5-Star Match Reviews: Will Ospreay vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey – TNA/IMPACT Bound For Glory 2023

Will Ospreay is believed to be the greatest pro-wrestler wrestler of the past four decades…that is, if you take the Wrestling Observer at face value.

Ospreay is one of many wrestlers active today that most fans either love or hate. Some people love him for many reasons, such as his ability to wrestle at the same breakneck speed on a nightly basis, his ability to defy gravity, his hybrid wrestling style, and so on. Meanwhile, some people loathe him for these same reasons, which is why there’s always plenty of discussion whenever he has a big match that gets praised to the moon.

If Meltzer is to be believed then this random exhibition match from 2023 is the best match in TNA/Impact history. That’s certainly high praise, especially given how many wrestlers have come through that company in the 20-plus years it has been in operation. So once again we’re looking back at a match after the initial excitement around it has died down to see how well it holds up.

The story

This match was supposed to happen back in March but Ospreay got injured. Aside from that, there’s not much story here. It’s just Ospreay, who is a big name in wrestling right now, touring from company to company taking on all comers and Bailey was selected to face him on Impact/TNA’s biggest show.

The match

This match took place on October 21, 2023. It was rated *****1/4 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Ospreay gets a clean break on the ropes and follows with a big chop. He shoots Bailey off the ropes but Bailey hits back with some kicks. Bailey bounces off the ropes some more until Ospreay monkey flips him. They keep dodging and blocking each other as Ospreay ends up on the apron. Ospreay jumps to avoid a leg sweep and goes for a through-the-ropes shoulder check but Bailey dodges and hits both an ax kick and a spine punt. Bailey follows with an Ibushi-style triangle moonsault to the floor, much to the crowd’s delight.

Bailey tosses Ospreay into the ring and goes for a dive, but Ospreay dodges so Bailey rolls to his feet. Bailey misses a boot, hits an elbow, and rushes Ospreay again but Ospreay flapjacks him onto the top rope and boots him down. Ospreay follows with a pescado to the floor and once back in the ring he starts hitting stiff chops. A backbreaker gets Ospreay a one-count and then Bailey tries fighting back, only for Ospreay to counter into an abdominal stretch. Bailey hiptosses out of that, elbows out of a chinlock and charges, only to run into another knife-edge chop.

Bailey tries fighting back but Ospreay lands a chop from the turnbuckle to the floor. Ospreay gets a big running start for a dive but Bailey gets to the apron. In one motion Ospreay slides down and out of the ring while Bailey jumps onto the top rope and hits a quebrada to the floor.

Back in the ring Bailey hits a missile dropkick, a standing kick combo, and a shooting star splash, all for a two-count. Bailey winds up for some martial arts kicks, misses two of them, sees Ospreay ducking, and connects with a third. Bailey lands a corner kick and a super Frankensteiner and goes for more kicks but Ospreay dodges. That leads to a high-speed kick/sprint sequence that ends with Ospreay hitting a step-up enzuigiri and a handspring kick. Ospreay follows with a springboard forearm for two and then lands a corner yakuza kick. He lands his Cheeky Nandos through-the-legs superkick and goes for a powerbomb but Bailey escapes and tries a backslide. Ospreay blocks that leading to another strike exchange. He goes for the Os-Cutter but Bailey counters with a backslide for two. Bailey follows with a kick barrage and a poisoned hurricanrana.

Ospreay ends up on the apron and Bailey lands a low sweep. He grabs Ospreay’s leg but Ospreay kicks him into the ringpost, lands a wraparound hook kick, and an Os-Cutter onto the apron. Both men fall to the floor and eventually make into the ring before the ref’s ring-out count. Ospreay gets in first and hits a springboard dropkick the moment Bailey. Then he connects with an Os-Cutter. One, two, Bailey survives. Ospreay goes for a Hidden Blade but Bailey collapses forward before he can connect. Strangely Ospreay doesn’t go for a cover, probably assuming Bailey’s playing possum. Instead he foot taps Bailey’s head and starts hitting forearms. These enrage Bailey who goes nose-to-nose with Ospreay. Bailey fires away with forearms. Ospreay hits back with Kawada kicks. Bailey hits some stepkicks. Ospreay retaliates with a superkick. Back-and-forth they go kicking each other until Ospreay lands the Hidden Blade. Both of them collapse.

Ospreay lands more kicks to a kneeling Bailey and goes for the springboard Os-Cutter but Bailey hits first with a Backstabber. Ospreay sees Bailey climbing another corner and tries cutting him off but Bailey dodges and hits both an enzuigiri and a shooting star press. One, two, Ospreay kicks out. Bailey prepares some big spinning move but Ospreay hits first with a forearm and goes for the Stormbreaker. Bailey escapes and counters with a Frankensteiner for a two-count, then hits a roundhouse kick and a moonsault double knee press. Bailey follows with a super Fisherman Suplex for another close two-count. Tornado kick connects. Bailey goes for another finisher but Ospreay counters into a Styles Clash for two. Tiger Driver ’91! Bailey kicks out of that too! Ospreay removes his elbow pad and hits another hidden Blade followed by a Stormbreaker. One, two, and three! There’s the match!

Winner after 17:59: Will Ospreay

Review

Honestly this wasn’t anything special. Regardless of venue, promotion, crowd, or the wrestlers involved, if you’ve seen one flippy match you’ve seen them all. It was eye candy instead of eye protein: lots of flashy craziness that gave the audience a momentary surge of excitement only to die down seconds later because it lacked substance. While these two tried to make this into a fun match it got a bit stale after about the ten-minute mark.

Ospreay had the same kind of match he has been having all over the world, with Bailey playing the role of interchangeable martial artist trying to out-dive and out-strike him. Bailey did one or two impressive moves but other than that it was like a live-action video game sequence; frenetic, sterile, soulless. They both moved from one move to another with very little downtime. Moves that should be killers or super-finishers like the poisoned rana were mere transitional moves here.

Someone tuning into this by coincidence would see this and think, “How did that not end the match?” and would assume there are so many theatrics involved that this couldn’t possibly be remotely real. It was indy craziness for its own sake, self-indulgent and highly-choreographed like a circus performance. It passed the limit of suspension of disbelief and was just too ridiculous to believe.

Final Rating: **3/4

This was an empty exhibition match yet there was nothing significant to it. The commentators kept comparing it to Daniels vs. Styles vs. Joe from Unbreakable 2005 but this match was nowhere close. Speaking of Joe, the “outside-legend-versus-local-star” dynamic made me compare it to Joe vs. Kobashi from 2005, but again, this match had none of the factors that made either of those matches great. It had acrobatics galore and some interesting strike exchanges but that’s it. Little heat, little story, little novelty. Ospreay already flies around the world facing off against a wide array of different wrestlers so there was nothing special about this one. He played the hits while Bailey tried everything possible to win only to come up short. All in all a passable acrobatic match but nothing exceptional by any means.

This is far from the best match in TNA/Impact history and honestly it’s a skippable one as well. There are much better Ospreay matches available online mostly through New Japan World (once they fic their current archiving problem) and most of TNA’s best matches can be found on YoutTube. Whatever direction you go in, it’ll be a better use of your time than this.

Thanks for reading.