5-Star Match Reviews: Josh Alexander vs. Will Ospreay – TNA Impact 2024

So I hear this Will Ospreay guy’s pretty good…allegedly.

Ospreay is the latest ink in a long chain of smaller workhorses that became ridiculously popular with a certain segment of the wrestling audience that favored action over character. First it was Chris Benoit, then Bryan Danielson, then AJ Styles, then Kenny Omega, and now Ospreay. And if you listen to that diehard fandom then it won’t be long before you hear someone say something along the lines of “Ospreay is the NEW greatest of all time”.

Personally I’m doubtful of that kind of hyperbole. Not only does it scream of recency bias but it comes across as artificial. What’s more, if you take Dave Meltzer at face value (and that’s a BIG if), then Ospreay has had more of the best matches of all time over the past eight years than anyone else since 1980.

So is Ospreay really some kind of pro-wrestling master, or is his rise to the top merely a case of him having the loudest cheerleaders in the room?

The story

Josh Alexander spent over a decade competing on the independent circuit before joining TNA/Impact in 2019. Upon arrival in TNA he received lots of praise for his great matches and for his work alongside Ethan Page in a tag team called The North. But once Page left Alexander struck out on his own and eventually made it to the top and became the longest-reigning IMPACT World Champion in history.

After forfeiting the title due to injury, Alexander started working his way up again to earn a shot. He began wrestling other big names from other promotions, which eventually led to Will Ospreay making an appearance. The two men faced off in November 2023 and saw Ospreay beat Alexander. Now Alexander wanted to even the score having learned from his mistakes in that match.

But could he? Although Alexander looked and wrestled very much like Kurt Angle and had done incredibly well for himself, Ospreay was still seen as being in a league of his own. Alexander was bigger and had a better amateur pedigree but Ospreay was quicker, more explosive, and appeared to have an easier time recovering from big moves. With these advantages, could Ospreay make lightning strike twice in the same place?

The match

This took place on January 18, 2024. It was rated *****1/2 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

They lock-up and Ospreay flips out of a wristlock. Ospreay out-waistlocks Alexander and throws him down but Alexander bounces back up. Alexander lands a shoulderblock but Ospreay kips up right away. A drop-down sequence ends with a counter armdrag from Ospreay. He goes for a flying headscissor but Alexander catches him and tries a powerbomb, only for Ospreay to counter that with a Frankensteiner. Ospreay lands a Manhattan drop and a standing shooting star splash for a two-count and then gets another two-count off a single knee backbreaker for another two-count moments later. Alexander blocks a corner charge and cuts Ospreay off on the apron to block a springboard. Alexander hits a low-angle crossbody press, sending both guys to the floor.

Back in the ring the two guys trade simple strikes until Alexander begins a Kurt Angle-style German suplex combo. Ospreay gets a ropebreak and hits a handspring enzuigiri that sends Alexander to the floor. Alexander dodges a pescado, catches Ospreay’s foot on an attempted kick, and applies an ankle lock. Ospreay kicks Alexander off and also pulls a table from underneath the ring at nearly the same time. Ospreay hits a steps-assisted tornado DDT to regain control of the match.

Ospreay teases a Tiger Driver from the apron through the table but Alexander blocks, only for Ospreay to clothesline him over the ropes and into the ring. A springboard forearm gets Ospreay a two-count. Alexander blocks a powerbomb so Ospreay lands Kawada kicks to his face. They block vertical suplexes until Alexander drops Ospreay. He charges to the ropes moments later but Ospreay hits first with a standing flipover enzuigiri. Ospreay counters an Irish whip with another handspring attempt but this time Alexander catches him in midair and lands a German suplex. That’s followed by a powerbomb into a single-knee backbreaker. One, two, Ospreay kicks out.

Ospreay magically recovers first and hits chops until Alexander catches his arm and switches to another backbreaker. Ospreay blocks an over-the-rope German suplex and teases a powerslam through the table. Alexander blocks and tries a Tiger Driver of his own. Ospreay blocks, lands a hook kick, and lands a Tiger Driver through the table.

Both guys are slow to make it back into the ring but both do before the ref’s count of ten. Alexander makes it at nine at which point Ospreay hits a springboard missile dropkick. He follows with an Os-Cutter but only manages a two-count. Ospreay goes for a Hidden Blade but Alexander collapses. Why he doesn’t cover if Alexander’s that beaten up is a mystery. Ospreay lifts Alexander into a corner and tries a cross-ring Irish whip but Alexander collapses after only a few steps. Pin him you dolt. Nope, Ospreay taunts Alexander with kicks and punches in a corner. Alexander tries hitting back but doesn’t have the strength, at least at first. Alexander fires up and hits a boot but Ospreay hits back with a shotgun dropkick that sends him back into the corner. Alexander fires up even more and rips off his headgear. Both guys trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Alexander charges off the ropes…and runs into a standing Spanish Fly. One, two, Alexander kicks out.

A “fight forever” chant begins as Ospreay attempts his Stormbreaker finisher. Alexander fights out and tries a powerslam. Ospreay counters with a stunner and tries another Os-Cutter. Alexander hits an elbow smash that swats Ospreay out of the air.

After some downtime Alexander misses a big boot and Ospreay hits a hook kick that sends him onto the entrance ramp. Alexander blocks another springboard and teases a Tombstone onto the ramp. Ospreay escapes and lands another hook kick. Alexander ducks another Hidden Blade and they trade strikes. Alexander blocks an Os-Cutter and hits a spinning Tombstone.

