Who is Will Ospreay?

Taking a look at one of the hottest properties in the word of professional wrestling, Will Ospreay.

You may just have watched Will Ospreay make his debut in NJPW. It’s not very often a guy gets a time shot in his first match for such a big company, but that’s exactly what happened for one of the most talented his flyers of his generation. Ospreay may not have defeated IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kushida, but he sure as hell made a big impression in his first match in Japan.

The man known as “The Aerial Assassin” is on his way to becoming your new favourite wrestler. If you’re a fan of men like Ricochet and Matt Sydal then Ospreay will be right up your street. He’s one of a group of men who are flying the flag for Great Britain around the wrestling world and has all the ability to be the next breakout Englishman to make a big splash in America and eventually NXT.

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It’s hard to believe that Ospreay is only 22. It seems like he’s been around for a very long time. Making his professional debut in 2012, after training in the London School of Lucha Libre, Ospreay holds AJ Styles as the reason he wanted to get into wrestling. After seeing a triple threat match between Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels he knew he wanted to be a professional wrestler. He marked his early career with appearances in Progress Wrestling, RevPro, IPW and FPW across England. He gained plaudits for his matches with Mark Andrews in Progress and as part of the Swords of Essex tag team (with Paul Robinson) in RevPro.

He may be best known for moves like the 630 Senton, Corkscrew Shooting Star Press and the Essex Destroyer (front flip DDT) but he also has a solid foundation of mat wrestling. Throughout 2014 he starred for promotions up and down the UK, whilst in early 2015 he made his debut in Germany’s WXW. His real base was Progress though, where he fulfilled a year long plus feud with Jimmy Havoc to win the Progress title in an absolute war. That win came after he had won the Progress Super Strong Style 16 tournament, beating Zack Sabre Jr in the final.

On the back of that win he saw himself make his first steps into the United States. Gaining a spot in PWG’s 2015 Battle of Los Angeles, he more than held his own in beating Mark Andrews and Matt Sydal before losing to Mike Bailey in the Semi Finals. All three matches introduced him to a new audience in epic fashion. He returned to star for PWG at All Star Weekend 11 in December 2015, his match with Kenny Omega gaining rave reviews.

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Back on British shores he lost the Progress title to Marty Scurll, and the pair have since taken their feud around the world, with a match for the belt at the super show held at WrestleCon over WrestleMania weekend. Ospreay was one of the British men who was added to the TNA UK tour in January 2016, and would have been heavily featured by them if he hadn’t revealed he’d signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling. That news was probably more of a loss to TNA than anyone though as Ospreay’s style will go down well in Japan opposite guys like Kushida and Okada. Okada is a man that Ospreay has already faced on his home soil, the pairs match in Rev Pro being one of the highlights of 2016.

With the WrestleMania weekend comes a whole host of shows, and Ospreay was heavily featured. He lost out to Scurll in the aforementioned Progress title match in Dallas, as well as stealing the show in singles matches opposite Ricochet and Zack Sabre Jr under the EVOLVE banner. It should come as no surprise if he is announced as part of the WWE/NXT Global Cruiserweight Series later this year and that will more than likely lead to a spot in NXT at some point in 2017.

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Keep an eye on Will Ospreay, he’s just become the next big thing in professional wrestling!

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