WWE Hall of Fame star Vader commented on a clip that he saw from an indie match between two of the most exciting young stars on the indie scene today – Will Ospreay and Ricochet. The clip just showed the two one-upping each other with flips and dodges and lasted a total of a few seconds. However, Vader took to Twitter and criticized the match, calling it acrobatics and not wrestling. That caused a lot of wrestling fans to come down hard on Vader, calling him out of touch.
Now, those comments have turned into a match that will see Vader face off with Will Ospreay. That seemed to rub fellow WWE Hall of Fame star Scott Hall the wrong way. Pro Wrestling Scoops reported that Hall took to Twitter on Sunday and blasted the match and took a shot at Vader at the same time.
https://twitter.com/SCOTTHALLNWO/status/747074159231049728
This comes as little surprise. Scott Hall has done a miraculous job at cleaning up his life thanks to getting support from Diamond Dallas Page. He has sobered up after decades of alcohol and drug abuse and has undergone surgeries to help alleviate much of the pain he has lived through physically. He has also gotten on good terms with the WWE again, at least behind the scenes. This has made Hall feel a lot freer to let his opinion be known about events in wrestling, including praising the WWE.
Hall taking the shot at Vader was just par for course. However, the question remains there concerning Vader’s comments. When it comes to what Vader said, was he actually right? Vader saw a clip and not even the highlights that are included in this video. It is clear there is much more going on than the flips that Vader saw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvhFByvVGY
Scott Hall isn’t the first one to mention Vader’s comments. WWE superstar Seth Rollins was on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast and referred to Vader, calling the WWE Hall of Fame star an “old timer” who complained. He then said to give him a break because these guys were super athletic and could do so much. Rollins and Jericho agreed that the match was amazing.
That is really where the problem lies. Rollins said that he hasn’t watched much wrestling since joining the WWE but he heard about the match, and what Vader said, and set out to watch it. Rollins watched the entire match and called it amazing. When it comes to Vader, someone on Twitter sent him the short clip with all the flips where the two wrestlers never touched each other and asked what he thought of it. Vader said what he thought of the clip that he saw – not of the match in its entity. Then everyone attacked his comments.
Vader Criticizes NJPW BOSJ Match; Will Osprey and Ricochet Respond #Vader #NJPW #NJBOSJ https://t.co/yN8r7Arm25 pic.twitter.com/YBkI3isl1l
— 411 Wrestling (@411wrestling) May 29, 2016
Jim Cornette, a legendary wrestling manager from the WWE hates a lot of the new-style wrestling, including high spots such as those in Lucha Underground. Cornette talked about it in his podcast, as well. Amazingly, he refused to rip into the two wrestlers involved in the match. Cornette even said that both Ricochet and Will Ospreay could be huge box office attractions, hinting at the WWE or even Hollywood. However, Cornette said that the match was just a match to do big things in one match.
Cornette mentioned that if they took all the moves that they took in that match and put it into ten different matches, it could be an amazing series of matches. He just felt that it was too much in one match.
https://twitter.com/EricMaixner/status/747142150542884864
What probably led to the match with Vader taking on Will Ospreay was probably Ospreay’s reaction to Vader’s comments. Right after Vader said that they weren’t really wrestling, Ospreay held up Vader’s hand signal and then used Vader’s Vader-Bomb in a match. It was a perfect response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybur5BrddWA
Ospreay also said that he reached out to Vader and asked if he even watched the match. 411mania reported that Ospreay said Vader admitted that he never even watched it after the controversy started up.
“He hasn’t watched the match. I asked him straight out. I was like, ‘have you seen the match?’ He was like, ‘no.’ Rest holds are the way forward, guys. Sorry.”
Now, Will Ospreay will wrestle WWE Hall of Fame legend Vader in a match for Revolution Pro Wrestling UK. It will be an interesting match and one has to wonder if they will book it with Vader attempting power moves and rest holds while Ospreay tries to outgun him. With the harsh comments from Vader that led to this match, one has to wonder how this match will play out in the ring. The two wrestle on August 12 at Uprising in Bethnal Green, London.
If you ask WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall, it is just a case of a bitter old man getting a payday for complaining on Twitter.
[Image via WWE]