by Hanley! » Jun 02, '16, 4:59 pm
I can see both sides of the argument here.
People who are talking about the match being shit are being very harsh. I can understand those who prefer wrestling with good psychology being less enamored with the match, for sure. But I am one of those people, and I still enjoyed this a lot just because of the pure visual spectacle of it.
Wrestling can work on different levels, and this match really excels on one level. That's enough to make it a good match if you ask me. Some of the gymnastics involved in this match are really impressive and there's not many guys working in the business who could replicate them. For that alone, you have to tip your cap to these guys.
On the other hand, is this a match of the year candidate? Not by a long shot, in my estimation. The action was great, but on any given year there's going to be some matches that combine great action with great pacing, psychology and storytelling. This wasn't that match. This would be worthy of a nomination maybe, but not a win.
As an example, I reckon AJ Styles has had at least three matches this year that were better than this one, because at least for me personally, I think he's found the perfect mix between great athleticism and great pro wrestling.
It is funny that this match is getting so much criticism for the lack of psychology and lack of selling though. I can understand these problems and I see them in the match myself, but there's no less psychology here than you'd see in 90% of Lucha Underground matches. No less than you'd see in a lot of indy matches, particularly featuring cruiserweights. At the same time though, I can kinda understand. In a way the talent of these two guys is working against them. Some parts of the match are very obviously choreographed, and it feels like the better these sequences are executed and the more complicated they are, the more choreographed they seem. So weirdly, I think these guys are getting more criticism just because they're better at this style than almost everyone else.
That's about all I have to say about the match. I do really like Ricochet as a talent. Ospreay I've seen less, but I enjoy his work too - though I think he hams it up a bit much here with the language and the facials. I'm glad this match has generated so much talk. Even though some of it has been negative, I'm sure the publicity can only help their careers.