10 Wrestlers You'll NEVER Believe Shared The Same Ring

6. Vader & Will Ospreay

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Wrestling by design is an industry with zero conviction.

"Never say never," is the motto by which Vince McMahon promotes, though it's inaccurate. "Never pay talent to a level commensurate with the effort they make or money they generate" has been a fairly inflexible philosophy of his over the years.

These people will do anything for a payday, and since they are hilariously transparent about it, it becomes quite endearing. Two men oceans, generations and defunct promotions apart did precisely that in 2016.

Vader took to Twitter to excoriate the infamous Will Ospreay Vs. Ricochet match from the Best of the Super Juniors. The '90s hoss monster loathed the 2010s aerialist for his "blatant acrobatics". Ospreay, once he worked out how to use his phone, read the critique and used the Vader Bomb in a match to fan the flames.

A more worked strain of the argument surfaced a month later, ending with Vader very conspicuously polling fans on the match. "@ this point Im curious if u guys would pay to watch this match Ospreay vs Vader," he tweeted.

The match wasn't great. Ospreay flew all over the shop to get it over, and he exploded into the shine to make it seem like he barely had a chance to survive, much less win. It was smartly arranged to incorporate the smoke and mirrors, but it was too late in Vader's legendary career to not look overtly cooperative.

An endearingly carny way to go out, all the same.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!