10 Biggest Wrestling Controversies Of 2016

9. THAT Will Ospreay Vs. Ricochet Match

In the eighties, when the Junior Heavyweight stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling popularised the fast-paced, aerial style, they did so on a foundation of sound logic.

Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger et al. innovated the dazzling aerials with which their successors, Will Ospreay and Ricochet, broke Twitter in the days following May 27th, 2016. But - perhaps crucially, depending on your point of view - Liger would only deploy his invented Shooting Star Press when his traditional repertoire was not enough to put his opponents away. The high spots weren't dusted off for the sole purpose of popping the audience; Liger took to the skies only when his ground game had failed him.

Ospreay and Ricochet, decades later, amplified the style by placing it at the forefront - much to the chagrin of Vader, who, satisfied that storytelling in wrestling had died on the evidence of a few GIFs, laid into Ospreay via social media.

This sparked a discussion within the wrestling fandom; had moves lost all meaning, or was it too unrealistic to expect talents in this day and age to wrestle a regressive style? For better or worse, the impact of moves had lessened before Ospreay even underwent his wrestling training. The once-deadly DDT is widely used as a transition move. Ospreay and Ricochet can't be blamed for that - but, tellingly, they created a story merely by wrestling a match.

Isn't that the point?