{"id":26735,"date":"2023-03-04T19:25:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T19:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/?p=26735"},"modified":"2023-03-04T19:25:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T19:25:21","slug":"match-review-tristan-archer-vs-will-ospreay-rixe-catch-episode-12-february-25-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/reviews\/match-review-tristan-archer-vs-will-ospreay-rixe-catch-episode-12-february-25-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Review: Tristan Archer vs. Will Ospreay (Rixe Catch, Episode 12, February 25, 2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We take a look at Will Ospreay\u2019s return to France, as he took on Tristan Archer for Rixe Catch in late February.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve written a fair amount about Tristan Archer, what with him having been a two-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion in the last 12 months, having become a part of wXw during the pandemic, while Will Ospreay\u2019s been collecting awards from pundits for fun lately.<\/p>\n<p>The commune of Dreux in northern France, a little over an hour west of Paris, probably wasn\u2019t the first place you\u2019d expect to see Will Ospreay in between dates in Cardiff and Birmingham\u2026 but there you go! With Ospreay as one half of the main event of Rixe\u2019s episode 12, the French promotion had perhaps the most eyeballs its ever had on it in its three years of existence\u2026 so let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fnrzZi1_dWg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Entrances start at around 1h 53m into the VOD as we come live-on-Twitch from the Palais des Sports in Dreux &#8211; and Rixe\u2019s presentation must be commended here. Pyro and steam for all the big stars, plus a lovely customised stage with video screens and neon lights forming the x in the company\u2019s name. It quite literally screams \u201cRixe\u201d &#8211; with few other promotions going this route\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tristan Archer vs. Will Ospreay<\/strong><br \/>\nThe crowd\u2019s hot for Archer\u2026 but they literally melted down for the opening notes of Will Ospreay\u2019s extended theme. If they can sustain this level of noise, then this is going to be one of those \u201cmemorable just for the reactions\u201d kind of matches.<\/p>\n<p>Duelling chants, albeit mostly in Ospreay\u2019s favour, got us going as the crowd literally drowned out the ring bell. The opening lock-up gets a roar almost akin to a cup final-winning goal as the early feeling out processes saw both men take the other into the ropes for clean breaks. Sort-of. Ospreay cheapshots Archer on his break, then sidestepped to throw him outside ahead of a faked-out dive. Back inside, Archer clobbers Ospreay with a clothesline, before a drop toe hold and a diving kick earned the first pinning attempt of the contest. A stalling suplex gives me a chance to recall my few GCSE French classes, but barely got Archer an \u201cun\u201d from the pinning attempt before a floatover gets caught as Ospreay hotshotted the Frenchman into the ropes, then booted him outside for a plancha. My word, the NOISE from the crowd for the landing of that\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Staying on the outside, Ospreay elbows Archer in the neck, then hurled him into the guard rails, before the pair returned to the ring for some blistering chops. Mostly blistering Archer\u2019s chest. Have they turned the mics up for this, because this was REAL loud. A simple slam and an elbow drop gets Ospreay a nonchalant-but-quick two-count, prompting the Dreux crowd to try and get behind Archer\u2026 only for Ospreay to retain control with a hammerlocked armbar a la Zack Sabre Jr. Breaking via the ropes, Archer tries to turn things around, but his hiptoss is instantly stuffed as Ospreay trapped him with a Cobra twist, which is eventually hiptossed away before Ospreay\u2019s charge into Archer was caught and turned into an Exploder. A single-leg Codebreaker has Ospreay rolling onto the apron for respite, where Archer eventually joined him as the pair traded blows\u2026 before Archer tripped Ospreay off the apron, then followed in with a side Russian legsweep into the side of the ring, and a Tiger feint kick to the back.<\/p>\n<p>Archer hits the ring for a tope to Ospreay\u2026 then took things back inside as a back elbow and a twisting Fisherman suplex earned a solid two-count. Ospreay tries to turn it back around quickly, low bridging a charging Archer outside\u2026 but got caught with a stunner through the ropes instead as Archer added a flying clothesline back inside for a near-fall. Ospreay finally returns with a handspring enziguiri, knocking Archer down\u2026 as did a springboard forearm. Archer blocks a possible Storm Breaker attempt, but instead got chopped before he rolled through a sunset flip\u2026 landing a Northern Lights suplex for a two-count as I thought they might have been doing for Ospreay\u2019s old Essex Destroyer. A Coup d\u2019Etat attempt\u2019s escaped as Ospreay instead hits a wall-flip enziguiri to Archer, then a springboard forearm to the back of the head.<\/p>\n<p>Ospreay pulls off the elbow pad as he tees up for a Hidden Blade, but had to make do with a hook kick and a standing Spanish Fly instead. A Storm Breaker\u2019s teased, but Archer slips out and lands La Terreur\u2026 only for Ospreay to instantly respond with a hook kick and a Falcon arrow.<\/p>\n<p>Heading up top, Ospreay rolls back the clock to hit a 450 splash for a near-fall, with the Dreux crowd getting increasingly-loud, as a follow-up Hidden Blade cracked into Archer for another near-fall. Ospreay tries to pull up Archer for a Storm Breaker, but he\u2019s dead weight at this point as Ospreay instead kicked Archer into the corner, eliciting boos from the crowd as he went. Archer attempted to fight back with elbow strikes, but he\u2019s running on fumes, getting knocked down to his knees with singular shots as Ospreay absorbed blows. A rolling elbow drops Archer, as another Hidden Blade looked to follow, but Archer rolled backwards to pick Ospreay\u2019s leg, eventually bringing him down with a Saito suplex that bought some time. Finding a second wind, Archer\u2019s own rolling elbow sets up for the Coup d\u2019Etat\u2026 but Ospreay slips out into a Euro clutch for a near-fall, before seeing an OsCutter get blocked and turned into the Coup d\u2019Etat for a near-fall and another LOUD reaction.<\/p>\n<p>A trip up top from Archer teased an avalanche Olympic Slam, but Ospreay fought free, headbutting Archer away as a sunset bomb looked to lead to a Hidden Blade, but Archer countered with a backslide to nearly nick the win. From there, Archer\u2019s caught with a Ligerbomb as they were digging deep here\u2026 before an OsCutter planted Archer for another near-fall. Off comes the elbow pad as a leaping Hidden Blade wipes out Archer\u2026 and that\u2019s your lot!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Result: Will Ospreay pinned Tristan Archer in 21:24 (****\u00bd)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Rewatching this back after the Ospreay\/Jacobs match the next day at Rev Pro, there\u2019s a lot of common themes between the matches, but the constantly loud Rixe crowd for me put this ahead of that match, in addition to the feeling that just maybe, Archer could sneak a win out, even if Ospreay was in control for large periods. Not every Rixe show\u2019s going to have a name like Ospreay on their cards, but if the crowds are as hot throughout the show as they were here, I suspect there\u2019ll be a lot more attention paid to the promotion to see just how they are outside of these special moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We take a look at Will Ospreay\u2019s return to France, as he took on Tristan Archer for Rixe Catch in late February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[690,692,6],"tags":[6604,4045,6602,6603,3456,434],"class_list":["post-26735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-european-indies","category-random-reviews","category-reviews","tag-episode-12","tag-match-review","tag-rixe","tag-rixe-catch","tag-tristan-archer","tag-will-ospreay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-6Xd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/rixe-episode12-archerospreay.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26738,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26735\/revisions\/26738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}