LIVE LAUGH BRUV : The Will Ospreay Story

In this episode of Cruising With Kayfabe, we dive deep into the extraordinary career of Will Ospreay, the “Aerial Assassin.” From his early days on the British independent wrestling scene to becoming a global sensation in NJPW and AEW, Ospreay’s rise is nothing short of legendary.
We explore how 2024 solidified his status as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, featuring multiple Match of the Year contenders and unforgettable performances. Beyond the ring, we discuss his openness about living with ADHD and neurodivergence, his magnetic personality, and why he’s truly special both as an athlete and as a person.
Join us for a celebration of Will Ospreay’s incredible journey and legacy.
 Listen now for unmatched insight into the career of a wrestling icon!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:43):
And Welcome to Cruis No Cafe by Mongo And today's
episode is titled Live Laugh Pro And I guess you
could say it's all about the billy god himself, Will Osprey.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
What better person to talk about after the year of
twenty twenty four, the year of ospray.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Say one, If he's not getting Wrestler of the Year,
I don't know what the criteria is anymore, because since
he arrives in aw officially at Revolution in March, from
all the way up to worlds End against Ukata, I
haven't seen a bad match out of Osprey this year.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
No. We watched him break his ass live. We've also
watched him every pay per view kick ass.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Watched him take a Tiger Driver, watch him give Tiger drivers,
watched him literally live up to his nickname of the
Aerial Assassin, had that awesome Assassin's screed entrance at all
in I mean, I know we always joke on the
show that I have a man crush on Osprey, but
I mean, look at the dude in the ring.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
He's a fucking video game character.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It doesn't matter who you are if you're not crushing
on Osprey. Do you know wrestling?

Speaker 1 (01:49):
I mean, and some people don't like the oo flippy
stuff all the same, I don't give me all that
flippy shit.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
He doesn't just do that though. That's what people don't
give him enough credit for us As awesome as he
is as the aerial Assassin, he's also a technician, wizard.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
And you know, he got his start from people who
are very much still relevant in the industry today. So
Osprey has always said that what got him into wrestling
was T and A Unbreakable two thousand and five, where
he watched Somemojo, Christopher Daniels and aj Styles have one
of the best triple threat matches, and if you actually
check out our Patreon, we actually did a watch along

(02:25):
that match because Emily had never actually seen it. So
that was the match that inspired him, and that's why
I had Emily watch it, but she didn't know.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's why I watch it.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
On top of that, he's always filling in the Easter eggs.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I like to, you know, I like to have those
little references. I feel like all the great directors and
all the great movies out there, they always have these
little plot devices. Aw has these little plot devices. I
think it just makes for a more compelling story, and
you know, Ospray's got a very compelling story.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
You know, he grew up in you know, England.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
He went to the school with Chi Libre, but after
seeing that he decided, you know, twenty twelve was the
year he sided to be a wrestler. And he also
took influence from a very famous Japanese legend, Hyabusa. And
I'm sure you've seen some of the gear he woren't
Forbidden Door as well as Wrestling Kingdom. He wore the
Hiyabusa gear with the blessing of the family because unfortunate
Hiabusa would pass away, so he wore the mask the gear.

(03:17):
And I think if you've ever seen him wrestle Hyabusa
that is, you'd see why he's inspired by him. It's
the fluidity of how you jump off the ropes, to
how you move in the ring, to your favorite thing,
the footwork when they're almost skating around the ring because
they're just so fast.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
When you can't keep track of where someone's going and
what they're about to do next, it makes it a
little more exciting, it does.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
And you know, when we got to talk to Zach
Knight and Cheap Plug Out the interview if you check
it out in our archives at kruzumokfeb on YouTube, Facebook
and all socials.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Make sure you check it out.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
But one of the things he said is wrestling is
so much more than just one thing. It's it's everything.
And I think that's what made you know, Will kind
of growing up in the UK seen that because I
learned a lot from that zacch gonview that that's what
the UK scene was. You had the strong style, you
had the Lucha libre, you had the technical like the
zach Saber Juniors. You had all these different melting pots

(04:13):
of wrestling and who knew that, you know, a young
kid ninety three would grow up and just be one
of the best at every style he's done. I mean again,
if you look at his career from twenty twelve to
twenty twenty four to twelve years, go back and try
to find some bad matches, because I looked on cage
Match even the low rated matches were still wow.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
So you're telling me he's been pretty much this great
since the start.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, he always had the athleticism because him and his
friends practice Parker. He talks a lot about that growing up.
You know, they go out to the playgrounds and you know,
you know, think about that, he's three years younger than you.
Our generation was definitely into the Parkourt trend when it
came out. I'm not able to do it, but I
watched people do.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I can't do a cart real. You want to teach me,
let me know.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
That's because you get the t rexcellent.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Baby.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
But it's just knowing that, you know, seeing Backyard Wrestling
and seeing aj Styles and Hayabusa and Smoe Joe and
then seeing Parkor and just he developed his styles. Seeing that,
I think it's incredible, Like he decided to be that
Assassin's Creed character and so again he evolved all this
into himself and would go on the indies Rev Pro.

(05:23):
We're going to make his name when in the British
heavyweight title. But then AJ Styles told a certain New Japan,
Hey check out this kid well Osprey, and he would
enter New Japan wrestling in twenty sixteen, which think about
how long ago twenty sixteen is, but also how like
not long ago it feels. It feels like Brett Will's
been wrestling for twenty years, but he's really been at
the top level for not even ten yet.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Isn't that insane to think about?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
That is really insane, especially seeing the names like AJ
Styles and Zach Saber Junior. You know both of them
have been around.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, and he would go you know, even before the
Eage Band, he would have a match with the AJ
Styles because he became friends with him, which I think
that's freaking cool that you grew up watching someone and
then you get to wrestle them and become friends with him.
So soone he was inspired to become a wrestler by
was now wrestling him in Japan because I remember AJ
Styles left TNA at the height of his popularity, went

(06:14):
over to New Japan, and New Japan really had its
big rise again probably twenty thirteen to twenty eighteen. They
really had this influx of talent coming from TNA, coming
from Ring of Honor because w was, you know, a monopoly,
but they wanted to do something different. They didn't all
want the W system. So New Japan was featuring the
strong style, the technical, the AJ Styles, the high flying.

