Will Ospreay

Will Ospreay

Ospreay in May 2016
Birth name Charles Williams
Born (1993-05-07) 7 May 1993
Havering, London, England
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Dark Britannico
Neo Britannico
Will Ospreay
Billed height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1][2]
Billed weight 79 kg (174 lb)[1][2]
Billed from Essex, England[1]
Debut 1 April 2012[3]

Charles "Charlie" Williams[4] (born 7 May 1993)[5] is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH), where he performs under the ring name Will Ospreay. Among other accolades, Ospreay is a former Ring of Honor World Television Champion, a former PROGRESS Wrestling Champion and was the winner of the 2016 NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

Early life

Williams was born in Havering, London.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

A fan of light-heavyweight wrestling since his youth, Ospreay was a fan of Essa Rios and Eddie Guerrero as a child. He cites the three-way match between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe at TNA Unbreakable 2005 as the match that made him want to become a wrestler.[6] He began wrestling on the trampoline in his garden under the name Extreme Dude and before long his mother had bought him a wrestling ring to make sure he was being as safe as possible. He also wrestled for other backyard wrestling promotions as Ace Pain and Tinkerbell.

He received his training at Lucha Britannia's London School of Lucha Libre in Bethnal Green, London.[6] He made his professional debut at the co-promoted BritWres-Fest on 1 April 2012 as the masked character Dark Britannico, the evil twin of Lucha Britannia's signature wrestler Leon Britannico who was played by Paul Robinson, Ospreay's future tag team partner in the team The Swords of Essex.[3] While wrestling with Lucha Britannia he twice won the Lucha Britannia World Championship. Ospreay said in his interview with the Huffington Post that his nickname, "The Aerial Assassin", is an allusion to Assassin's Creed video game series and was a persona he adopted to stand out from other British high flying wrestlers, particularly Pac.[7]

Progress Wrestling (2012–2016)

Ospreay soon became a regular for Progress Wrestling, debuting for them at Chapter Two: The March of Progress with Alex Esmail in a loss to The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch). His performance earned him a place in the Natural Progression Series I tournament, aimed at scouting and showcasing new wrestlers. He lost in the first round to eventual winner Mark Andrews in November and again in a rematch the following May. Ospreay earned the respect of Andrews who, as part of his reward for winning, picked Ospreay to enter the following Natural Progression Series tournament. The two met again in January 2014 in the first round of the Progress Tag Team Championship tournament, with FSU (Andrews' team with Eddie Dennis) defeating The Swords of Essex (Ospreay's team with Paul Robinson).

Ospreay's losing ways continued in his Natural Progression Series II opener. During the match his opponent, Zack Gibson, tried to win by holding the ropes. Robinson prevented Gibson using the ropes, which in turn distracted the referee for long enough for Gibson to low-blow Ospreay and make Ospreay submit.[8] On 18 May, The Swords of Essex were one of the final two teams standing in a four-team elimination match to decide contenders to the Progress Tag Team Championship. During the match, Ospreay, having been isolated for some time, reached out to tag his partner but Robinson jumped off the apron and walked out on Ospreay. Ospreay was left on his own and lost the match, after which the Progress Champion Jimmy Havoc came to the ring and ordered London Riots to tie Ospreay. Havoc pulled out a knife and threatened to torture Ospreay, blaming it on Ospreay's popularity with the fans, before other wrestlers came out and intervened, freeing Ospreay.[9] Havoc and The London Riots formed an allegiance known as Regression, which also featured Robinson.

