Will Ospreay could be on his way to becoming a cautionary tale in the pro wrestling business, but I hope he’s not.
Last month, it was thought that the British grappler would take time away from the sport to heal up from a variety of injuries based on his high-risk style, but he recently returned to television to work the Forbidden Door pay-per-view this Sunday at the O2 Arena in London. On this week’s edition of Dynamite, the former IWGP heavyweight champion confirmed that the he will have surgery following the 10-man cage match this weekend, as he teams with The Golden Lovers, Darby Allin, and Tanahashi to challenge The Death Riders and The Young Bucks.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that there are two herniated discs in Ospreay’s neck and that the surgery to repair the damage is expected to sideline him for roughly a year. That puts one of the top guys and possibly the franchise player on the shelf for an extended period of time, a time when the WWE looks to flex its muscle to, at the very least, make things more difficult for the Khan-owned organization. When All Elite Wrestling runs its next pay-per-view, All Out in Toronto, where the promotion already sold an estimated 9,000 tickets, the WWE decided to add a premium live event to its schedule to run opposition, with Wrestlepalooza added to the line-up in Indianapolis.
If a WWE event is enough to sway the typical diehard AEW fan base that purchases All Elite pay-per-views for $50 on a regular basis remains to be seen, but the main event of John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar is a tempting card for TKO to play in this scenario, as it will be one of the final matches of Cena’s career, as well as his final bout against Lesnar. I don’t think it’s so much that the AEW audience that pays full-price for All Elite PPVs will decide that the WWE show is suddenly a better value, but rather that Cena has built up a lot of cache among fans across the board for his legendary career, and depending on what cable provider someone has, at this point, the show could be included in their cable package so it might be just as much as an economic decision as anything else. The ability to watch one of John Cena’s last big matches for free might be a better option for some fans than paying $50 for another All Elite card that might be just another broadcast in the grand scheme of things.
That brings up the launch of the new ESPN app, and if Wrestlepalooza could potentially air on one of the ESPN channels, which would be another major way to try to counter program the AEW PPV. One thing is for sure, regardless of how the TKO corporation tries to oppose the next AEW pay-per-view, Will Ospreay won’t be available to wrestle at the show.
A wrestler could be the biggest star or the best worker in the world, but if they are hurt, their effectiveness as a performer is often moot. When the WWE loads up with a Cena/Lesnar main event, Ospreay won’t be able to be on the card to sell pay-per-views for AEW.
That’s why Will Ospreay should consider if this specific show in London this weekend is truly worth the potential risk of shortening years from his career. Along with that, given that he has acknowledged that he will need neck surgery that will put him on the shelf for an extended period of time, should Tony Khan allow him to work the match?
One of the many pitfalls of the modern era is that as the in-ring style becomes more risky, and there’s seemingly very little restraint for a measurement of the risk/reward ratio in some of those scenarios, there are more serious injuries more often. Don’t get me wrong, pro wrestling in any era is risky, there are a laundry list of former athletes as proof of that, but it goes without saying that the dangerous bumps and wild dives increase the injury rate.
Thankfully, the current generation has learned some lessons from those grapplers of the past, particularly with the ability to seek medical care when needed, which is a perk of the guaranteed money of the past thirty years rather than the hard-nosed notion that “if you don’t wrestle, you don’t get paid.” At least on the surface, it appears that there are less major pro wrestlers now that fall into the trap of self-medicating just to get to the ring because they need the payday, which is often what happened in a prior era. Instead of a handful of painkillers to work through the injuries, the talent go to some of the best sports doctors in the world to get the proper medical treatment when they are hurt, which is one of the overwhelming positives of the modern era.
Still, the human body can only sustain so much punishment, and everyone has a limit. Regardless of if it was Disco Inferno, who probably couldn’t handle a hangnail, or Harley Race with a reputation of one of the legitimately roughest in the history of the business, there’s a limit for everyone as far as how much damage they can individual take from the toll of the ring on the body.
At 32, Will Ospreay should theoretically be in the prime of his career, not already dealing with serious neck issues. Of course, anything can happen at any time, but I think it’s fair to say that the performer that broke into the business when he was just 19 years old pushed the envelope for the past decade. That’s not a knock on his ability as a performer, but rather the exact opposite. Make no mistake about it, Will Ospreay is one of the most incredible athletes of his generation and one of the best workers in the entire business today.
The problem is that he seems to take every risk almost every match rather than a more measured, safer approach. I’ve often compared the British competitor to AJ Styles in terms of Styles’ early career in TNA, as I honestly think that Ospreay could be the franchise of the company in terms of the representative of the All Elite brand the way that AJ was the franchise player of TNA in the early-2000s. But, this is where there’s a stark difference between the two, there’s a difference between being innovative as compared to reckless. AJ Styles worked a fast-paced, hard-hitting style, and took some big bumps, but he was always in control of his direction during aerial moves and the bumps that he took in the ring. The argument could be made that Ospreay’s style is boarder line reckless, not that he’s careless with opponents, but rather with the risks he’s taking for his own safety in an effort to garner “the five-star match” rating in The Observer newsletter.
Until the five-star ratings or any other award from Meltzer comes with a cash prize, the goal should be not only the ability to draw money for an event, but also the ability to continue to be healthy enough to draw money again in the future. Ospreay can’t be the franchise guy for the company if he’s not on the marquee to sell tickets and pay-per-views. He could and should be the performer that the company builds around for at least the next decade, but given his style, the odds don’t appear to be in his favor. Maybe it doesn’t matter to Tony Khan if he has the ability to use Ospreay to sell tickets? Maybe he just wants AEW to get more five-star ratings than any other company in the history of the business since drawing money isn’t the priority for the company? But, it would be very disappointing if Ospreay’s career ends significantly early in exchange for star ratings because he has the ability to make a much bigger impact on the industry.
The Dynamite Kid revolutionized the industry, but destroyed his body in the process. Let’s hope that Ospreay don’t repeat those same mistakes since nobody wants to see another cautionary tale of the business.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
