2018 Ongoing MOTY List: WALTER vs. Ospreay

107. WALTER vs. Will Ospreay OTT 10/13

ER: This was the main event of the 4 year anniversary show, and the fans wanted fireworks, and really there's nothing I'd rather see from feds like this than a big brute chopping and clotheslining a dude out of the sky. Ospreay has that wild Jack Evans body control, but sometimes the set-ups cause things to linger a bit too much. WALTER is not someone to linger, and if things are taking too long you're going to get one of his limbs swinging at you. WALTER breaks out some nasty things in this match, chopping Ospreay across the back when Ospreay attempted a tope en reversa, powerbombing him onto the stage, booting him under the chin on a shooting star attempt, there was definitely a theme of Ospreay lingering or wanting more and then getting crushed because of it. Ospreay's flipping kicks didn't land as well here as I've seen them land, though when you're bringing them in bunches you at least bring a quantity over quality approach to things, and quantity is a smart thing to bring in a fight against WALTER. I thought Ospreay's strikes were at their best when they weren't gussied up, like when he was holding WALTER's head while kicking at his chest, kicking at WALTER's back, or his nice hooking kicks after teasing a belt shot. But it's a fool's game to stay too close to WALTER, and WALTER brings all the big slaps, chops, and lariats to the chest back and head (including knocking Ospreay onto the side of his head with one down the stretch). I love moments of WALTER frustration, where he gets that "done messing around" face and just scoops up Ospreay like a child, dropping him with a piledriver or at one point placing him on the top rope just to chop him and choke him with his boot. Ospreay got a lot of moments of flash, trying to string together multiple attacks to fell the beast, and taking some impressive bumps for all of WALTER's most dangerous attacks. I loved down the stretch when Ospreay went to the top and WALTER rushed in to clothesline him hard in the back of the knees, then dumped him off the ropes on his head. WALTER finishing everything with a classic big man splash off the top was sweet icing.

PAS: This was a very 2018 indy match, they are like watching Live Free and Die Hard: it was great when he was just a guy in a tower with bloody feet, but by movie four he is leaping off a fighter jet. I really liked big parts of this. Ospreay is kind of a goon, but is certainly athletic and has big spots and takes big bumps. WALTER is really great at beating on a guy, and he lays in some gigantic shots, and I love all of his cut offs, very King Kong swiping planes out of the air. The spot where Ospreay shooting star presses right into WALTER's feet was truly uncalled for, and I don't know how Ospreay wasn't spitting out his teeth. Lots of dramatic kicks outs - I mean lots of them - but I liked the actual finish a ton. WALTER flying across the ring to cut out Osprey's legs was awesome, it felt like a linebacker blindside walloping a QB, and the big dude splash is great too. I get why this went 30+, but I could easily see this finishing pretty high with a good editor.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST