Will Ospreay Reflects on Wrestling WCW Legend Ten Years Ago

The history of independent wrestling is littered with gems.

Will Ospreay had a lot to do with the boom of pro wrestling outside of North America in the mid-2010s. Ospreay wrestled Ricochet in New Japan Pro Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors tournament in a match that turned out to be artistically unique at the time, as it was full of acrobatics and offensive counters. The match went viral across the world and all kinds of wrestling fans had an opinion on it.

It put a young Ospreay on the map and as a result, more people began following his career. As he continued making the rounds across the independent wrestling scene in 2016, Ospreay was presented with an interesting opportunity on WrestleMania weekend from English wrestling promotion RevPro.

Will Ospreay and Tony Schiavon — All Elite Wrestling - Lee South

Will Ospreay vs Vader actually happened

Vader had an issue with Ospreay's wrestling style, and he made his grievances known on social media. Vader blasted the Aerial Assassin on Twitter and Ospreay didn't appreciate it. One thing led to another, and the beef spilled over into RevPro as a real pro wrestling match.

Ospreay spoke with Wrestling Brain and discussed the hidden pro wrestling gem against the WCW and NJPW legend. Ospreay was in good spirits about the match despite detailing how difficult it was to get through, as Vader was 61 years old at the time of the match.

"I’ll be honest with you...I’m sure everyone has like a great time watching that match, but, that day was just a flipping nightmare for me. It’s just a lot, and he was a bit of an odd bastard to deal with. But I don’t want to talk ill of him because he’s not around anymore, but it was quite funny to say I had one of his last matches."
Will Ospreay on Wrestling Brain

The match with Vader at RevPro Uprising in 2016 closed the show. Elsewhere on the card, Ricochet beat Pete Dunne in a 16-minute match. Ricochet was in Ospreay's corner while Dunne was in Vader's corner for the main event match.

Ospreay talks being inspired by Kenny Omega

Ospreay and Kenny Omega both failed to become champion at AEW Dynasty on Sunday night. Ospreay lost to Jon Moxley in pursuit of the AEW Continental championship, while Omega was defeated by MJF in his bid to become AEW World champion.

Ospreay has built a reputation for producing high-quality, hard-hitting, and show-stealing performances anywhere he has wrestled. In his interview with Wrestle Brain, he spoke about Omega being a huge inspiration for how he wrestles.

"I mean, Kenny, I always get inspired by all the time...but Kenny inspires me all the time to have the thing that happened to him where he nearly died. Like, I think, I think we all like blow past that and we don’t talk about it enough, but like, he actually was like so close to dying and he’s back and he’s looking the best that he’s looked in flipping years, man. He’s smashing it"
Kenny Omega

AEW's All In pay-per-view is headed back to Ospreay's home in London, England, inside Wembley Stadium. After losing to Moxley at AEW Dynasty, his attention could pivot towards securing a major spot on that card.