Will Ospreay won't be doing a shooting star press any time soon.
The 'Commonwealth Kingpin' is known for doing some of the craziest moves in pro wrestling. Despite the fact that he will often perform a couple of risky maneuvers in every match, even Will Ospreay is afraid to do a move or two.
In a new interview with Fightful, Ospreay went into detail about a few moves that he's afraid to do, including a shooting star press.
"There’s been a few. I’m scared of doing the shooting star press again. I nearly fucked it up a little while ago. I done it on a random indy show and as I started going I got stuck. Thankfully I knew which way was up and down, so I was able to push through it. Even my physio said it’s not fully healed. So there is a chance if you’re lifting someone over your head this could fucking rip off again. It is making me question whether I should be doing the Storm Breaker anymore. That is the biggest move that I fucking have. I hit that, it’s game over. But I am fucking sacred, bro. It is one of those things where I don’t want to be out for nine months. I don’t want to be out for a year. So I’ve got to think about what’s worth it now. If it means I’ve got to say goodbye to Storm Breaker, then I just gotta perfect the Hidden Blade more and hopefully that’ll do the job."
When it comes to doing crazy moves in the ring, many wrestlers of today's world have been critiqued by performers of the past for being too risky.
Ospreay went on to reflect on some advice that Chris Jericho gave him back in 2018 and how it pushed him to change his style.
"Jericho gave me advice back in 2018 when I landed on my head against Kushida. He was like, ‘You keep doing that, you’re gonna have an early grave.’ I did take that advice on board. I really did change up. Even like if you look at 2019 world compare to 2020 world—which makes me sad in a weird way because of those 2020, 2021, even 2022 because all that’s in a pandemic situation, nobody wanted to watch pandemic wrestling. I did my best work in that space. So if you actually watched my matches and watched my abilities, I changed up everything. It finally hit me. The injury was I had a torn pec. A grade two, so no surgery, thankfully, and my rotator cuff tore. So thankfully no surgery, but it just sat me down. It was just a moment where I was feeling my knees for the first time ever. I always remember when Okada was telling me in CHAOS. He said, ‘All the old boys used to tell me when you’re thirty, you’re gonna feel it.’ I didn’t believe him. Now I’m thirty, I can feel it. I’m starting to get there. I can feel my knees. So it is time to change the style. It is mentally taxing because there are things that I want to do again. A little while ago I was trying the reverse 450 splash I used to do and I just can’t do it. I’m too fat now."
Elsewhere in the interview, Ospreay discussed the amount of swearing in his wrestling promos. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Fans can find results from NJPW Resurgence and other past NJPW shows by visiting our results section.
