Will Ospreay has a response for his critics.
The British wrestler is regarded as one of, if not the best wrestler today. Seemingly incapable of having a bad match, Ospreay was many publications’ winner for wrestler of the year in 2023 and is also on course to win the accolade back to back thanks to his matches against the likes of MJF, Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada in 2024.
However, while The Aerial Assassin has a major following and has more 5-star matches than anyone in history, not everyone is as fan of his high-speed style. One of the most common critiques is that the International Champion “doesn’t sell” and recovers from big moves too quickly, making some struggle to suspend their disbelief.
While speaking with David Shoemark and Kazeem Famuyide of The Masked Man Show, the AEW star issued a passionate response to his critics:
“I just feel there are different aspects in what people say with selling. If you understand and look at the backstory that I go through, who were the guys that I was training alongside? Okada, Ishii. You don’t think at any point in those training sessions and Japanese camps where you’d land on your f*cking head and they’d be like, ‘Get up and just swing.’ If you don’t have that small burst of energy before you’re about to do something, they’re going to get the upper hand and win. If people don’t actually understand where I come from, think about this, Japan took a 22-year-old and taught him how to fight, and f*cking tortured me. They beat the fucking piss out of me. I got chopped so hard my eardrum burst.
“I say to all those people who say ‘you don’t know how to sell,’ you don’t know the backstory. You don’t know how I f*cking got here. You’ve never been in a situation where you’ve been in a moment where if you don’t put your f*cking foot on the gas pedal, you die. To those people, I get where they’re coming from, I understand, but if you pause your opinion for a second and take a wide look at the arena, they’re standing up. You can’t tell Picasso how to paint.”
Ospreay will put the International Championship on the line against Konosuke Takeshita and Ricochet at AEW WrestleDream as Takeshita interrupted the match between Ospreay and Ricochet on the 5th anniversary special of AEW Dynamite.
Will Ospreay Continued Undefeated Streak At Wembley Stadium
Making his second appearance inside Wembley Stadium earlier in the year, Will Ospreay defeated MJF to win back the International Championship. One year prior, the British star defeated Chris Jericho.
H/t to Fightful.
Featured image: AEW
