Featured image by Beyond Gorilla
If you enjoyed their match from Sapporo, then the odds are that you’ll enjoy this. On the whole, I’d say I liked this match more than their Sapporo match but I think that it’s flaws are also far more apparent.
Positives first: Zack Sabre Jr. That man was absolutely on the top of his game here, playing that snotty, foolish bully that he embodies so well. From the go, he’s obsessed with projecting his superiority onto Ospreay. He shoves the belt into Ospreay’s face and pushes Ospreay with his shoulder. He does it with such a dismissive attitude that it completely contrasts the visual story we’re being told–Ospreay’s bigger, faster, and very clearly not the underdog. More on that later though.
Sabre makes for an amazing in ring bully though. He’s so tenacious, pushing and pushing against Ospreay in an attempt to grind him down then overwhelm him. Even as Ospreay pushes the pace to open the match, Sabre’s first transition into his control segment blew my mind. He grabs a headscissors from the mat, rides Ospreay down, then goes into his twisting neck crank. He holds onto the headscissors too, grabbing a leg to add pressure without letting go of Ospreay’s leg.
One of the big criticisms that I’ve seen of Sabre has been that he switches from submission to submission too much, not leaving enough damage behind in his wake. None of that here, if you ask me. He clings to Ospreay, grinding elbows and fists into Ospreay’s neck. Sabre stays so mean throughout the whole match. His transitions for control come across so sudden and desperate that it really puts him over as a dangerous competitor who can snatch away victory in a split second.
Then, the negatives: Ospreay.
There’s a moment early in Ospreay’s babyface shine that kind of exemplifies my issues with him in this match. Ospreay has Zack up against the barricades and chops him across the chest. Great chop, Ospreay’s strikes have been a highlight of his offense since he began his transition to heavyweight. At that point, Ospreay flexes his hand–gesturing as if holding a beating heart then takes a bite of the imaginary heart. No pop from the crowd. Ospreay chops Zack again, repeats the taunt but bigger this time. No pop.
Here we see Ospreay’s struggle. He so very badly wants to be a nuanced wrestler known for more than just his big spots but also the small moments of personality in between. The problem is that at times, that personality just isn’t nearly as cool as Ospreay pictures in his head. The chops are great. The taunt falls flat.
And that makes up much of my problems with Ospreay in this match. He and Sabre both clearly structured a story to make Ospreay seem like an overcoming hero, a fiery babyface overcoming the heel to get a long overdue victory in front of a hometown crowd. He grits his teeth, pumps his fist, and yells his lungs out reaching for the crowd’s energy.
But why does he need to?
The physicality of the match tells us that there’s no real struggle for Ospreay. He, in kayfabe, matches Sabre’s technical prowess to open the match. His strikes absolutely floor Zack Sabre Jr. who can’t match his power. He muscles Sabre out of a sleeper into an electric chair on his shoulders. Despite Sabre’s dogged attack on the neck, Ospreay does not display any sustained selling on the neck. Ospreay is not the underdog. Zack Sabre Jr. is not some overwhelming force here, he’s just the smarter wrestler who can catch Ospreay at the right time.
That dissonance between the narrative being told and the very obvious literal narrative being displayed does bother me and it weighs on me more the longer that I think about the match. But there’s no denying that the ride in the moment was incredibly fun. Dips a bit too much into excessive New Japan counter wrestling tropes and probably goes a few moves way too long, but it’s fun if that’s your thing. At its best, it gives you moments like Ospreay catching Sabre from rolling out of the ring after the Os Cutter. At its worst, you have three straight reversals between the Stormbreaker and an Octopus Hold without much else added to the narrative.
I liked the good ideas enough to elevate it past the Sapporo match and Zack’s performance definitely stood out as one of my favorite from him in a while now. A mixed bag of a match. Great at its best, eye rolling at its worst. But in the end, it falls on the positive side of the scale for me.
