10 Greatest Angles In Modern Wrestling History
Kevin Owens: uneven WWE career with absolutely INCREDIBLE highs.
The hot pro wrestling angle is simultaneously one of the most exhilarating facets of the industry and the very hardest thing to pull off, particularly in the modern era.
The last five minutes of a classic match are unparalleled, but the absurd level of talent in the game renders it, if not easy per se, then possibly less impressive. A pro wrestler is trained in their craft, and a great pro wrestler never stops learning and refining it.
There is no formal training in devising a unique, captivating means of selling a match. A booker can study tape, and craft a story, but that one inciting incident, the scene that makes you fired up like a Catherine wheel to see the match that minute?
That is the pinnacle of the creativity of a wrestling promotion.
The feeling is inimitable, and almost impossible to evoke. Countless go-out-of-your-way-to-watch-this matches are worked every single week these days, but how many truly feel white-hot?
A few years back, a fan of Jack Evans bemoaned his lack of TV time in AEW on Twitter. Evans was candid in his response, wishing that wrestling schools taught students how to book angles.
Anybody can talk sh*t over an invisible wall; very few people make you want to run through a brick wall just to see them fight...
10. The Kenny Omega And Will Ospreay Press Conference Breakdown
This incredible scene was elevated by Kenny Omega's peerless ability to build multi-platform storylines over the long-term.
When his seedy manager Don Callis remarked on Dynamite that Omega thinks in terms of years, it was one of the more truthful things he's ever said. Throughout 2022, Omega volunteered, seemingly out of nowhere, that Will Ospreay - Omega's chosen successor in NJPW - wasn't anywhere near as good as his reputation amongst critics suggested. Ospreay's lauded matches were "E-Z fives" that, unlike, say, Omega's series with Kazuchika Okada, were "here today, gone tomorrow".
Ospreay, playing his role, suggested in his media interviews that a defensive, jealous Omega was "c*nting him off".
Ospreay's matches, while unbelievable, weren't likely to be remembered as true classics because the pandemic-enforced clap crowds rendered them bittersweet. Ospreay however wasn't just proud of his work; his work was the only thing tethering him to his sanity.
Omega said it didn't matter.
Cutting a promo far better for his lack of composure - in which reality intersected beautifully with the key theme of their seminal match - Ospreay at the pre-Wrestle Kingdom 17 press conference revealed that he had to watch his best friend's funeral on an iPad in between breaking his body in front of a silent backdrop after frequent periods of solitary confinement.
The contrast here was stunning; Ospreay was incensed, wildly emotional, as the pompous Omega cut an arrogant, uncaring figure. The pissy meta conflict mutated into the fight of Ospreay's life within 10 incandescent minutes.