(06:36):
So AJ Styles saw will Osprey and said, yeah, you
fit right in now. He didn't go right into the top.
He wasn't going into like the g One's He wasn't
going into the heavyweight he was going into what's called
the junior heavyweight division, which to kind of americanized that
it's kind of like a light heavyweight division, so not
you know, not like a two eight hundred and eighty pounder,
not three hundred pounder, but like a mix between cruiserweight

(06:58):
and right below heavyweight. So you know, he was a
little smaller for his size, but he flew through the
super's division.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
He had that famous.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Match with Ricochet, which our friend Brian who if you
check out the Undone at their website, we are the
undone dot com. I asked him today, said, hey, what
got you into a Osprey because I like to ask
everyone who likes him, like, what was your first ospray moment?

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And he says, you know, I'm gonna.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Be cliche like everybody else, and it's it's that Ricochet
Osprey Super Junior's match from New Japan and seeing that,
you know, eight years later they're running that back twice.
How wild is that to you because that was one
of the first matches you saw too.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
I think that it was something that was so necessary
because you're like, this is what you based your liking
of them off of Well, now you have them in
the same company with people that maybe didn't seek out
that match. Let's show them it. Let's give them a
little bit of that match. So I think it created
more fans for both of them if you weren't already

(07:55):
a fan of either of them, because that's what started
the fandom. I mean, that's almost how I found Ricochet
as well. We didn't watch Ricochet for very long before
I saw that match.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
You didn't I saw mister. We also were really flowing
together by then.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, when we look at wrestling from twenty thirteen to
twenty eighteen, it was a majority of the same exact
people always on television, so you didn't get more than
a variety of twenty to thirty people. So when you
see the newcomers that came in, you had Alistair Black
and Ricochet come in together. They were something different.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Something innovative, Like you had people that were really truly
shining on this main roster because they were so different
and so athletic.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well, that's what made NXT Black and Gold so special
as they saw what was going on over in Japan.
They're not stupid, you know, regardless of and this isn't
anything towards anything. This is just me find the point
something out if you think about it from a perspective,
I'm you know, booking nxt' Ring of Honor, you know,
scouting at who's gonna be available, and I'm watching Kashita

(09:05):
go against Will Osprey. I'm watching this Ricochet kid go
against the willstraight and I'm watching these clips go viral
on YouTube before viral is really a thing. I'm hearing
people talk about these wrestlers that have never been in
the w system. I've never been in TNA. What better
chance than to take a chance of some of these guys.
And you know, have the two of five tournament. You know,
they brought in the Cruise right Classic to bring in
a Zach Saber junior. They brought in people from Ring

(09:27):
of Honor, likea Adam Cole, likea Kevin Stein, like the Samy's,
and like you were saying, Alistair Black, they started recognizing
this potential.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
And that's one thing Triple H.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Did well is he brought all these people in, but
he did not bring in an Osprey because Osprey committed
to New Japan.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's one thing a lot.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
Of people don't know about Osprey's he committed long term
to New Japan. When he first went there, he was
very loyal to him because that was the first company
that really gave a chance. I mean, he worked rev Pro,
he won the title. He works Progress, but Super Junior's vision.
He got it and they rewarded him. He won three
super Junior championships. He dominated that division. He pretty much

(10:04):
beat everyone. He made a name for himself when you
if you look up New Japan's super Juniors from like
twenty sixteen to like twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, it's.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
All will Osprey. He dominates that entire division.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
If you want to look at some matches, when you
listen to the end of the show, we have a
bunch of matches we're going to give you instead of
going on order by every match, we've picked out the
top ten outside of eight w in the top ten
in aw there's a lot of the super juniors on there,
like Amazing Red, like a Jimmy Havoc, like a cashier,
like I said, like an Okada. There's so many people

(10:39):
he set foot in the ring with that you didn't
think you'd see. He fought Vader in twenty fifteen. Like
before Vader passed away. It wasn't a great match, but
a legendary big Van Vader will lostprey fuck him.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yes, if you listen to talk to Jericho, you'll hear
more about why we're telling you that that wasn't his
favorite match. But that's for you to listen to and
for you to decide.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
And I mean, I can agree without kind of going
into it. I can't agree.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Basically, his feelings are valid because he's a competitor, and
I think we talk about all his matches and we
haven't seen a bad match. And I think it's his passion,
it's his drive, it's I feel like he goes out
there and he thinks he sucks, and I think here's
the one up himself. Every single time he wrestles, he
I don't know if you notice this end when you
watch it. When he's wrestling, it always feels he's locked

(11:25):
in one hundred percent going for gold. Doesn't matter if
it's an opening match for the g One or if
it's a weekly show in Dynamite. He's going one hundred
miles an hour. You could be due his detriment, but
when have you ever seen him not go full ospray?

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Because that's part of what makes Ospray Ospray. He gives
that one hundred percent. He's always looking to improve and
he's always looking to create more of a craft. I
think that's something that comes from working in New Japan.
When we talked with Jadas, she said the same thing
is that they just have a different style of wrestling

(11:58):
that she is now learning. You just saw Anna Jay
come back with her improved style. I think that Mariah
May coming in Tony Storm has this. Like these people
that we're idolizing at the moment that are very much
on top have all been through the New Japan system,
and I think that that's very important. Look at Mercedes Monet.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
If you look at really how wrestling for TV versus
wrestling in New Japan or wrestling on the Indians is
so different. I think it helps, like you said, because
they're able to adapt the style and bring it to
television where it has been seen on television for decades.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
I agree with you completely.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think everyone who is into wrestling should look into
going to the New Japan in Florida and the dojo.
Look into Cheeseburger's school in New Jersey because he works
with Juician Leiger look into training schools of people who
maybe worked at New Japan Strong or gone to Tokyo because.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
They host things in LA as well.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, the La Dojo, they do the open school
of the gyms.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
And I think that's kind of what makes ausburtim is
he recognized that he needed to keep bettering himself. And
you know, he's getting towards the tail end at twenty eighteen,
and he's having our great rivalry with Marty Scrow, you know,
Ring of Honor him. He's starting to see the bucks.
He's starting to see Kenny Omega. You start get so
you now have him feeding with Scroll Omega Okada. He's
a member of Chaos at this point. So he's making

(13:22):
a name for himself. He's growing into who he's going
to become. So, you know, twenty eighteen, he's still a
young pup, you know, in the business, but he's still
another foreigner.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
In New Japan.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
And at this time he was dating somebody that was
part of nxt UK and if you look into the
history of that, she also worked for Stardom. She was
very big across the board, and I think that being
able to train with her and other people that were
involved in the women's soccer room. You can also see

(13:54):
that style has transcended over to the women's division that
hard hit that fast pace. Not saying that he worked
with all of the women over there, but the fact
that he was able to work with some of them,
it really does show. And that is also where he
was able to work with Hannah and do things with
her and be able to like check in still now

(14:17):
with her mom and do everything around all of that.
I believe he also raised money for her.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
He did.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
He helped when she asked she passed away, he was
one of the ones who helped raise money kind of
in support of her and also ending cyber bullying. And
that's one thing is he's he's a genuine person. You know,
he talks on his interviews. We've gotten to talk to
him a couple of times in person. We get to
talk to him again on the cruise. Cannot wait for it.
And he just comes off genuine. If you listen to

(14:44):
his interviews, he's not trying to unless unless he's in
a storyline it's about his opponent. If he's talking about
himself or his family, he's not trying to hide it.
He's trying to be real. He talks about his narrowdivergency,
he talks about his ADHD's autism, is you know, his
his neurospiciness to call it, because he thinks and he
feels the same as a lot of us who have

(15:05):
any kind of neurodivergency, feel that it's not a hindrance,
that it's something you work with, it's something you can
use to your advantage. He found his superpower and he
says that's what made him feel like a superhero, is
finding his superpower. And I think that's what I've always
kind of connected with Osprey because hearing those interviews, after
seeing these matches, I was like, oh, so he's open
about himself. He talks about his struggles, he talks about

(15:27):
his successes. He's a realist. I just I was drawn
to him.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
You know, I think that's something to touch on as well,
because if you do have neurodivergency, look into your strong suits.
That's how we survive though here. I mean, I found
masking really helped with the waitress thing.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
I mean, I mean we found a hobby. Sometimes you
deep dive.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
I mean this podcast started as a hobby and now
we love doing it every week.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
We love doing our lives. We get to talk about
will Osprey.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
It's not just me talking to her on the couch
and her rolling her eyes because I've done the same
thing three hundred sixty three times. It's we get to
kind of say out what we feel and how seeing
him rise. Because I really started watching a lot of
New Japan and Ring of Honor twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen,
I fell off.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
I've said that many times on the show before.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
You know, Emily rediscovered w twenty fourteen, kind of watched
it casually. It wasn't until we got together. She did
that deep dive of a bullet cub so she kind
of has that twenty eighteen New Japan. So this is
now in the timeframe where she has heard of him,
but she did wasn't fully.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Immersed in him yet.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
I tried, folks, I tried, but it wasn't until he
came on the cruise when she opened eyes that oh
that's all.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Like, I think that's what opened your eyes was that cruise.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I enjoy seeing somebody's humbleness and seeing somebody actually care
about people. I think that that is what, you know,
helped me to see os Bry more than just in
the ring and as a wrestler. I think that that's
why I love AEW so much is because I've met
the majority of the roster through this cruise. I reason

(17:00):
to book. I think that being able to really know
them and get to talk to them makes you more
of a fan because you feel like you're watching a
friend versus watching Rustling Wwe Like, yeah, we did get
to meet Cody Rhodes on the cruise. That was really special.
That was really awesome, But aside from Josh, I haven't

(17:21):
met anyone else there. I don't believe so Gigi Dollin.
That's what makes you want to watch them. It's like,
oh my god, Like that person was so good. They
were amazing in person. I want to see them succeed
in their life and their goals because they truly love
what they're doing. And that's how for Osprey like not
to go on a huge tangent, but that's with Ospray,

(17:42):
like he was just so genuine to us. He did
a shout out to our child who couldn't make it
on the cruise, telling him he hopes to see him
in the future, and he still talks about that. It's
been four years. He's like, I finally get to meet
with Ospray, I finally get to do this, Like this
is something this d has looked for two for four
years because he knew that his time would come to

(18:03):
meet him.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
And look at how Osprey connects, you know, the good
segue here connects to you know the kids. Now they're
seeing this superhero in the ring like you're seeing the
Cody who everyone every kid loves and he is he
is the John Cen of this generation where all the
kids love him. He gives out the weight belts, He's
great with the kids, and I'm not knocking that out.
I think that's amazing that we need more of that

(18:25):
in wrestling, get that future generation. But look in the crowd. Now,
we've seen people dress up with will Osprey's coat. We've
seen people dress up as a little Derby. It's the
ones who realize they have to connect with the fans
in and out of the ring. And I think that's
what makes him special and that's what helped him thrive
in Japan because not only if they have that killer
instinct in the ring, he gets it and not a

(18:46):
lot of wrestlers get it, Like they don't understand and
this isn't a knock because I don't think I would
get it. I think it just takes a special kind
of person to be the whole package, and he really is,
because if you look at as he started transitioning in
twenty eighteen, he realized, I've done everything I can in
the super juniors. I've won three titles, I've won the tournaments,
I've wrestled everyone in this division.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
What's left to do? And he went bulk up and
go to the heavyweight division.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Now, if you want to put that perspective of USC
or any other sports, he ranked he basically eight, and
he trained and hit the gym to go from one
weight class to another to win a different belt. He
wanted to go for the IWGP heavyweight. He had the
junior heavyweight, he wanted the heavyweight. He had the US title,
but he wanted to be the top guy in Newspan

(19:31):
and he knewed to do that he had to fight
top guys and enter the heavyweight.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Division, and that's what he did. In twenty eighteen.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
He actually turned his back on Chaos and he started
the feud with Okada, so because obviously Ocado was with
Chaos and that would culminate in twenty twenty, right before
the pandemic in the g One where Okada with best
Osprey again having eight victories to his two losses. So
he just well, actually I think there's seven and two
this time. Still he had his number. Alcada's always had

(19:58):
his number. He's always kind of a little brothered him,
little browed him, whatever.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
You want to say it.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
But Osprey's always come close, and they always put on
twenty thirty minute bangers. And I think that that twenty
twenty showing opened up a lot of people's eyes to
this kid's the future in Nudepan, because you got to
think of when he rows into those ranks. Omega left,
the Bucks left. So Omega left, you had Okada, you
had Osprey, you had kind of Hashi, you you had

(20:24):
a good foundation. But he had to step up and
replace the void of Kenny Omega leaving. And that's what
he did, and he did a damn good job of it.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
You're not wrong. It's like, I mean, what was it
the early two thousands of WWE when they had people
go out with injury and they had to have people
step up.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, it's like next man up. When you're coaching. You know,
it's you know, when Drew Blatsoe went down, Tom Brady
stepped up. You know, you have to have that mentality
of if someone leaves their spot, that spots up for grabs,
you better take it, you better run with it, you
better do everything you can to keep it. And he
would grind and he would form you dot an empire
because during the pandemic, Cam Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis, Great

