BEST WRESTLER OF 2020: WILL OSPREAY

 

    It's pretty tough to name anyone best wrestler of 2020 since some promotions, like Ring of Honor, barely even had any shows. And while wrestlers in Japan were wrestling in front of fans for half of the year, wrestlers in Mexico, most of the U.S., and in the UK, were stuck trying to make it work in empty arenas. But with all of these obstacles, the cream rises to the top. Without all of the bells and whistles, you can more easily tell who's fantastic and who isn't. I've heard Jon Moxley, Go Shiozaki, and Drew McIntyre's names being thrown out as Best Wrestler of 2020. Those three were champions that were in the limelight most of the year and in all of the big main events, so that's understandable that people might consider them. I had my own 3 picks though; Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Will Ospreay. Granted, The Young Bucks would be Best Tag Team...but I don't waste my time on that category. Omega had an outstanding year. He had a good 30 minute Iron Man match against PAC, he was in the best match of the year teaming with Adam Page against The Young Bucks, he was in the Stadium Stampede mele, he had a spectacular match against Page, a good match in Mexico against Laredo Kid, and won the AEW title in a good match against Moxley. Unfortunately, Omega wasn't in Japan wrestling the greats, so his year obviously didn't match those high water mark of excellence years of his past. The Young Bucks were in 2 of the best matches of the year plus the Stampede plus pretty much every match they're in is entertaining. But there was one wrestler that just seems to be ascending to an unmatched peak year after year, and that's Will Ospreay. He didn't even wrestle from March to September. But when he entered that ring for his first match in the G1, your eyes couldn't look away. He looked as incredible as ever, and in the G1 he had good matches with just about everyone, even fucking Taichi. His matches against Shingo Takagi and Okada in the G1 were awesome and epic. And he kicked off the year with good matches against Hiromu Takahashi and against Zack Sabre, Jr. He even had one of the better empty arena matches of the year against his girlfriend, Bea Priestley. When he first started in wrestling he was a "spot monkey." And now, years later, he's crafting his game to include everything at its apex; great storytelling, great selling, great drama. All of his big, spectacular moves look seamless. His ringwork is truly a work of art. And he, of course, does the best looking flips and dives than pretty much anyone in the game. It wasn't a perfect year for just about anything, but Will Ospreay didn't miss a fucking beat.