Will Ospreay on Ricochet match: It put me under a microscope I wasn’t prepared for, my life changed

Will Ospreay knows how important his match against Ricochet was for his career.

The two first competed at Rev Pro’s Enter The Dragon in 2013. Since then, they have competed with and against each other almost 20 times, with the last match taking place in 2017.

Fans speculated that Ricochet signing a contract with AEW would lead to another fight between the two. Ospreay was asked during the All In post-2024 press conference how his fight with Ricochet changed the course of his career.

“I was put under a microscope that I don’t think I was ready for. Because was I 23 at the time? I was 23 at the time and it was the first time I was part of a ‘real’ wrestling group. [Before that] I was just slaving away at the indies,” Ospreay explained. “And it’s not that the indies aren’t real businesses, but there’s just so much that goes into it, there’s the advertising side of things.

“And when that hit – that was the Marmite of pro wrestling, right? You either loved it or you hated it. And for me it was a learning experience. You take it all on, all that criticism or that love, and here I can improve, here it could have been worse. I take it all on and then learn from other people – the one thing I always say is that the Ricochet match did wonders for me,” he said. “But that was exactly what we would do in PWG, that’s what we would do in Rev Pro.

“Then it was, ‘I did it, now get in the ring with Shibata.’ It’s like winning this fight and fighting Shibata, winning this fight and fighting Okada, winning this fight and fighting Kenny. [Omega] and win that fight,” Ospreay continued. “Wrestling against Takeshita and winning that fight against [Bryan] Danielson and win the match and then wrestle [MJF]. I am constantly evolving. And I will never forget this first step. [of wrestling Ricochet] and from then on my life changed.”

Find out the AEW All In 2024 results here.

Read more: Ricochet signs with AEW, debuts at AEW All In

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