(21:06):
o'conn all of them would kind of live with Osprey
and stay with him and they would train together, they
would travel the show together because yeah, I remember that
he was on the other side of the world.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
He was staying in Japan. His family was in England,
his you know, everyone.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
He knew was in England, and he was staying in
Japan because he couldn't just go back and forth to Japan.
So that's how dedicated he was to continue wrestling. Is
he basically locked himself down in the airbnb type of
situation in Japan.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, and that would last into the pandemic where he
really struggled and had a hard time just not being home.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
And I think it really culminated because he struggled that year.
But then wrestl King to fifteen. He finally gets his title.
He get that beautiful belt. He brought it on the cruise.
He was partying with that. You could see that belt
meant something to him, because unfortunately he did get an
injury in twenty twenty one, so he had some shaky
moments for the belt. But January twenty twenty one, brand

(22:02):
new year, he wins the belt. He starts proving he
can hang with the heavyweights. He's he's going out there
and he's having all time classics. He's now at a
record thirty nine five star matches from Dave Meltzer, which
again I know that's Dave Meltzer's opinion. Whatever, we don't
have to agree to screw with it, just knowing how.
The running joke for a while was Keny Omega and

(22:23):
will Ospray Tokyo Doo means five stars anytime it either
one of them wrestles, and he was living up to
Kenny Omega's moniker of being the best belt machine. Well, well,
oll Spray basically took that man alone ran with it, like, oh,
you were the five star guy in Japan, you left.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Now I'm the five star guy in Japan.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
And that's why in you Know the Future, we will
talk about the match that those two.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Had, and it's just it's wild to see that.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
You know, as he's rising through the rings, he gets
on the Jericho Cruise, he kind of gets introduced to
the aw audience and more and more people are realizing
this is this is the kid that's been rising in Japan,
because yeah, remember he wasn't even in his thirties at
this point. So he's rising up, he's going through, he's
the champion, he's wrestling all over the world, the world's

(23:12):
opening back up. And then now you have twenty twenty two,
you have Osprey at the height of his game. He's
at Redbro he's winning that, he's winning the title. However,
there's one thing that stood in his way, and that
was Kenny Omega. The ghost of Kenny Omega stood in
his way.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
It lingered, for sure. He was definitely haunted by that.
He felt like he was second fiddle despite being the
top guy. I mean him and Zach Saber Junior Okada
probably the top names that I can name.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, and he's he's going out there, you know, and
he kind of a beautiful promo if you go back
to like December twenty twenty two, when they're building Wrestle
Kingdom sixteen. He cuts out absolutely beautiful promo where he's like,
you left, you took the ball, and you left, you went,
you took Tony's money, you didn't come back here. I've

(24:05):
been here through the pandemic. I've been here busting my ass.
I've not taken a day off. I've not given up
on them. I am New Japan. He busted his ass
and he really proved that he was the top guy.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
And then the forbidden door opened.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
New Japan's finally working with aw again, and this really
helped expose him to more of the audience because you know,
there was after the Ring of Honor folding, there wasn't
really a lot of working relationships with New Japan. New
Japan was very like, nope, we're protecting our own. But
now you heavyw starting to poke around the corner, you know.
Russell Kingdom happens, Kenny Omega Osprey won. They finally go

(24:43):
out and they have a grueling match. They have the
famous spot where Kenny put the face through a table,
but Omega is still bests Osprey, so Osprey loses to
Omega in Japan, and he's clearly heartbroken after this.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
You can't see how much it really did affect him
going into the future of AW. Like his next couple
of matches, he wouldn't stop. He gave it more than
his all he did.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
You know, he showed up for a couple of Sprack
appearances in AW and then this is you can go
back to our all in Prediction show in twenty twenty three,
And I said it the moment it happened because Chris
Jericho and Osprey were having a match all in. Osprey
wasn't even signed to EW and he's getting a match

(25:32):
in front of eighty thousand people at Wembley Stadium against
Chris fucking Jericho.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I said to Emily, I said, this is his audition
right now.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
This is Tony Cohn saying you want to come to
AW next year when your contract comes out. This is
what I can give you Wembley State And he gets
a win in his hometown.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
And then you know, right.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Before, you know, a few months before that, so I
skipped a little bit, but a few months for that.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
He fought.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
He beats Kenny at Forbidden Doors, so he's now familiar
to AW audiences.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
He split one in one with Kenny.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
He thought Christier would all in and then full gear
the most magical day in my life. We talked about
this teaser that they signed the superstar coming up, and
I joked to that moment like it's ospray. She goes, No,
his contract's not up till next year, because Osprey reminding
us on.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
TV just just wait, just wait.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
My contract's coming up next year, and then I'll see
what I can what I want to do.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
And there's rumors is he gonna go to WB And
I was a big rumor for a while.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Which is amazing when you look back and you think
WWE now knows about what lost Bray I mean, and.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
They clearly knew about him for a while.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
And I think it's funny and I want to touch
on this because I always thought it was kind of
fucked up. You know, there's during WrestleMania Week, you know,
after you know, a couple of flash Wars this year,
and they're talking about Osprey choosing AW, choosing to sign
with AW, and there was a little shots taken of Oh,
I guess he's afraid of the grind.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
And I always thought that was kind of fucked up,
because what is the grind? What? Like, what do you
mean by that? Because he's not working out I was
on top of.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Weekly television because he didn't move to the US, because
I feel like that grind is good for wrestlers who
will work in maybe that company or that style. But
why is it a shot that he chose to still
work weekly television and still he's still grinding, still done
a lot of matches this year?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Why was that a shot? And I never understood that.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
I kind of thought that was sour grapes by someone
who didn't get the prospect they wanted.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, I definitely don't that comment.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
It was unnecessary.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
It's so stupid when you think about it. What grind
you mean missing Christmas with his family? Because no wrestlers should,
No person should miss Christmas with their family if that's
truly what they want to be able to do. I
think that it is incredibly lackluster to tell will Osprey,
of all people, that he's afraid of the grind. You