On 27 July, Ospreay entered the eight-man, staggered entry elimination Thunderbastard match, the winner of whom can pick a time for a Progress Championship match. Ospreay entered the match third and was immediately low-blowed by Robinson, who had already entered, who disqualified himself in the hopes of taking out Ospreay. Ospreay managed to recover and eventually eliminated Marty Scurll last to win Thunderbastard.[10] The following show saw Ospreay team up with FSU and Noam Dar in an eight-man tag team match with FSU and Havoc's respective titles, Ospreay's title contendership and everyone else's Progress contracts at stake, depending which individual lost. During the match, Ospreay moonsaulted from the Electric Ballroom's balcony onto his opponents, on the floor[3] and later had Havoc in position to be pinned but as he jumped from the top rope, Robinson dragged Havoc outside, leading Ospreay to pin Davis and end the London Riots' contract with Progress.[11]

At the next event, Ospreay defeated Robinson and announced he would invoke his Thunderbastard right to challenge for Havoc's championship at the following show. Before that match Ospreay suffered a serious neck injury doing a high-flying move and during his match against Havoc, showed signs that this had led him to be too scared to perform his signature and finishing moves. He lost the championship match in January after Havoc loosened the top rope, making it more difficult for Ospreay to do high-flying moves, and used it as a weapon.[12] During the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, Ospreay defeated El Ligero, Mark Haskins, Roderick Strong and Zack Sabre, Jr across two days to win the first Super Strong Style 16 tournament with a corkscrew shooting star press, overcoming his fear of injury, and once again lay claim to Havoc's championship.[13] Their rematch took place on 26 July in a no disqualification match where the reinstated London Riots neutralised the threat of Robinson's interference and Ospreay ended Havoc's 609 day reign to become Progress Champion.[14]

Ospreay successfully defended his title against the 2015 Thunderbastard Haskins and then Robinson. Robinson attacked Ospreay after losing to him, but Ospreay was saved by a returning Mark Andrews who reminded Ospreay that he had defeated him twice in singles matches and once in a tag team match. Ospreay went on to finally beat Andrews to defend his title. Ospreay also headlined Progress' first main show outside of London in Manchester, in a triple threat match against Zack Gibson and Morgan Webster. He lost the championship on 24 January 2016 to Marty Scurll when the referee stopped the match as Ospreay had passed out while being handcuffed in Scurll's chickenwing submission. Ospreay lost a rematch with Scurll at WrestleCon Supershow in Texas, USA in April and also lost a contendership match against Haskins on 31 July.

Since signing for NJPW and ROH, Ospreay has appeared less frequently for PROGRESS. He has still appeared in showcase matches against the likes of Zack Sabre Jr, Shane Strickland and Matt Riddle.

Revolution Pro Wrestling (2013–present)

Ospreay debuted for Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) on 10 February 2013 with a win over Mike Hitchman. He soon started appearing in tag matches with Paul Robinson as The Swords of Essex and, after earning contendership with a win over The London Riots, won the British Tag Team Championship on 15 June 2013 during RevPro's first show at York Hall by defeating Project Ego (Kris Travis and Martin Kirby). After losing to Ricochet in a singles match, The Swords of Essex lost their British Tag Team Championship to Ricochet and his partner Rich Swann, The Inner City Machine Gun on 15 March 2014. Ospreay later credit the matches against Ricochet, one of his wrestling inspirations, as a reason he stayed with RevPro when other promoters were trying to out price them.

On 19 October, Ospreay beat Josh Bodom for the British Cruiserweight Championship in a match that also included Swann. The day before, he had lost a match to Matt Sydal and so in May 2015 the two had a rematch. Although Ospreay won the rematch, with their series at 1-1 the two were booked in a Best of Three Falls match with the British Cruiserweight Championship on the line. After losing the first fall, he retained the title with two straight falls. After an eleven-month reign, with a number of title defenses Ospreay lost the title back to Bodom on 5 September 2015.

