Whitewolf Wrestling has a habit of producing some blow-away matches… it continued here as A-Kid faced Will Ospreay.
This show’s coming from the beautiful Sala Unas Chung Lee in Madrid, Spain – a venue with a very unique feel to it. It was only a year ago, at Total Rumble 8, that A-Kid had his famed five-star match against Zack Sabre Jr… can he match that here?
A-Kid vs. Will Ospreay
A-Kid got the heroes welcome here, and having shown someone one of his matches for the first time lately, I kinda get the whole vibe of “he feels like he’s forgotten his kit and is doing PE in his underwear”. Especially when you compare his ring gear to Ospreay’s flashy stuff.
We get “this is awesome” chants before they even lock up… when they got going, the pair started on the mat looking for each other’s back, before Ospreay tried to force A-Kid to the mat with a knuckle lock… only to be denied by the Spaniard’s neck bridge and a monkey flip. Some pacey headlock takedowns and escapes followed before Ospreay took A-Kid into the ropes for the Okada-like “clean” break.
After that, the pair exchange leapfrogs as A-Kid took a monkey flip to the outside, as Ospreay faked out a dive that sent Madrid wild!
Back in the ring, A-Kid started a strike battle, throwing chops at Ospreay, who just absorbed them, and… damn near killed him with a high chop of his own. The exchange continues, with A-Kid coming in with a lucha armdrag and a dropkick to surprise Ospreay for a two-count, as he attempted to keep the NEVER champion down with a version of the Stretch Plum. Ospreay manages to escape, but he’s taken down quickly as A-Kid continued to throw forearms… only for a rear spin kick, a snapmare and a low dropkick to turn the tide.
A seemingly-endless exchange of snapmares was only broken when Ospreay headed into the ropes for a handspring enziguiri, before catching A-Kid in the corner with the Shibata-ish dropkick. The Bloody Sunday-like lifting reverse DDT followed, but it was only enough to get a statement two-count, marking how the tables had firmly turned in Ospreay’s favour.
Or so you thought, as A-Kid bounced back with a rebound Northern Lights suplex off the ropes for a two-count, before Ospreay lifted him up onto the apron… then kicked away a springboard as the former Aerial Assassin flew with a Sasuke special to the outside! Back inside again, Ospreay’s springboard forearm clattered into A-Kid, as he then teased a Rainmaker… but A-Kid kicks it away and went all lucha with a sublime series that ended with springboard ‘rana and a superkick after he had originally teased another monkey flip.
A dropkick to the arm followed as Ospreay was clinging onto the ropes, and it was only a matter of time before A-Kid rolled Ospreay down into a crossface, trapping an arm in the process as he looked for the submission. Somehow, Ospreay got a foot to the ropes… so A-Kid just begins to pelt him with kicks and forearms, sparking another strike exchange that saw A-Kid stagger as Ospreay made it incredibly one-sided, with the crowd again remaining hot.
A-Kid rebounded with a series of battering kicks, before he shoved Ospreay into the ropes mid-comeback and caught him with a baseball slide German suplex going through the top and middle ropes! Good God, that was unexpected, least of all for the poor sod in the front row who got caught!
Ospreay’s back inside as a missile shotgun dropkick connected flush, but there’s another turnaround as Ospreay manages to take A-Kid down for a Robinson special. An OsCutter’s quickly countered into a neat backslide as A-Kid rolled him down to the mat for another crossface, rolling him into the middle of the ring when an escape looked likely, only for Will to power up and throw A-Kid across the ring with a nice gutwrench release suplex.
A-Kid gets clocked with a running boot as he pulled himself up in the corner, then got caught with a Cheeky Nando’s as Ospreay looked to be building some serious momentum. A second Cheeky Nando’s followed, then a third as A-Kid was on jelly legs… meaning that he was vulnerable as Ospreay took him up top in an Electric Chair position for the avalanche Iconoclasm!
Somehow, A-Kid kicked out from that, so Ospreay removes the elbow pad for the Hidden Blade… something that A-Kid escaped by falling flat on his face through fatigue. BEAUTIFUL.
Antagonised, Ospreay began to push him around with his boot, and with the crowd getting on Will’s back, A-Kid began to fire up… and get slapped as Ospreay tried to end it with a Storm Breaker, only for A-Kid to get to the corner and come flying out with a tornado DDT! He flipped back over into a front facelock, eventually ‘rana’ing his way out of a suplex as the pace quickened and the action got increasingly sublime, as A-Kid countered a Rainmaker into a cross armbar… which Ospreay squirmed his way out of, and into a triangle armbar, before he tried to powerbomb his way free… which A-Kid countered into a Code Red.
That’s quickly followed up with A-Kid heading up top for a Spanish Fly, which tricked the crowd into thinking he’d gotten the win as Ospreay got his shoulder up at the last possible moment. Ospreay was now the desperate one, clinging onto A-Kid’s ankle as he looked to go up top, only to get met with some shots that had Ospreay fall out of the ring, before he got dragged up to his feet.
Ospreay fought back with a headbutt on the ropes before a springboard cutter brought A-Kid down for an OsCutter… again for a near-fall! Another crack at a Storm Breaker’s countered into a powerbomb, but Ospreay just rolled through and hit a Styles Clash for a two-count, before a thunderous Rainmaker and a Storm Breaker finally got him the win. Just. WOW. An absolutely insane finishing stretch saw A-Kid fall short, but another incredible performance continues to build up his reputation as one of European wrestling’s best kept secrets… that’s not going to be a secret for too much longer! ****¾
- Watch this match for yourself for free on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oGYHaU_f_4