(27:50):
don't know his history. If you're thinking, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
And look at what we just talked about, you know,
his the super Juniors traveling you know to rev pro progress,
going back and forth to Japan in England, Japan, England, Like,
those aren't those aren't little bus rides down the road,
Those aren't three hour car rides. Like this man's literally
traveling the world wrestling and is afraid of the g
I had never understood that, But it's because fo Gear
twenty twenty three happened.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
Tony Shani comes to the ring and then.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
We hear elevated and I think I lifted about seventeen
feet off my fucking chair that day.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
I think it was maybe eighteen.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
I just I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Will Ospray was all elite BROV and you know, I
just I've always loved that, he said, BROV, Like if
you go back again. Another criticism he gets he never
cuts good promos. Go back and watch the promos. Yeah,
he says brove a lot. He else says fuck a lot.
So the fact that he's able to censor himself for
TV and not call people cheeky cunts and you know,
fuck this dude, and all this stuff, like, it's really

(28:46):
impressive to see how he's adapted to American style television.
And I just think that his history wrestling in Japan
wrestling in England and wrestling for independent promotions, and wrestling
in the US in TNA and all these different places
he got exposure different stuffs. I think he was seeing
for himself, which style, which place he wanted to work for,

(29:08):
And I believe he chose Aida because he does believe
that's where the best wrestle, and he does believe that
they put the showcase on the wrestling, not just the storytelling,
because Osprey tells a story in the ring. So for
all those he doesn't sell, you're totally in shambles. Because
every match is special, and when we get to it
later coming up in a little bit, I have some
notes on why some of these matches are special because

(29:30):
every match he does something different, he tells a different story,
and that's why I was excited to have Osprey kamal Ali.
And we had to wait a little bit because he
had one more match with Okada, he had to finish
out his new Japan obligations. But then we found out
that Revolution December. We found out Revolution twenty twenty four
was coming an hour away here.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
In North Carolina, and I said, let's buy tickets.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
And one of the first fucking matches they announced one
of the first matches they announced, take cash diverse fucking.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Osprey, and we did not realize just how awesome it
would be to be in the arena when his song
goes off.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, I don't know why he stopped using Elevated. I
know it was probably of his heel persona for a while,
but he used Elevated and then up to twenty twenty,
then he stopped using it. But when he brought it
back at twenty twenty three, it lives at Breeze. I
don't know if you guys worked out a deal, but
thank you because I don't. I think that's his song
when he when he hit that arena and every one

(30:28):
of us sixteen thousand strong are chanting ah Spray, ah
Spray and just singing along and happy he's there. And
just that place was fucking electric. And yeah it was
stings retirement. You can say what you want, but that
place was so electric for Osprey.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Top to bottom, that card was amazing. You had Dianna
versus Tony. It wasn't just Sting's retirement and Sting didn't
want that. It was every detail of that card was
head to toe amazing.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
But that's saying like you have it almost essentially co
headlined by Osprey's debut You on a w feud and yeah, semantics,
he was on Forbidden Door twice, he was on all
but as a member of the All Heat roster, we
finally get to see it happen. And like you said earlier,
when he took that nasty Franken center on the turnbuckle
and destroyed his ass and then got.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
To meet Rick Flair with an ice pack on his.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Ass, whooa, it was just it was everything I could
have won it as a fan, Like I finally got
to see him wrestle live. That wasn't, you know, a
random one off match because I had seen him at
Ringwona once twice before, but it was wasn't our true match.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
It was like a tag team match.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
So I finally got to see him Wressele a one
on one singles match against arguably probably but another one
of the best wrestlers in the world right now, Takeshta,
and just seeing him in person, seeing how fast he
fucking loves was you can't describe it. It's it's literally
video game. It's he's so fluid, and it's not just
the flips and the die it's it's his transitions. You know,

(31:56):
he'll go for a hidden blade, but then the hiden
blad doesn't work, and he transitions to a storm and
then the kind of the store breaker into a vertical supplex,
which then counters into a rolling arm bar, and you're
just like, how the fuck did all that just happen
without them touching the grounds. And then you see him
get the fighting spirit, which everyone complains it's the nose selling.
But that's what I've loved about Osprey is that's part

(32:18):
of his story in the ring is he does it
to his detriment. He kind of gets that last surge
of adrenaline. He wants to hit that last hit, and
blade takes everything out of him, and sometimes it fails.
Sometimes he uses all his energy and he gets beat
because he didn't use it at the right moment. But
it's those little subtleties that people forget about, those little
subtleties that you enjoy from how he sets the turnbuckle

(32:39):
and waits and will pivot his feet if he realizes
he can't make the jump. Watch how he turns his
feet and then will readjust himself. He's I don't know
what kind of DNA. These people are getting nowadays what
kind of genetic material they have over in England, But goddamn,
it is definitely superhuman because all these people who were
seeing come in these past like five six years, defy

(32:59):
gravity from Mexicota.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
Like, what is going on? What is going on?

Speaker 2 (33:03):
I could not tell you, but I don't want it
to stop.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
And that's I think what's great is look at his
twenty twenty four We were putting together our year und awards,
and I'm just gonna put that out there. I didn't
just pick out matches at my ass. I was looking
at Sports Illustrated. I looked at the Sportster, I looked
at ESPN, I looked at a bunch of different sites
for what they were listing in their polls for top

(33:27):
matches of the year. I got ten Ospray matches ten
in twenty twenty four. That's literally almost one a month.
That's absolutely fucking insane. That is insane, and it's and
it's not a discredit to his opponents because you know,
as Kenny Omega families said that, it's you know, wrestling

(33:49):
is like having a dance partner. You can't have a
five star match by yourself. It shows you he has
chemistry to work with almost any single person.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Sorry, I'm thinking about Bryce X match the Invisible Man.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Why why Why is that the first thing that comes
to your head when I talk about this, Like, I
think that just lives in your head.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Rent Free and you're just like, ooh, this came up.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
I love that. It's so funny. Sorry, one man could
make a match match.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
I guess I was gonna say, technically one ref.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
What is this like the Joe Joe Janello pandemic match
when they wrestled five ft six feet apart?