Ospreay bounced back with wins over PJ Black, René Duprée, and Ricochet, which put him in line for a three way match for AJ Styles' British Heavyweight Championship, which also featured Marty Scurll, where the champion retained. The following day, on 3 October 2015 he lost to New Japan Pro Wrestling's Kazuchika Okada. Okada, impressed with Ospreay, went on to recommend him to NJPW officials. This, along with endorsements from AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi, eventually led to Ospreay being signed by NJPW.[15] In 2016 Ospreay beat Scurll and the new Cruiserweight Champion Pete Dunne in a non-title triple threat match, as well as beating Mike Bailey, which saw him earn a Cruiserweight Championship match against Dunne on 10 July which he won. The following month Ospreay headlined York Hall in a match against Vader. The feud began after Vader had criticized an NJPW Best of the Super Juniors match between Ospreay and Ricochet in May, comparing the match to "a gymnastics routine". The debate escalated over Twitter, with many wrestling journalists and veterans weighing in on the debate.[16] Their match eventually took place on 12 August, with Ospreay losing to Vader after Dunne interfered while the referee was distracted.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–present)

Ospreay with his trophy after winning the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors, becoming the first Briton and youngest wrestler to win the tournament

On 3 March 2016, Ospreay was announced as the newest member of the NJPW stable Chaos. Appearing in a video, Ospreay challenged Kushida to an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match at Invasion Attack 2016 on 10 April.[17] On 10 April, Ospreay failed in his title challenge against Kushida.[18] Following the match, it was reported that NJPW had offered Ospreay a contract to become a regular for the promotion.[19] On 27 April, it was reported that Ospreay had signed the contract.[20] The following month, Ospreay entered the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. On 27 May, Ospreay faced Ricochet in the tournament in a match, which received widespread attention in the professional wrestling world. While some like William Regal[21] and Steve Austin[22] praised the two, others criticized the match with the most notable criticism coming from Vader, who compared the match to a "gymnastics routine".[16][23] Ospreay ended up winning his block in the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, advancing to the finals.[24] On 7 June, Ospreay defeated Ryusuke Taguchi in the finals to win the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the tournament as well as the first English and the fifth gaijin wrestler to win tournament.[25] Following the win, Ospreay was granted another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was again defeated by Kushida on 19 June at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall.[26]

On 20 July, Ospreay entered the 2016 Super J-Cup, defeating Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) representative Titán in his first round match.[27] On 21 August, he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Matt Sydal.[28] On 8 October, Ospreay received his first shot at the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, but he and his Chaos stablemates Beretta and Rocky Romero were defeated by the defending champions, David Finlay, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima.[29]

Ring of Honor (2016–present)

On 8 November 2016, Ring of Honor (ROH) announced that Ospreay had signed an "exclusive" contract with the promotion, which goes into effect December 1.[15] On 18 November, Ospreay defeated Bobby Fish in his ROH debut match in Liverpool to become the new ROH World Television Champion.[30] He lost the title to Marty Scurll two days later, during the final day of ROH's three-day tour of the United Kingdom.[31] Ospreay has been given another opportunity to regain the title in a four corners match against champion Scurll, Dragon Lee and Bobby Fish, at ROH's December pay-per-view, Final Battle 2016.

Other promotions

Ospreay has regularly wrestled for International Pro Wrestling: UK (IPW:UK) since September 2012 in singles matches, with Robinson as Swords of Essex and with Tom Dawkins as Spitfire Britannia, playing off their alter egos Pure Britannico and Neo Britannico for Lucha Britannia. Ospreay made it through to the final of the UK Super 8 tournament in both 2014 and 2015, losing to Zack Sabre, Jr and Rampage Brown respectively. He won the 30 man Battle Royale 2014 in April but failed to win it the following year when the All England Championship was on the line. On 28 March 2016, Ospreay lost a Loser Leaves Town match to his former Spitfire Britannia partner Dawkins.

The Swords of Essex began wrestling for Future Pro Wrestling (FPW) in May 2013 and after a series of wins became the first FPW Tag Team Champions after winning a four way match. They held the titles for nine months and eventually became embroiled in a Best of Four match series against both The London Riots and The Alpha Males (Iestyn Rees & Charlie Garrett) for the FPW Tag Team Championship. The Swords of Essex failed to win a match in the series, with Ospreay wrestling the final match, which also had the London Riots' IPW:UK and New Generation Wrestling Tag Team Championship on the line, without Robinson. Ospreay has been unable to replicate similar success as a singles wrestler, twice entering the Zero G tournament but failing to win.

