Independent stars Will Ospreay and Ricochet are two of the best in the game. Ricochet, who portrays Prince Puma in Lucha Underground, is about to be one of the hottest free agents in professional wrestling. It’s not a surprise the WWE has their eyes on him when his deal with Lucha Underground runs out. As for Ospreay, he is still going through the Indy circuit, just waiting for the right opportunity to arise. It will come eventually as Ospreay is also one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet.
What they did this weekend brought a lot of attention to the pro wrestling community. During a match they had overseas, it was easily the most acrobatic performance in professional wrestling history. At first glance, that should be a good thing. However, some are taking their match the wrong way. It is a subjective art form after all.
After their superb performance, the entire Internet Wrestling Community gave their opinions. One was from a WWE Hall of Famer that didn’t shy away from his comments.
Blantant acrobatics,no story,is there anything done in this video that relates to winning u could get 2 high school gymnast and put ona show
— Big Van Vader (@itsvadertime) May 29, 2016
Their moves r athletic, they both r. great wrestlers when its done side by side as a rountine something has say im trying to win
— Big Van Vader (@itsvadertime) May 29, 2016
Vader wasn’t the only one to rip into Ospreay and Ricochet’s match. There were a lot of traditional wrestling fans who weren’t taking too kindly to the kind of bout they had. It wasn’t a typical wrestling match. It had more acrobatics than storytelling. Not every pro wrestling match needs to be the same, which is what one of the competitors had to say following some criticism.
Ricochet replied to the critics about his match in a post a few days following it.
“People don’t understand that ‘professional wrestling’ is an art. And much like ANY art, there are endless ways to express it. It can LITERALLY be anything the performers in the ring want it to be. If two guys want to go out there and use light tubes and light each other on fire, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If they want to go out there and go hold for hold and keep it mat based, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and clothesline each other real hard and chop each other for 5 minutes straight, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and use comedy and make the people happy and laugh, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and use aerial maneuvers and acrobatics to ‘wow’ the crowd…..then guess what??? That is THEIR way of expressing their style of wrestling. Although you may not agree or like a certain style does not mean that it isn’t wrestling. Did it used to be a certain way?? Yeah. But just like anything it changed, it evolved.”
What do Ricochet’s words actually mean? They were geared to those who can only accept one way of pro wrestling. It’s unofficially described as a subjective art form, like it says above. Everyone has their own favorite wrestler, favorite match, and favorite rivalry. It could be from Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, early-WWWF, Impact Wrestling, WWE or even New Japan Pro Wrestling. Wrestling fans can span from 80-years-old to an infant.
The point is, it will all be different and that’s what Ricochet is trying to say with his comment. His match with Ospreay was so different that it made a lot of non-believers in them, believers. Just for future reference, if Ricochet ever comes to the WWE, he won’t have matches like that. In the off-chance that does happen, enjoy this style of wrestling now, because WWE officials will want it changed. That’s all because it’s a subjective art form.
[Image via YouTube.com]