Speaker 5 (34:29):
Yeah, I appreciate it, okay, And that's fun of those
wrestling's art and you know Omega Ospre Danielsen, their fucking
pacassos there.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
It doesn't matter what form of wrestling you choose to watch,
you can't deny that they're not an art form of
the wrestling style they choose to do. And whether you
like high flying, whether you like this kind of style,
you can't take away from the credit from the athleticism.
And I think honestly, people who are the harsis an ospray.
So the ones did you see the one clip of
him doing a flip or the one clip at him

(35:01):
doing that. They don't see the twenty minute matches between
where he's gone one hundred miles now the whole match
and actually sold spots or done a move or you know,
told the story through their ring. And I think that
one of the things we should we want to do
in this episode because we appreciate Ospray.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
We love to laugh. It's the name Live laugh. Bro Is.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
We compiled with your help, twenty matches. Now, that sounds
like a lot, but it's ten from his like New
Japan Independent scene and ten from aw because I wanted
to and no it's not just a ten on the awards,
but I wanted to compile some matches and why we
think they're special and why you should check them out.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
And most of these are on YouTube or streaming services.
Check them out.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
I was able to look up ninety percent of them.
Careful with some of the links, but in no particular order,
because obviously.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
We're not going to rank them. Be here for another
three hours. If you're trying to rank these too much.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Obviously, I'm gonna start out with the iconic Will Ospray
Ricochet Best of the Super Juniors twenty sixteen, Like I
said earlier, with Brian saying it was a video game.
It was they were literally catching each other in air.
They're flipping itself around when they do the double handspring,
and they kind of did the superhero pose and landed
in the ring, which everyone kind of criticized, but it
was a fucking iconic moment. Going still staying in the

(36:18):
Superdivision Super Junior's vision, we have well Osprey versus Kashita
Super Junior's twenty seventeen Final. A lot of people haven't
seen Kushita's work besides NXT and TENA. This is what
made me kind of really enjoy his work. Him and
Osprey just I didn't think they'd meshed together, and they
had a fantastic match, and it really shows what Kushita
can do and kind of the potential he has if

(36:39):
the right company uses him correctly. Here another one that
might get a little controversial, but I'm sorry, I'm going
to keep this opinion. Will Osprey versus Marty Scrull, New
Japans Succurage Genesis twenty eighteen. That match was absolutely insane.
You have Skrull, who's a powerhouse. You have Osprey who's
flying around the ring. You have him essentially starting to

(37:00):
prove himself against the headweights. This is when he started
to figure out, I can go against the big boys.
So that's why I picked this match, because it really
showed he could hang with the main Avengers, he could
hang with the super the heavyweights, he could fit that
style and the Spanish fly that he hit him off.
The apron still just grosses me out. Every time I

(37:20):
see him and Marty go over, it's just they look dead.
The next one I have for you, guys is will
Osprey or a shingle Tagagi Takagi excuse me, Super Junior's
twenty nineteen final, his pretty much last appearance in the
Super Juniors. But again, Takagi strong guy, proving himself. So
you know, if you have a time machine, you go back. Oh,
he was planting the seeds that he wanted to go

(37:42):
on this division, so it was kind of like they
were gatekeeping that spot. Him and Marty were kind of
gatekeeping that spot for him to get to the next division.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
So that's why I really enjoyed that match.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
I believe that's one of his favorites when he talks
about things. Yes, that is definitely something that he talks
about with just at that match.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
You can see him almost crying at the end of
itay I wrote that I have that my notes. This
is his emotions at the end of the match because
it meant so much to him because he was saying
goodbye to the super Juniors, he was proving himself, he
was kind of auditioning for the big brass in New Japan.
It just it worked out well, and yeah, tears are
definitely flowing at the end of it. Obviously we mentioned

(38:25):
earlier will Osbray or Sokada the g One Climax twenty
twenty insane match. If you saw World's End, it's very
similar to that match, except Okada dominates more of the match.
I really really enjoyed Osprey kind of turning on Okada
here because Okada didn't see it coming. So the emotions
were there were kind of like staked there. And then

(38:49):
the United Empire forming at the end of it was
just a shock because you know, you had Okada and
Ospray and Chaos, but then you have him betraying Okada
and forming his own faction, which the United Empire that
would take over in New Japan. So I put that
match because it's kind of like a turning point in
how he arrived in Euchapan, how he kind of started
getting his own identity. And then obviously we have Osprey

(39:11):
versus Takahashi Wressell Kingdom fourteen twenty twenty again one of
the one of the last matches for the pandemic or
that took full swing. I really enjoyed the match that
where I talk about the crazy counters, this match had
asane sequence of arm bar counters and the leg twists
things you I can't even describe it out seeing it.
Definitely gonna watch it if you like technical and high
speed athleticism. Obviously, Kenny Omega versus Well Osprey Wressell Kingdom

(39:37):
seventeen twenty twenty three, that's when we just talked about brutal, brutal,
and it's the first time they teamed, that first time
they fought, so it literally was a dream match. There
was a lot of bad blood behind it and the
different crazy table spots, especially Kenny did Here's Johnny table
spot like that sticks with me every single time.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's what I think of when I think of Kenny Omega.
Just know that that picture is what's in my head
of all the things of keny Omega. It's the fucking table.
Get that table.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Another one. This one's pretty recently too. Will Ospra or
Zach Saber Junior Rev. Pro High Stakes twenty nineteen. It
shilled well. Osprey wasn't just mister Flips, So that's why
I chose this match was a very technical match. He
had to adapt his style because Zach Saber Junior is
trying to ground him the whole time, because Zach Saber
Junior in k fabe is trying to keep Aeril Assassin

(40:28):
not Aeriel. So it's a great match. Again, it kind
of goes against all these doubts that people have on him.
And then the last one I have for New Japan,
it's Will Osprey or Shingo Takagi Dominion twenty twenty one,
another hard hitting match he was defending his championship. Is
one of the stiffest matches that I could find on there.
I mean, the Osprey's chest looked like hamburger in in

(40:50):
this match. And again another style that he fits up.
So there's a lot more than those ten from New Japan.
A lot more those are just ten, I think if
you want to release see Osprey's kind of rise from
super super Junior's like heavyweight to heavyweight. Those are the
ten I'd recommend watching because those really give you his
style in each match, his adaptability, his chameleon like ability

(41:11):
to change his style, his storytelling, him changing to a heel,
because really twenty twenty one heel Osprey was underrated. I
mean we didn't really get faced Offsprey until twenty twenty four,
so we had three years of him kind of a dick,
and he played a really good dick, which is kind
of hilarious to think about that. He's one of the
nicest people, but he puts usually the case nice people

(41:31):
pay the biggest assholes should.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
They always say, maybe it's.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Because we all have this pent up rage, you know,
kind of like Billy Corgan says, in spite of my rage,
I'm still sad in the cage. Maybe we just have
all that pent up fucking frustration, or we're just.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Able to be who people say that they are. You
see somebody else being an asshole to you, you know
how to act back.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
You know, they say, give the same energy you get back.
So now we're do some top ten e w again.
You guys help pick these in the comments. I already know.
Emily agreeed most of these. I don't think there's one
that I have this list that she said I wouldn't
have put. So I tried to pick ten matches I
really think to find him in a ew So I
start off with Orange Cassidy Well, Ospray Forbidden Door twenty

