For the 11th time in their storied history, Will Ospreay and Ricochet will battle one on one as part of Gold League in the 2024 Continental Classic on AEW Collision. How do you add to what has been a history-altering rivalry? A venue where the crowd can envelop you in love or shower you in hate (or anything else they can get their hands on). The Hammerstein Ballroom is hallowed grounds in professional wrestling and might be one of the only ways to add another proper chapter to a feud that has been so influential in what the business has become.
Amazingly, this will be Ricochet’s debut at the Hammerstein, which almost seems unfathomable considering he’s been in the ring for more than 21 years. You don’t get a lot of firsts two decades into what’s already been an amazing career, so you’d have to believe Ricochet will want to make a memory where so many of his peers have left their mark.
Sure, there are plenty of other factors at play for both men. Ospreay is locked on winning the C2, but he’s been fighting through injuries for weeks and has already expressed future support to Darby Allin against the Death Riders. Ricochet appears to have run afoul of The Hurt Syndicate, which couldn’t be timed any worse.
But for one night, let’s hope all the focus stays on these two rivals. It’s a perfect present to the wrestling world, so sit back and enjoy it.
Before Ospreay and Ricochet do it again, I wanted to take a deeper look at their 11-year rivalry.
Check out Matt on the latest episode of AEW’s Inside the Continental Classic
The Will Ospreay-Ricochet Rivalry Facts
The first meeting between Will Ospreay and Ricochet happened on October 27, 2013 for RevPro in Kent, England. Ricochet would win the first of what turned into a history-altering rivalry.
Bonus note: AEW’s own Colt Cabana successfully defended the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship in the main event of that same show.
The number one single on that date was “Royals” by Lorde.
AEW’s Nick Wayne was eight years old.
Ricochet and Ospreay didn’t meet again for nearly two years. Ospreay got one back to even the score in the rematch at RevPro in Hampshire, England on September 19, 2015. Also on that show? Johnny TV!
Ospreay is 4-0 against Ricochet in tournament-format matches.
Ricochet and Ospreay are 2-1 as teammates in multi-man tag matches, but have never had a match as a traditional tag team.
This will be the 23rd time they’ve been in the same match as either opponents or teammates.
Since their first meeting, Ricochet has won 20 championships. Ospreay was in the midst of his first title reign when the two first met. He’s won 27 more titles to date.
The only one-on-one title match between the two happened on the 5th anniversary of AEW Dynamite with the International Title on the line. It was ruled a no contest due to outside interference by Konosuke Takeshita.
The longest gap between matches was August 8, 2017-October 2, 2024, the aforementioned first meeting in AEW for the International Title.
Ospreay vs. Ricochet By the Numbers
Singles: Ospreay leads 5-4-1
Singles Title Matches: 0-0-1
Singles Tournament Matches: Ospreay leads 4-0
Singles Matches in the United States: 1-1-1
Singles Matches in Japan: Ospreay leads 2-0
Singles Matches in Europe: Ricochet leads 3-2
Any Multi-Man Tag (as opponents): 4-4
Any Multi-Man Tag (as partners): 2-1
So who gets it done when Ospreay and Ricochet fly at Hammerstein?
Until next time, when I’m back to talk about wrestling even more…
You can watch and listen to Matt every weekday at 5pm Eastern at thewrestlingmattshow.com. Matt is also one of the hosts of Busted Open Radio on Sirius/XM. He is regularly featured as a streamer for Bleacher Report’s pro wrestling content.