Ospreay also became a regular for Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) from March 2014 onwards. After failing to win the Speed King Championship from Kay Lee Ray in a co-promoted show with Combat Zone Wrestling in October, he won it a fortnight later in a Six-Way Elimination match. He defended it over the following months to many SWE and guest wrestlers, eventually putting it on the line in the annual Speed King Tournament where he beat Mark Andrews in the semi-final in a Best of Three falls match but lost the title to El Ligero in a Six-Way Elimination match on 30 May 2015. The following March he unsuccessfully challenged Joseph Connors for the SWE Heavyweight Championship but on 7 August won the Speed King championship for the second time from Andrew Everett.

On 29 January 2016 Ospreay made his debut for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), during the promotion's tour of the United Kingdom. Ospreay unsuccessfully entered the 2016 Joker's Wild tournament and challenged for both the TNA King of the Mountain Championship and TNA World Tag Team Championship. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that TNA had plans to push Ospreay, but upon finding out that he had signed to appear for NJPW relegated him to a short match on their secondary television programme.[32]

On 1 April 2016, Ospreay made his debut for Evolve, losing to Zack Sabre Jr. at Evolve 58 and Ricochet at Evolve 59, both in Dallas, Texas, USA.[33][34] On 12 July, Paul Heyman, during a speaking tour of the United Kingdom, offered Ospreay an Evolve contract on behalf of Gabe Sapolsky while clarifying that the contract would not affect his NJPW deal.[35] On 20 July, Pro Wrestling Torch reported Ospreay had signed the contract to make Evolve his American home promotion,[36] but the Wrestling Observer Newsletter disputed this, reporting Ospreay was still in talks with both Evolve and ROH, another American promotion who had a relationship with NJPW which Ospreay later confirmed.[37][38]

On 27 August 2016 Ospreay posted a Facebook live video unveiling a new British Triangle Championship with his three Swords of Essex partners Paul Robinson, Jerry Sevanchez, and Scott Wainwright. They announced that the trios championships were not specific to any promotion and could therefore be defended anywhere.[39]

Ospreay wrestled a series of shows across 2016 for WhatCulture Pro Wrestling for both their weekly YouTube broadcast and iPPV shows. Ospreay would score wins over Noam Dar, Marty Scurll and feud with Martin Kirby.[40]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Ospreay as Progress Wrestling Champion