(42:12):
twenty two, one of my matches of the year from
twenty twenty two.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Nobody saw that match being good.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
I think it really helped put Orange Cassidy solidify him
as a serious stress. So I think Osprey did a
great job helping build him up. It showcased Ospray and
I've watched that Ma's too many times to count. It's
just the comedy in it, you know, him putting the
hands in the pocket, him matching everything about it, and
then just the insane, insane Spanish fly they do off

(42:40):
the turnbuckle just into an arm bar legendary. And then
we can't talk about Ospray Kenny Omega wrestle Kingham without
talking about their rematch Ospray Omega Forbidden Door twenty twenty
three in Canada and.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Happy Birthday to Mango. This man was way too happy
to have that on his birthday.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Do you blame me?

Speaker 2 (43:02):
No?

Speaker 1 (43:03):
And then we got the old Sean Michael's spot where
he's blowing the nose in the Canadian flag. He's wiping
his ass of the Canadian flag. The match was brutal,
it was bloody, it was hard hitting, and Osprey would
win back the IWGP US title from Kenny and I
just love that he turned it into the British title,
said the US title, in which that story will come
up a little bit later. And he basically went back

(43:25):
full heel. He joined the Don Kallis family. You know,
Cana Omega had just gotten kicked out and now you
have Osprey because Don Kallas replaced Osprey. It's the storytelling
is great knit. It's the second match. I can't wait
for the third one. But look at those first two,
look at the difference of styles. The third one's got
to happen in London. I'm sorry, it's happened to Japan.
It's happened in Canada. It's got to happen in London.

(43:45):
Now that it's each of their home countries and meet Japan,
it has to happen in London. Another great one, Well,
Osprey versus chrishiecho all In twenty twenty three. Maybe not
the best, you know, masterpiece of a match, but seeing
him enter Wembley, eighty thousand fans singing his song, seeing
his entrance, seeing him just look at the crowd, knowing

(44:08):
that he was just soaking the fuck out of that moment,
he was just taking it all in. I think made
that match a little bit better in my opinion. I
think seeing his genuine happiness in that match and seeing
Jericho putting him over was huge.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Something to remember about Wembley Stadium is that's where a
lot of these people were able to watch wrestling for
the first time live. So to be able to be
in there and wrestle themselves at Wembley Stadium is why
it's so impactful.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
No, and you know again, yeah, like you said, growing
up seeing the Summer slams, and you know, think about
the early nineties two thousand and how much wrestling probably
went over there. Not a lot, you know, Like we
complain that we only get wrestling once a year here.
Whatever it is they might not get, they probably got
wrestling once a decade, you know. So if they got wrestling,
you pretty much had to go whether the cards sucked
or not. So for you to be able to say

(44:59):
I'm one of the few who got to compete in Wembley.
That's already huge in the wrestling business, because again, that
doesn't happen for a company that wasn't named w B.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
So to put in perspective, it's like being able to
see WW and AEW going to Australia very far in few,
and that's how it was for London and for the
UK for a while, very very far in few.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
You know. That's why a lot of these companies they
started their own in promotion. That's why rev Pro became
so big, That's why wXw and Germany became so big.
Progress all these because wrestling is a worldwide phenomenon. It's
not just Stanford, Connecticut. It's not just Jacksonville, Florida. It's
not just Nashville, Tennessee, Chicago, Chicago. It's it's Leads, it's London,

(45:43):
It's Ireland, it's New Zealand, it's Australia. Everywhere go everyone,
it's it's in Uvek, Canada. You know, everywhere you go
there's wrestling. It's there's literally a website called wrestle Maps.
You can find wrestling anywhere around the world. They have
a little they have a little pin and where they are,
So if you're curious what do they have for South America,
they'll tell you where they have South American wrestling. And

(46:05):
I think that's cool and I think seeing someone like
Osbary who wants to wrestle everywhere he possibly can is awesome.
And I hope get to see hi wrestle on the
cruise because technically he only made an appearance. But speaking
of wrestling, a few more matches to recommend again, no
particular order in ranking. Will osbray Verus Brian Danielson, Dynasty
twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Jeff and Rachel were there for that match, and they
talked about just how exquisite, and they've rewatched it over
and over again. They absolutely loved being able to be
their live and I don't think words can put together
how much that match meant to either of them. And
we will never truly know just how much that meant

(46:46):
to Brian, but Will will tell you over and over
again how much that meant to him.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
And I like the storytelling because that's when the Tiger
Driver's story came into place, where he hurt in Kfe
hurt Brian Danilson's neck, which really starts to his retirement tour,
and he refused to use the tiger driver, and I
liked that subtle storyteller. People hate it, but again he's like, no,
I'm not, but that's something he had to pull out
when he wanted to win. He pulled it out to

(47:12):
beat Brian and he felt guilty. Osprey for ast Ricochet
versus Keasha a triple threat wrestle dream. We talked about
earlier two thousand and five Tena being the best triple
threat of all the time, might have been on the
CD by this one probably one of the best triple
threats I've seen in the decade, if not more, And
to now probably say he's on par with aged styles
and these kind of matches For a kid growing up

(47:33):
watching him has got to be a great feeling.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
It can't be better than that. I mean, what gets
better than that? First we were like, yes, Ricochet and ospray,
this is gonna be fantastic, and like takesh it and we're.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Like what were you like? Another one like.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Wow, how is this gonna work? And it did?