Back in the ring Alexander hits a corner clothesline followed by a diving fireman’s carry slam for another two-count. Alexander applies an ankle lock but Ospreay rolls through sending Alexander into a turnbuckle. Ospreay blocks a charge with another gamengiri and lands his Cheeky Nandos through-the-legs kick. Then Ospreay lands both a poisoned rana and a successful Hidden Blade. One, two, Alexander survives. Ospreay fails to land the Stormbreaker but connects with another Hidden Blade. He follows that with a Tiger Driver ’91 but only gets a two-count. Off a TIGER DRIVER ’91!

Ospreay removes his elbow pad for another Blade but Alexander gets up and hits a lariat. They trade stiff standing and running strikes until Alexander runs through Ospreay with a lariat. Alexander tries a Tiger Driver. Ospreay counters and teases a Styles Clash. Alexander rolls into an ankle lock. Ospreay tries kicking out. Alexander counters into a successful Styles Clash for two. Ospreay flips Alexander double birds as he kicks out. Alexander answers with a double underhook piledriver. One, two, and three! Alexander beats Ospreay.

Winner after 23:55: Josh Alexander

Review

This was a solid and impressive match from a physicality and conditioning standpoint but nothing historic that hasn’t been seen before. It was another Ospreay versus different style opponent that was more about displaying moves rather than telling a story. Ospreay threw himself around with wanton disregard and tried to murder Alexander time and again with everything he had but the man from Bolton was too much to handle. In many ways Ospreay is like Darby Allin minus the face paint: a walking morbid curiosity that might leave either himself or his opponent crippled with how much energy he puts into everything. I know there’s a craziness appeal to him but there’s a point where his actions veers into the realm of excess and that’s what happened here once again.

The match had a weird psychology to it: Alexander was physically bigger but he was the underdog to the lither and quicker Ospreay. Ospreay took the bigger man down and started acting like the arrogant bigger guy instead of the annoying little mosquito he has portrayed before. Ospreay had an easier time landing his flashy moves but did little to earn his impact. It was counterintuitive; if the whole point was for Alexander to win then it would’ve been better to have him win more decisively and in less time. By stretching this out and giving Ospreay more time to play the hits, it made Alexander look tough but it also lessened the importance of his win in the end.

And of course, Ospreay’s defining fault reared its head once again: he barely sold a thing in this match and the few things he did sell were sold inconsistently. Alexander worked his back but a few minutes later Ospreay was sprinting and jumping without any apparent ill effect. Both guys moved at more or less the same speed at the start when they were fresh as they did when both had (supposedly) weakened each other. The second half was peppered with near-falls that didn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. This lack of progress from move to move, sequence to sequence created this seesaw action that concluded abruptly.

As a result, the match comes across as hard to follow and, for a potential new viewer, harder to really get into. From an outsider’s perspective this just comes across as empty action lacking in flow or progress, which goes against the core idea of what wrestling has been for so long. Even Ospreay’s stylistic predecessors from the 1990s wrestled with more clarity, as Joseph Montecillo explained:

“This is one of the key differentiators between King’s Road false finishes and modern-day false finishes. What makes King’s Road false finishes so believable is that at any given time you can understand which of the wrestlers is behind the other. Where modern wrestlers drop their sustained selling in finishing stretches, essentially bringing both wrestlers back to the same level, the All Japan wrestlers make sure to clue you in as to which wrestler is in the lead at any given time. And one spot or brief comeback isn’t enough to let a wrestler overtake their aggressor; it’s a slow, earned process, thus making the moment they overcome even sweeter, as it’s the reward to a long struggle.” – Joseph Montecillo, Walking The King’s Road, Episode 2

As for Alexander, it’s unfortunate but he came across as another copy/paste stand-in in the Will Ospreay story. I’ve watched many of Ospreay’s matches and Alexander did little to distinguish himself from most of them save for the fact that he won. He came back on what was supposed to be the brink of death (the TD91) and overtook Ospreay so quickly and with such ferocity that it basically buried all of these supposed super-powerful moves of Ospreay’s. Aside from that he was another indy wrestling guy with the same broad move-set: German suplex, piledriver or other vicious neck-targeting move, a dive to the floor, and a submission hold that didn’t have any impact on the match itself. It’s a shame: people have said good things about Alexander as a wrestler but I didn’t see any of that here.

Final Rating: ***3/4

A wise man once said, “You’ve got all these moves; now it’s time to learn to wrestle.” That man was Toshiaki Kawada, a legend that many wrestlers – including Ospreay himself – have copied and paid tribute to in their matches. Kawada said this over thirty years ago to a then-rookie Jun Akiyama when Akiyama was displaying so many moves but in the process came across as mechanical. That criticism rings true for many people including Ospreay: though he was expressive here as he has been in his biggest matches, he still came across as too much of a mechanical checklist wrestler doing maneuvers without putting all that much feeling or meaning behind them.

Much of the praise towards Ospreay has been towards his athleticism and conditioning, and while he’s great in both of those areas they don’t make him a complete package wrestler. While I think it’s impressive to a degree that Ospreay can do so much on a regular basis and so it so smoothly and without slowing down, at some point his matches, because they’re so similar, all meld together into one singular image. Sure that can be a testament to his ability to work well with anyone, but at the same time it leaves the viewer with this “you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all” syndrome that doesn’t give much reason to see him again.

But if you’re dead-set on watching any Ospreay match then I suggest skipping this one because it doesn’t meet the hype. Some good ones include his match with Zack Sabre, Jr. (because that guy knows how to complement Ospreay’ style) from New Japan Cup 2022, The New Beginning 2020, or RPW’s High Stakes show; his match with Tetsuya Naito from Battle Autumn ’22 (because Naito shuts his usual shit down in seconds and Ospreay’s forced out of his comfort zone), or his match with WALTER from OTT in 2018 (because WALTER destroying flippy guys is always fun to watch).

Thanks for reading.