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Facebook". Will Ospreay Facebook Page.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "ウィル・オスプレイ". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  3. 1 2 3 Davies, Ryan. "Wrestler Spotlight: Will Ospreay". uwejournalism.
  4. ↑ "Introducing: Will Ospreay". Wrestling Amino. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Catch Arena Profile".
  6. 1 2 "The Sword of Essex William Ospreay Interview". prowrestling.com.
  7. ↑ Stone, Danny. "Royal Ramblings Meets Will Ospreay". The Huffington Post.
  8. ↑ Hawke, TJ. "Views from the Hawke's Nest: PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter Twelve: We're Gonna Need A Bigger Room". 411mania.com. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Diot, Dylan. "From The Shelf- PROGRESS Chapter 13: Unbelievable Jeff!". 411mania.com. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Hamilton, Ian. "#BACKFILL – PROGRESS: Chapter 14 – Thunderbastard Review". BackBodyDrop. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "PROGRESS Wrestling 'Chapter 15: Just Because You're Paranoid, Doesn't Mean They Aren't Out To Get You' Results". WrestleRopes UK. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  12. ↑ Court, Oliver (28 January 2015). "Progress Wrestling (Chapter 17: Harder, Better, Faster, Strong) Review". Voices of Wrestling. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Radican, Sean (11 September 2015). "RADICAN'S Progress Wrestling Chapter 19: "Super Strong Style" (Day 2) Report 5/25 - incredible show with stand-out tournament matches, Sabre-Ospreay finals, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Radican, Sean (4 December 2015). "RADICAN'S Progress Wrestling Ch. 20 Review". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Will Ospreay looking to soar to new heights in ROH". Ring of Honor. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  16. 1 2 Caldwell, James (2016-05-29). "Caldwell – Ospreay vs. Ricochet – One match captures the larger argument about today's pro wrestling style". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  17. ↑ Rose, Bryan (2016-03-03). "NJPW New Japan Cup results: Big announcements, first round of matches". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  18. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2016-04-09). "NJPW Invasion Attack live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Championship". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  19. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (25 April 2016). "April 25, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor announces retirement, TNA sale imminent". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California: 34. ISSN 1083-9593. Will Ospreay has already been offered a regular contract which would make him just about the quickest guy without an international name to get one. He got the offer after one match with the promotion.
  20. ↑ Radican, Sean (2016-04-27). "PWTorch Report – Int'l star Will Ospreay signs with New Japan". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  21. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2016-05-29). "William Regal provides important insight and advice in wake of talked about Ricochet vs. Ospreay bout in NJ". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  22. ↑ http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0607/612439/steve-austin-on-what-he-thought-about-ricochet-vs-will-ospreay/
  23. ↑ Schwartz, Nick (2016-05-29). "Wrestling fans are going crazy over this acrobatic match in Japan". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  24. ↑ "Best of the Super Jr.XXIII". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  25. 1 2 Rose, Bryan (2016-06-07). "NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals results: Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  26. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2016-06-18). "NJPW Dominion live results: Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP HW Championship". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  27. ↑ "Super J-Cup 2016". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  28. ↑ "Super J-Cup 2016". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-08-21.
  29. ↑ New Japan Road ～がんばろう！Uonuma 2016～. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  30. 1 2 Currier, Joseph (2016-11-18). "Will Ospreay captures the ROH TV title in his debut". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  31. ↑ Currier, Joseph (2016-11-20). "Marty Scurll defeats Will Ospreay to win the ROH TV title". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  32. ↑ "New Japan bound Will Ospreay loses planned TNA push". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  33. ↑ Caldwell, James (2016-04-01). "4/1 Evolve 58 iPPV Results – Evolve Title & Tag Title matches, Sabre vs. Ospreay weekend-stealer, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  34. ↑ Laprade, Pat (2016-04-03). "Evolve 59 iPPV results: Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay; Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr.". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  35. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2016-07-12). "Paul Heyman offers Will Ospreay an Evolve contract". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  36. ↑ Caldwell, James; Radican, Sean (2016-07-20). "PWTorch Report – Will Ospreay signs deal with WWNLive". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  37. ↑ Currier, Joseph (2016-08-09). "Will Ospreay to make Ring of Honor debut". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
  38. ↑ Csonka, Larry (2016-08-11). "Will Ospreay Discusses Not Signing With Evolve, Taking Less Independent Dates, More". 411Mania. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
  39. ↑ Ospreay, Will (2016-08-27). "Time4AChange". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
  40. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=14028&page=4&year=2016&promotion=1792
  41. 1 2 3 4 "Cagematch". Cagematch.
  42. ↑ "レスリングどんたく 2016". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-05-28.
  43. ↑ "Best of the Super Jr.XXIII". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-05-28.
  44. ↑ "【『Super Jr.』出場メンバーが決定！】オスプレイ、ボラドール、サイダルが初出場！ "14年覇者"リコシェ！"昨年準優勝"オライリーも参戦！【SJ23】". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). 2016-05-03. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  45. ↑ "Prowrestle theme music list". RMLabel. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  46. ↑ http://www.prestoncitywrestling.com/news/2015/01/08/pcw-end-of-year-awards-2014-results
  47. ↑ "Progress Roster". Progress Roster.
  48. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  49. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=146048
  50. ↑ Green, David (2016-07-10). "7/10 Rev Pro in London Results – Shibata vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. dream match, Ishii, Moose, Sydal, Ospreay wins big title match, Big Damo farewell set-up". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
  51. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2016-09-07). "September 12, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: CM Punk Making UFC Debut, PWG Battle Of Los Angeles Review, More". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  52. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=3104

External links

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