10 Fascinating Facts About 2019's 5-Star Matches
1. Will Ospreay. Enough Said.
26-year-old British high flyer Will Ospreay had a breakthrough year in 2019, proving that he is ready to bump elbows with the greats in the wrestling business.
The Aerial Assassin wrestled five 5-star matches in 2019, more than any other wrestler that year. While this isn't quite "2018 Kenny Omega" numbers, he is still tied with Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi for second-most 5-star matches in a calendar year. What makes Ospreay's contributions this year so impressive is the fact that he was able to do this at just 26-years-old, while his contemporaries (including Omega) did so when they were older and more experienced.
With all being said, however, Ospreay has been widely criticized in the past for taking unnecessarily-brutal bumps and employing a high-risk offense, with Meltzer himself even going as far to say that Ospreay "will be the Dynamite Kid," so we should just "enjoy him while [we] can". We can only hope that these predictions are inaccurate, because nobody deserves to have their career cut short at such an early age. Especially somebody with as much talent and promise as Will Ospreay.