thought were really good, but the overall package is a bit boring and uninspired to me.

[Makai Club #1]

Ospreay is pretty great but he's layerless. Goes one speed, does his thing regardless of opponent and it either clicks or it doesn't. Compares to the true all time greats, with the exception of maybe Flair, they all are much more varied and layered in what they have to offer. 

 

Ospreay is about as good as you can get for someone who doesn't emotionally move me. But there are plenty that I think are better and do move me when I'm watching them. And that's what this is about. If there is any mention of objectivity when it comes to wrestling, you've adopted the wrong mindset already.

[Matt D]

Do we think he could work a blindfold match? 

[Jetlag]

I think guys like him really suffer from the overhype. Like, with the kind of praise that is getting heaped on him, I expect to see some seriously mindblowing shit, and instead I get tornado DDTs and spanish flys which every indy guy is doing now. Like yeah he is decently spectacular, but doesn't really stand up to someone like Rey Jr in the 90s or Le Petit Prince, or even the likes of Jerry Lynn and RVD. Also since I've seen French Catch I'm not very impressed by the fact that all his matches are insanely long. Pudgy bald guys like Angelito could do better exchanges over similiar timespans. All that and the fact he doesn't really excel through storytelling or selling makes me have zero interest in watching him.

[Tetsujin]

I agree that Ospreay mostly works much better as a babyface, never liked his heel run in New Japan for example. But you all guys need to check his G1 match against Taichi last year. It's absolutely incredible how good ol Wil Ospreay works that match, he totally controls the pace by restraining himself and he somehow makes his style work as a bullying method against Taichi, who feels like the biggest underdog in the world. It's probably the most unique Ospreay match ever.