8 Reasons Why Ricochet And Ospreay ARE Pro Wrestling

For decades, we've had to put up with people calling us idiots for our love of professional wrestling. It still happens today with monotonous regularity: if you post about wrestling in a non-wrestling-oriented forum, then most of the people that respond to you will be calling you a moron for liking "that fake bullsh*t".

When CM Punk transitioned from unemployed pro wrestler to untrained MMA fighter, the old battle flared up again: pro wrestling fans and UFC fans clashed once more over the word 'fake', a skirmish made all the more galling because the instigator of all that heat, Punk himself, was firmly on the side of 'real' fighting, and was actually the first on this occasion to use the 'f' word to describe his former occupation.

Now we've got professional wrestling fans effectively calling professional wrestlers 'fake', dismissing their hard work in the ring - work that stems organically from a long, authentic tradition of high-flying cruiserweight action, via a melting pot of traditions and cultures that goes back four decades and straddles the globe.

And while we fight amongst ourselves, MMA fans are baffled... seeing no difference between this match and any other pro wrestling encounter.

There are those fans who fantasise about finding that perfect match that they can play to their non-believing buddies: to prove, once and for all, that they don't completely suck for loving pro wrestling. Those fans are outraged by Ricochet/Ospreay, claiming they’re setting the argument back years - but of course, they’re being proven wrong by the sheer number of non-fans that are blown away by this match.

The irony is steep. This match that they hate? It could be the one they’ve been waiting for, the crossover hit with the potential to sell wrestling back to the mainstream.

But then those fans aren't part of the solution: they're part of the problem. Pro wrestling is a variety show, with something for everyone. It's for adults and children, for men and women, for casual fans and the rabidly obsessive. You can dip in and out of the style or subgenre that you prefer, or you can commit yourself to following any and all kinds of pro wrestling you can lay your grubby mitts on, seeing the positive in each.

Fundamentally, however, professional wrestling is an art form with an inherently commercial basis to it. One of the essential criteria for determining whether an angle works, whether a wrestler and a feud has value, is whether it entertains, whether it puts butts in seats... whether it draws.

There's value in all forms of self-expression within that art form provided it meets that basic test... and right now it seems that Ricochet and Ospreay meet it, hands down.