Will Ospreay

Will Ospreay
Birth name William Charles
Born (1993-05-07) 7 May 1993[1]
Havering, London, England, United Kingdom
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Dark Britanico
Neo Britanico
Jason Skye
Will Ospreay
William Ospreay
Billed height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2][3]
Billed weight 79 kg (174 lb)[2][3]
Billed from Essex, England[2]
Debut April 1, 2012[4]

' William Charles (born 7 May 1993) is a British professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).[5]

Early life

Since Will was a child, he loved wrestling but when some people preferred The Rock or Stone Cold, he liked guys like Essa Rios or Eddie Guerrero. After he discovered Ricochet he was inspired by him because he thought he did something different inside the ring. But what made him become a professional wrestler, was a triple threat between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe, in TNA Wrestling, which made him an AJ fan. Then he went to the London School of Lucha Libre (Which belongs to Lucha Britannia) to receive his training, and after this he started his wrestling career.

Will has always said that his dream matches are vs Ricochet and vs AJ Styles, which both happened.

About his nickname "Aerial Assassin" Ospreay said that he was inspired by the game Assassin's Creed. "The guy in them is an aerialist and does hard core free-running and I used to always do that, so I just came up with the name Aerial Assassin" [6] said Will in the interview from The Huffington Post.[4][6][7][8]

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2012–2016)

Ospreay marked his first appearance in Progress Wrestling at “Chapter Two: The March of Progress” teaming with Alex Esmail as “The Velocity Vipers.” They were defeated by The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch). He also was defeated at “IPW:UK Samuels vs Frazier 2012” by Ashley Reed and Paul Robinson. His only wins this year came at “NWA-UK Hammerlock” when he defeated Darrell Allen.[5]

In 2013, Will Ospreay had matches in Progress and RPW. He started to teaming with Paul Robinson as “The Swords of Essex”. As a team, Ospreay and Robinson would win a #1 Contenders match for the RPW British Tag Team Championship on 26 May. One month later, they defeated Project Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby) to win his first RPW British Tag Team Championships. At IPW:UK, Will Ospreay participated in a team with Super Crazy in the IPW:UK British Tag Team Title #1 Contendership Tournament, but they lost in the final match. Will also had a All England Title #1 Contendership Battle Royal, but was eliminated early on in the match. Finally, on December 8, “The Swords of Essex” defeated “The London Riots”.[5]


On January 26, “The Swords of Essex” were defeated at the Progress Tag Team Title Tournament semifinals by Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews. They defeated “Project Ego” at the FPW Tag Team Title Tournament semifinals. On 15 March, after a 273 day title reign, “The Swords of Essex” lost their RPW Tag Team Championship against “The Inner City Machine Guns”(Rich Swann & Ricochet). In singles competition, Will Ospreay won a 30 Man Battle Royal at the “IPW:UK Battle Royale 2014”. He also, participated in the Speed King Title Tournament 2014, losing in a Six Way Elimination match. On May 11, “The Swords of Essex” won their first FPW Tag Team Championship in the final match of the tournament in a Four Way Tag Team Elimination Match. One week later, they participated in a #1 Contendership match for a shot at the Progress Tag Team Titles, but they lost against “The London Riots”. Also in Progress, Will Ospreay won an Eight Man Match to become the #1 Contender for the Progress Title. On 14 September they defend the FPW Tag Team Championship against Terry Striker & The Warden. After that, Will Ospreay participated in the IPW:UK Super 8 2014 Tournament, but was defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. in the finals. In one week, Ospreay defeat Josh Bodom and Rich Swann to win the RPW British Cruiserweight Title, defended the FPW Tag Team Title against The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), and also won the SWE Speed King Title in a Six Way Elimination match. At the end of 2014, Will Ospreay defeat Josh Bodom and Uhaa Nation to retain his RPW British Cruiserweight Title and his SWE Speed King Title respectively.[5]

During the firsts months of the year, Will had a Progress Title match against Jimmy Havoc, but he lost. Also “The Swords of Essex” lost their FPW Tag Team Title on 8 February against “The London Riots”. Then, he had one of his “dream matches” against AJ Styles, but he was defeated. One week later, Will defeated Rocky Romero to defend his RPW British Cruiserweight Title, and he also started to wrestle with Chris Sabin as “2 Guys Hanging Out”. In March, Will defended his SWE Speed King Title in a Four Way, and one month later against Pete Dunne. He also had a match to defend his RPW British Cruiserweight Title, defeating Jimmy Havoc. In May, Will participated in the NWA British Title Tournament, losing at the final match in July against Marty Scurll. On 30 May he also lost his SWE Speed King Title in the Speed King 2015 Tournament final against El Ligero. Later, in August, Will Ospreay participated on the PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2015, being defeated by Mike Bailey in the semifinals. One month later, in two days, Will Ospreay lost his RPW British Cruiserweight Title against Josh Bodom and won the Progress Title defeating Mark Haskins. In October, Will had a series of matches being defeated by Kazuchika Okada, AJ Styles and Austin Aries. Also, he had a match for his Progress Title defeating his old partner Paul Robinson.[5]

In November and December, Ospreay made his wrestling debut in Scotland. For the Scottish Wrestling Alliance, he was victorious over Lewis Girvan but unsuccessful in a match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship and a battle royal for No.1 Contendership to the Scottish Heavyweight Title.[9]

For British Championship Wrestling, he notably challenged Kenny Williams in a triple threat with Noam Dar for the BCW Openweight Championship in a losing effort. The following night he was victorious over BT Gunn.[10]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2016)

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 King of the Mountain title and TNA World Tag Team Championship. Reportedly, TNA had plans to push Ospreay, but dropped them upon finding out that he had signed to appear for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).[11]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–present)

On 3 March, 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.[12] On 10 April, Ospreay failed in his title challenge against Kushida.[13] Following the match, it was reported that NJPW had offered Ospreay a contract to become a regular for the promotion.[14] On 27 April, it was reported that Ospreay had signed the contract.[15]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ "Catch Arena Profile".
  2. 1 2 3 "Facebook". Will Ospreay Facebook Page.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "ウィル・オスプレイ". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  4. 1 2 Davies, Ryan. "Wrestler Spotlight: Will Ospreay". uwejournalism.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Cagematch". Cagematch.
  6. 1 2 Stone, Danny. "Huffington Post". Huffington Post.
  7. ↑ "25 Wrestlers Age 25 & Under Everyone Needs To Know". RunningEnzuigiri.
  8. ↑ "The Sword of Essex William Ospreay Interview". prowrestling.com.
  9. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=14028&page=4&year=2015&promotion=125
  10. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=14028&page=4&year=2015&promotion=124
  11. ↑ "New Japan bound Will Ospreay loses planned TNA push". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Rose, Bryan (2016-03-03). "NJPW New Japan Cup results: Big announcements, first round of matches". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (April 25, 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.
  15. ↑ Radican, Sean (2016-04-27). "PWTorch Report – Int’l star Will Ospreay signs with New Japan". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  16. ↑ "【『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.
  17. ↑ "Progress Roster". Progress Roster.
  18. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=146048

External links

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