50 Best Wrestlers Of The 2020s (So Far)

3. Will Ospreay

WWE Night Of Champions 2025 Cody Rhodes King Of The Ring
AEW

Will Ospreay may well be the wrestler of this generation let alone a half-decade. 

Once viewed primarily as a high-flying junior heavyweight, the 2020s have seen Ospreay transform into one of the most complete performers ever. From keeping the flame burning in NJPW post-boom to his effortless adaption to the weekly television churn in All Elite Wrestling, the 'Aerial Assassin' has become synonymous with an almost-impossible match-of-the-year-contender standard every time he goes to work. New Japan clashes with the likes of Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada were contemporary masterpieces and evidence of the consistent improvements to his all-round game along the way. Bloody and brutal wars of attrition with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom and Forbidden Door in 2023 both earned match-of-the-decade plaudits, and served as the soft-launch for Ospreay's run in AEW, and he's been indispensable for the challenger brand ever since. 

Near-weekly classics have cemented his reputation as one of the safest pair of hands to ever lace boots, and the babyface momentum he'll presumably carry all the way to the AEW Heavyweight Champion shows no signs of slowing over a year into his mega-push. Beyond his own incredible arsenal, his ability to elevate everyone he shares the ring with still sets him apart.

On a mid-2025 Dynamite, he hung a lampshade over some impromptu booking by polling the crowd with a "Who wants a Will Ospreay match?" declaration. There's not a building in the world that wouldn't respond in the affirmative. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett