Will Ospreay knows how important his match with Ricochet was to his career.
The two first competed at Rev Pro’s ‘Enter The Dragon’ in 2013. They’ve competed with and against each other nearly 20 times since then, with the last match coming in 2017.
Fans speculated that Ricochet signing with AEW would lead to another bout between the two. Ospreay was asked how his match with Ricochet changed the trajectory of his career during the 2024 All In post-show media scrum.
“It put me under a microscope that I don’t think I was ready for. Because as a — was I 23 back then? I was 23 back then, and it was the first time I was part of a ‘real’ wrestling company. [Before that] I was just grafting away at the indies,” Ospreay explained. “And not that the indies aren’t real companies, but there’s just so much to it, there’s the promotional side of things.
“And then when that blew up — it was the Marmite of pro wrestling, right? It was you either loved it, or you hated it. And for me, it was a case of this is a learning experience. You take this on board, all of this criticism or this love, and here’s where I can get better, here’s where it could’ve gone worse. I take all of that on board and then learning from other people — the one thing I always say is, the Ricochet match has done wonders for me,” he said. “But that was just what we would do in PWG, that’s what we would do in Rev Pro.
“Then it was along the lines of ‘I’ve done that, now get in the ring with Shibata.’ It’s like taking that match, wrestling Shibata, taking that match and wrestling Okada and taking that match, wrestling Kenny [Omega] and taking that match,” Ospreay continued. “Wrestling Takeshita and taking that match to wrestling [Bryan] Danielson and taking that match and then wrestling [MJF]. I’m constantly evolving. And that beginning step, I’ll never forget those days [of wrestling Ricochet] and my life changed from there.”
Catch up on AEW All In 2024 results here.
Read More: Ricochet Signs With AEW, Debuts At AEW All In
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