The ghosts of 2016 still haunt the booking sheet

Ten years ago, Will Ospreay and Ricochet turned the wrestling world upside down with a sequence of counters at NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament. It wasn't just a high-spot clinic; it was the birth of a style that forced every major promotion to reckon with the limits of human agility. As Wrestling Inc reported, Ospreay still views that match as the hinge point for his entire career trajectory.

We are currently sitting on the anniversary of that viral breakout. History in this industry moves in cycles. When a talent identifies a specific bout that changed everything, as Ospreay noted to F4WOnline, the logical conclusion is a definitive closer. They aren't the same performers they were in 2016. Every match since has been an iteration, a refinement of that initial kinetic spark.

The AEW roster is the perfect theatre

AEW has become the home for legacy storytelling that respects the audience's memory. Veterans like Christopher Daniels are actively curating their final chapters by handpicking opponents like Hangman Page, proving that the promotion values narrative substance over simple random pairings. Booking Ospreay versus Ricochet isn't nostalgia bait. It is a necessary collision of current realities.

Ricochet’s ability to remain at the top of the card is testament to his evolution, despite occasional booking inconsistencies in his WWE run that left fans frustrated. If he hits the open market or finds his way into the AEW locker room, the match is an automatic main event of any PPV. We are talking about two athletes who know each other's muscle memory better than their own.

The booking flaw

The danger here is the trap of pure athletics. Sometimes, these two try to outpace their own history. When they met at BOSJ in 2016, the novelty was the ceiling. If they try that again today, they risk turning a legacy moment into a parody of their younger selves. The match needs stakes beyond 'let's see who jumps higher'—it needs the kind of gravitas that comes with a title or an undisputed top-tier ranking.

The fans don't need a viral clip; they need a 30-minute main event that validates their evolution. If they lean into the psychology they have developed over the last decade, they have the potential to steal the show at any arena in the world. I don't see this ending with a double count-out; this is a feud that demands a clean pinfall or submission to shut the book on a monumental decade.