Speaker 1 (47:51):
And then speaking of Takesha, Osprey versus Kesha a revolution
like we said maybe personal bias because we were there,
but again, its first match. It's fantastic first match, Cashia.
They really had their chemistry obviously. Kyle Fletcher versus Osprey
both full full Gear and World's End, two compelling stories.
I still think it's a trilogy. But look at will

(48:12):
Osprey couldn't want to use a tiger driver on Kyle,
and Kyle used a tiger driver on him. Again, the storytelling,
he knows him, he's a United Empire stablement, he's his
best friend.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
They lived together for years, like.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
We talked about the pandemic, they lived together in the pandemic. Yeah,
they lived together, they traveled together. So again the storytelling
and mister don't sell. When he wrestled him at World's End,
Kyle brutalized him and he and then when he fought Okata,
which is the other one I have on here at
World's End, he was selling the entire match. So again,
two different stories, two different matches. Osprey ver swore forbidden door,

(48:48):
can't can't forget that one fantastic match. World Championship match
really showed Swerve could hang with everyone.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Like they showed his complete diversity.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
It did.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
It's because Swerve had won the champion ship at Dynasty,
and you know, his first major match after Double or
Nothing was will Ospray and then he had to fight
Brian Dallinson at All In Like, It's it's a lot
to overcome, and it really built up Swear, It's built
up Osprey, It's built this division Ospray versus Pocket all Out,
a lot of bad blood between him, a lot of

(49:20):
great chemistry. So you know, those are the ten that
you guys voted on that we kind of picked, but
there's so many more. Like I said, ten matches that
he had this year have been nominated Josh Alexander honorable
mentioned Josh Alexander and TNA against I'm Amazing Red back
in twenty seventeen. If you just type in Osprey versus

(49:40):
you probably won't find a bad match. And I just
I really hope that by listening to that you can
understand why we love Osprey, why we are excited to
get his exclusive figure that comes out in a few months.
That is the All In Special, because he's special. Osprey
is someone that is a once in a lifetime jen
rational fucking wrestler. You have the Rock, you have stone Cold,

(50:04):
you have Kenny Omega, you have Will Osprey. He's someone
that normal wrestling fans, whether they're super fan like us
or whether they just chuneing. Once them out, they're gonna
know his name because he's someone that transcends his spot.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
He transcends the business.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
And he's the talk of town. It doesn't matter what
company you watch, he's still talked about because he's so fascinating.
Every little aspect of Will Osprey is incredible to watch.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
And again we you know, we talk about and this
is how Will and so to wrap up, we're going
to talk about his outlook for twenty twenty five. Look
how good he had his like rookie year at aw D.
I mean, he killed it in my opinion. Spoiler for
if you don't tune into our award show this Friday,
how dare you? Because I also be on Spotify, Apple
wherever you stream podcasts. He's running away with Wrestler Year

(50:50):
and I don't see how. I really don't see how
someone can have thrown him. Now that's a mentally he's
going to hold up to next year. So one of
the things I'm gonna find my first Bowl prediction he
wins the car in a Classic last year and he
defeats Okada.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
I mean next year, yes, twenty twenty five, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
I think definitely we're gonna see it come down to
Okada versus Osprey again. I think that that's gonna be
the only time they run that match back. I don't
see that happening again for a year. I think that
they're going to build to it. There's gonna be teases
to it, and I think that this is what's going
to make it such a big feeling match, because those
big matches are what Osprey overcomes. Look at him versus Fletcher,

(51:29):
look at him versus Ricochet. Osprey comes out every single
time on.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
Top, and then he puts people over when he needs to.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
He lost six times in twenty twenty five, but he
only lost to Fletcher or Ricochet or Okada.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
He's a Swerve.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
He's not losing to people who you know are just
oh it's Joe schmov Street.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
It's it's elevating people.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
And he actually fun fact he chose to lose to
Swerve if he said himself that there was a time
where they wanted him to beat Swerve for the time
and he goes and I actually think better if he wins,
they will help make him look more legit. So his selflessness,
his understanding of the business is also what helps him out.
So another quick twenty twenty five, He's gonna fight Kyle

(52:11):
Fletcher a Grand Slam Australia.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
I think that's again. I think that's the rubber match.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
I want to see him versus Orange again. I will
continue to put that out. I would love to see
a mixed match with him, and I honestly don't even
care who it is. I just want to see the
fluidness flow through the women's division with him.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
I mean, maybe him and Alex winsor uh, maybe they
can do like a repro versus like a Mina and
fricanchheting like.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
That would be fun, Like you.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Have all the contrasting styles in that that would be fun.
I think I'm gonna do one more crazy prediction. I'll
do one more crazy. I think one more prediction because
obviously I think Okata and Osprey, I mean, Okada and
Omega are doing all in Who do you think his
opponent for all? It is because I'm thinking his opponent
is someone we have have not talked about him facing yet.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
I still want to see him versus Moxley for that title.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
I think he faces Samigavara in Texas.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
I think that they build a program with Sammy var
because I think he I think that's someone that he
has a lot of chemistry in the ring with. I
think that it doesn't have to be for a title,
but I think that could be like a grudge match.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Maybe Sam wants to prove himself. He takes on and
I see him.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Saying, so, I can see how it came on to
work with some of the other Pillars somewhere to the town,
and I think you got to get in with some
new matchups and I think a Samy Gavara or that
kind of chem of shry to help kind of elevate
him to the next level.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
I think that'd be fantastic.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Okay, Okay.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
So I mean that's our Live Laugh bro episode.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
And if you want to be like us and support
Osprey but also support us, you can check out Pro Wrestling,
Pro Wrestling, Tease, Backslash CWK podcast and get.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
Your own Live Love Brove, Live Laugh b of t shirt.
Excuse Me now on sales.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
By the time you hear this episode or see this episode,
it's already available to buy. So I think it's just
one of the things that we've been talking about wanting
to do for a while is talk about Ospray. We
didn't really know how to do an episode about him,
so we wanted to kind of just tell you why
we liked him, give you some of our favorite matches,
and give you a little backstory. So let us know

(54:17):
what you think down here in the comments. Make sure
you like and subscribe us at all of our socials
at Cruisinokfabe cwkpod dot com, and remember always keep hey
everyone as your producer and co host Mango here. Thank
you you so much for tuning into another fantastic episode
of Crusion of Kfabe. Emily and I certainly appreciate all
the support and love you've shown us. For an ad

(54:37):
free experience and exclusive content, visit cwkpod dot com.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
Music provided by the Undone. Emily and Mango would like
to thank the Undone.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
For letting us use our title track Misfortune. Misfortune as
well as their other songs, are now available wherever you
stream or purchase music or by visiting We are the
undone dot com and Hey, let's get them booked on
the Cherico Cruise They're a great group guys and uh
they would totally rock the boat. Make sure you follow
Emily and I on our socials, act crews in Okafabe

(55:06):
on the Facebook and the Instagram Mangot, It's Mango and
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Mango and save ten percent on some clean energy.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Make sure you like and follow the show. Leave us
a five star frog splash of review.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
But if you don't like us and you don't like
the Jericho Cruise, I'm just gonna let a legend himself
tell you what we're all think.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
So if you're not down with the Jerichode Cruise

Speaker 1 (55:31):
We got Lord