10 Wrestlers You Didn't Know Were HUGELY Influential
5. Low Ki
Low Ki was one of the first US-based independent wrestlers to borrow liberally from the Japanese scene, which is now almost identical to the US stylistically.
An expert striker, when he wanted to be professional, anyway, Ki was incredible before his character rendered him all but unemployable and promoters, with access to endless great wrestlers, no longer had as much cause to put up with him. Those wrestlers however are in his debt to a near-profound extent.
There is a very easy shortcut that a lot of wrestlers take to pop a crowd early in a match. Much as his work has matured since, having mastered the difficult arts of pacing and selling, Will Ospreay structured the beginning of every match he worked around Low Ki and the Amazing Red's innovation, which was subsequently labelled the 'Matrix Minute' by the hardcore fandom.
A lung-bursting exchange of pure deadly intent, Red dodged Ki's warp-speed barrage by shoot millimetres on that very early ROH Road to the Title card. After their stunning live action kung fu movie fight, Red and Ki registered the crowd reaction with a martial arts pose stand-off.
14 years later, Ospreay and Ricochet's version was considered so transgressive and state-of-the-art that it caused the old guard to melt down completely.
14 years later!