Over The Top Wrestling is a relatively new, Irish professional wrestling promotion. It has been running since approximately 2014, and has been running shows in cities such as Galway, Belfast, and Dublin, among others
The promotion has played host to such legends of professional wrestling as Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno, and the Honky Tonk Man. Add to that the presence of international stars like El Ligero, and the representation of upcoming Irish talent like Jordan Devlin, The Gymnasties, and Lads From De Flats (love that name!), and OTT is setting the foundation for a rather respectable independent promotion.
However, OTTWrestling’s upcoming show on the 17th of December, entitled “The Dream Before Christmas”, is the one show that is sure to capture far more attention than ever before for their main event: Will Ospreay vs Ricochet.
For those who are not aware, Will Ospreay vs Ricochet was originally part of New Japan Pro Wrestling: Best of the Super Juniors. The match, which featured some of the most athletic, flamboyant, and innovative offense ever seen before. It is also a match that became the talk of the wrestling world since it was first seen in May of 2016.
The match drew criticism from veterans such as Vader for its flamboyant choreography, while also being praised by the likes of Seth Rollins and being scored at 4 ¾ stars by Dave Meltzer. It became the most talked about match in the professional wrestling world, and thus enhanced the names of both Ricochet (Prince Puma in Lucha Underground), and, in particular, Will Ospreay (who eventually won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in NJPW).
Both men have faced each other several times since that match in NJPW, and now OTTWrestling have intelligently jumped on the bandwagon and booked the match themselves, and has thus attracted far more interest in their aforementioned “The Dream Before Christmas” show.
Now, whether or not you enjoyed the match or not (I personally thought that the offense and flippy sh*t was mind-blowingly entertaining), booking this match is a massive coup from Over the Top Wrestling. Not only have they signed two of the most talked about stars of 2016 in Ospreay and Ricochet, but the match itself is also going to be EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING.
For anybody who has seen the original match, you will know that these 2 guys are so phenomenally athletic that your limbs will get into knots just watching them. Even more impressive is the chemistry between the two which meant that not a SINGLE SPOT WAS BOTCHED!
The importance of this match to OTTWrestling cannot be understated. The match itself will be great, but it will also attract attention to the promotion. Some of that attention will be critical (the nature of the match guarantees that), but, as the saying goes, “There is no such thing as bad publicity”…..well there is almost no such thing as bad publicity.
Will Ospreay vs Ricochet will attract people to OTTWrestling and will, by extension, enhance the reputations of the other performers on the show, such as The Gymnasties and The Kings of the North, two teams that will be competing for the OTTWrestling tag-team titles.
Now I am not saying that it will become as popular as the likes of WWE, NJPW, ROH, or other promotions because of the match, far from it of course, but it will make “The Dream Before Christmas” more attractive to sections of the hardcore wrestling audience. It may be a small boost due to the age of the promotion, but a boost all the same. At the very least, the Tivoli Theatre will be a sell-out.
Andrew Ryan