NJPW World

[LWOLeN]

Just watched the whole match of Spreay vs Ricochet. The crowd was really responsive. They received a this is awesome chant and holy shit.

Very athletic match up. Two of the best at what they do.

 

However, it never felt like a real fight like you are used in Japanese wrestling. Probably 12 crazy spots in 15 minutes. I did not care who would win, I was just curious what they would pull off next. Kushida vs O' Reilly was much better because it DID make me curious to who would win.

 

Ospreay is trying to earn himself a fulltime gig. I totally get why they performed this style, because they know it works for the crowd. However I feel they sort of missed the boat a little. It felt like a cop out in hindsight.

 

This was their chance to challenge themselves and have a Japanese style match against each other. Prove they could work that style also against each other. If you would make a " Best of"  DVD, I would have hoped that this match would be totally different than all their other matches. Isn't that the point of getting that Japan "experience"?

 

Not trying to hate. I can't even perform a proper kick myself. They are amazing workers. Just a tad disappointed by style of the match.

Looking forward to their other matches and wish them the best. 

Edited May 29, 2016 by LWOLeN

[Sphinx]

His first match in Japan was fucking great, but Kushida was the general. Obviously the live crowd loved it, so can you say it's wank? I know wrestling evolves, but I'm still a believer of the foundations being the same regardless of era. He's young, in Japan, and wrestling a style he loves doing whilst the crowd reacts so I can understand that. Long term he needs someone to filter his ideas and to be the general to teach him, but when he's getting talked about and reactions like this, he's going to continue doing what he's doing if he can.

 

For the record, I'm not a fan of this style. I like the intensity he brings, though the swearing is OTT and doesn't constitute great selling for me. If you can do it and get away with it, you probably would though, wouldn't you? The spot that ends in the backwards hurricanrana was probably my least favourite part. When you're so athletic, there'll be spots that you reckon you could do and it's an accomplishment when you pull it off. The hard part is reigning it in and not doing something just because you can.

[WWFChilli]

Really impressive sequences from them. But as a match, they can fuck off with that silly bollocks.

[Sphinx]

I've just seen Regal praise it. I didn't watch the match in disgust - you can turn your mind off and be wowed by the athleticism. And you know what you're likely to get with these two. But you can do that style but with a bit more logic. For example, the backwards hurricanrana spot is ludicrous. Throw the move in there if you want, just not straight after you've taken a death valley to the apron and are being thrown in the ring. You can push things forward in wrestling whilst keeping a bit more logic. It's fine to watch, but there's no emotional attachment (as in wanting either to win or caring how hurt they are) as it becomes sequence after sequence. You can put it on a show and that's fine, but as a worker wanting to make a career for themselves, I think you have to think long term about how far you'll get without the audience caring about those parts.

 

Having said all this, I expect Ospreay to be in there with someone who can guide him in the future and this match won't be the norm. As for Ricochet, I don't care. I don't see so much potential in him from what I've seen.

[Rosler28]

The British gymnast team should sign him up for the Olympics.

[honor87]

The British gymnast team should sign him up for the Olympics.

Agreed, either that or stick him in some speedos and do a Tom Daley gimmick. His finish can be a forward 2 1/2 somersault with pike.

[Liam O'Rourke]

Watched the Ospreay/Ricochet over the weekend. Honestly, if I'd downloaded this match off Kazaa in 2003 I'd have loved it. It's still a bloody amazing match, there's no denying the effort or the athletic skill involved. But the double handspring pose in sync that Raid mentioned was a turn-off, and the no-selling a DVD on the apron is just plain stupid and just had me recoiling and saying "alright this is getting silly now". Especially when you hear that poor Will is getting numbness in his hands at the age of 23 or whatever he is.

 

I love no selling in wrestling done properly. It's dramatic as hell and really can add something. But this isn't "no selling" for dramatic effect, this is just not bothering to sell stuff to get to the next highspot. Somebody on Facebook defending it saying "it's more than 'just a spotfest'". And in many regards, I don't think it is.

 

Until all the talk started singling the match out as a symbol of something bigger, this was just another match that would be forgotten as soon as the next spectacular flying match came along that topped it. To me it's the lack of genuine drama and emotion that sets it back. It's still really damn good, but if they sold more and everything meant more, this match would be been a match of the year.

 

And if I can sound like Ole Anderson for a moment, what's far worse than this match, which as an isolated example is at least spectacular, is all the fucking indy guys who are going to copy this match to try and appeal in the same way but have no idea why it worked in this case (and it undoubtedly did to the live crowd and to many watching).

[2Xtreme_lives]

The spots in the match were very clever, as a match in itself wasn't what I enjoyed but a sequence of moments thoroughly enjoyable. I read the reviews before watching and knew it would be good, I put it on and said to my non wrestling fan fiancee to watch it and she thought it was incredible to watch. Even if it get's her watching more spotty matches it's progress nonetheless 

[KingofSports]

Ricochet vs. Ospreay (27/5):
Having been disparaging towards ‘that style’ and Ricochet in particular, it’d be remiss of me not to redress the balance, even if it’s only in the context of this one, individual match. Thoroughly enjoyed it. If I had to pick 5 matches from the last 3 years to showcase New Japan, I think it’d have to be included. Whilst I’ll never embrace the style and wouldn’t want to watch that sort of thing on a regular basis, as a one-off or as part of a series, it’d be no problem at all. If I were being critical, I could perhaps point to a lack of selling, but hell, it was fun. Even the dastardly, choreographed sequence failed to raise my ire.
 

[PunkStep]

Especially when you hear that poor Will is getting numbness in his hands at the age of 23 or whatever he is.

 

Is this true? Fucking hell. That's a wake up call if anything is.

[air_raid]

Just to follow up, Liam, this is an exchange I had on FriendFace earlier ;

 

Raid : "Watched the match in its entirety earlier. From bell to bell its mostly a really good state of the art match, but Ospreay performing that reverse rana mere seconds after he's been given a DVD on the apron? That can suck a bag of dicks. There's "fighting spirit," there's outright dodgy selling and then there's completely ignoring the fact you're just supposed to have taken a Death Valley fucking Driver on the apron."

 

Slightly less cynical friend : "So mainly it's complaining about lack of selling and that it's just a spot-fest lacking proper story. I can see your point, but I don't care. It's entertaining, so screw it. I have zero motivation to argue wrestling in today's market."

 

Raid : "I like the modern "go nuts" style within reason much as I like 45 minutes of armbars. Ospreay's match with Marty Scurll at York Hall, the KUSHIDA match, others.... all good. But it's still an entertainment medium based on pretend fighting and as soon as people just spring up from nasty head drops on the apron, my gut reaction is "Oh, come on!""

 

I forgive a lot of crap other people don't as "business exposing shit", like the Canadian Destroyer for instance, but that's a willingness to suspend my disbelief that its one guy doing the move instead of the other guy helping him do it. I'm not willing to accept people just go straight back on the attack immediately after stuff like that DVD.

[LaGoosh]

 

Especially when you hear that poor Will is getting numbness in his hands at the age of 23 or whatever he is.

 

Is this true? Fucking hell. That's a wake up call if anything is.

On a podcast he said he's got nerve damage in his spine, numbness in his hands and occasionally loses feeling in one of his feet. The man needs to slow it down. He'll be retired by 27 at this rate surely.

[GlennCullen]

If that's the case and he's still doing this shit, then he's a fucking idiot.

[westlondonmist]

I heard about the feet but not the hands. If he carries on he'll be retired before 27. Someone needs to tell him that his matches would still look good, possibly better if he cut the spots by half. He does some great spots and does them well, matches like his Kushida one show he can sell and tell a story, so I don't understand why he is doing stuff like this on a big tour, his body will not recover. 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Kushida might be my favourite worker going at the minute, I find his matches fascinating and I'm not even sure exactly why. His look aswel, kids wearing the gilet, he seems mega over right now.