Bare in mind that I'm aware that this was a 59 minute match going in, so I'm immediately in the mindset for the long haul. I'm a stickler for good 40+ minute matches and have certain expectations for them. I do not rate them simply for going long.
The opening moments are a lot of stalling and posing. MJF from the bell ran into the crowd, and then he started doing the Fargo strut, which Ospreay mocked seconds later. A decent spot. An early dive by Ospreay wipes MJF out, transitioning out of the opening segment. MJF, who clearly prefers being heel by the amount he poses and begs for heat, nicely snaps Ospreay's arm while throwing him into the corner before posing some more. A lot of posing. Ospreay hits a springboard elbow and a sasuke special to keep himself in the match. Ospreay follows up with a moonsault (missed but landed on his feet) into a shooting star press and then a corkscrew senton for a lukewarm two count. The fans know there is more to come.
Bizarrely tables are introduced and abandoned, likely for a spot later in the match. Poor set up. This is followed by a neat fake out by MJF who feigned a slight knee injury to lure Ospreay in. Great snap piledriver. MJF immediately follows it up by applying a bad knee hold. You attack the neck first but then attack the knee? Okay. The hold was so poorly applied, MJF simply had his leg wrapped around Ospreay's. There is no leverage, no pressure whatsoever. Thankfully the figure four is actually applied. Ospreay quickly reverses but MJF reserves it back. Will he get the submission win? No. Ospreay gets to the ropes.
Ospreay's leg is so hurt he can't run when MJF tries to whip him into the ropes. Good selling. MJF gloats. Ospreay fights back with chops but gets cut off with a chop block. MJF is better when working the leg through these types of moves. Strikes and counters because his application of wrestling holds is mediocre. Ospreay and MJF hit a double clothesline but MJF is quick to pop up. Out of nowhere, Ospreay hits a stunner and the Oscutter which MJF ridiculously bumps for. They move to the apron where MJF is able to escape an Oscutter attempt. Ospreay lands hard on the apron holding his shoulder/neck region.
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MJF spends it stalling instead of wrestling. Finally he decides to attack Ospreay with a stomp to the hand and a loose armbar, changing his focus to the arm. I've been watching a bit of Nikita Koloff matches as of late, so I am sick of this particular hold. MJF pulls out a Made in Japan for another lukewarm two count. Ospreay hits a handspring high kick before grabbing his shoulder. I'd rather him just not do a move that requires him using the full extent of his arm and shoulders. A standard kick would be fine. A blue thunder bomb is hit to transition to the outside. Great...
They suddenly start brawling in the crowd. The referee doesn't count. A painful inconsistency within wrestling. There was a pretty cool spot where Ospreay had MJF over a barricade and a little girl from the crowd joined in with getting punches on MJF. Ospreay smartly high fives the little kid. The brawling is a little too much attitude era and less Memphis for my tastes. There is a comedy spot where MJF goes head first into a bin and some more walk and brawl with Ospreay smiling and playing with fans. And finally they tease the table. MJF is perched on it with Ospreay ready to pounce but MJF escapes before Ospreay leaped. Ospreay holds his shoulder, suddenly remembering that he's supposed to have a hurt shoulder.
The next few sequences are my more hated moves in wrestling. The dumb cradle pin into a cradle pin sequence followed up by the worst move in wrestling (Panama Surprise) is a bad combination. I expect more for Ospreay, but MJF's mind is showing its head. And they tease the table once more. Why are we persisting with table spots in 2024? They continue working on the floor with no signs of a count. Sigh. Maybe the first extended portion of the match that I've disliked so far.
Back to the arm work thanks to an eye poke and a second rope stomp. MJF once again fakes out hurting his knee and takes advantage by cutting Ospreay's springboard attempt off. They fight over tombstone attempts with both failing but Ospreay is able to hit a STYLES CLASH on the apron! Sick spot. It only gets a two count though. It's predictable, and the crowd doesn't even really pop for it because of it. Ospreay sells his shoulder really well in the follow up though. Ospreay is uneven and is prone to forgetting about it, but I will give credit where credit is due.
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The doctors have now shown up. There were no doctors when MJF takes the styles clash face first on the apron, but he does when Ospreay has a hurt arm? Bollocks. This is unnecessary melodrama. And it's clearly done to carry the ad break. And that styles clash on the apron doesn't seem to affect MJF too much as he is working just fine shortly after.
Ospreay soon escalates and hits a second rope styles clash. MJF escapes a pin via the ropes and then proceeds to hit the heat seeker on the apron. MJF just took a HUGE MOVE and he gets the move in? What a load of malarkey. And finally, MJF hits an elbow through the table. DING DING DING. Where is the DQ? They've lost me. This isn't good storytelling. This isn't good wrestling. It's just move spam to waste time. Why do a move off the 2nd rope if you aren't going to sell it appropriately. And no, when you are doing the next move, you aren't selling it appropriately.
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Ospreay sells the table bump for the majority of it. And surprisingly he doesn't do the next move. Ospreay is flawed but he's not that brain dead. I'm also going to ignore MJF spending minutes not attempting to pin Ospreay after the table bump. Abdominal stretch, aimless headlock pin attempts, etc. Finally something concrete occurs. Ospreay catches MJF doing the kangaroo kick, catapults into the ropes and hits cheeky nandos. Great spot.
Unfortunately this is followed by them abandoning all sense of long term selling. After all these two have done each other, they indulge in spam counters at full speed, and do hyper athletic things like landing on their feet after a top rope poison rana. MJF's early work on the shoulder and leg is unrecognisable. The table bump is a forgotten memory. MJF took two crippling Styles Clashes. He barely sold the latter one. It's just devolved into a move fest.
They transition into the closing stretch, where there is at least some semblance of storytelling. Ospreay counters MJF's second rope piledriver attempt with a springboard cutter, then Ospreay hits a hidden blade for the only great nearfall of the match. Ospreay misses a second attempt but he hits a sick headbutt before going for the Tiger Driver. And it's just silly. It's a simple word and rather conventional, but it's appropriate. The idea that Ospreay is scared to hit the Tiger Driver, especially after hitting a second rope STYLES CLASH (a move that has broken many necks) is embarrassing. Ospreay's acting is poor, but that's small compared to its other issues.
Finally, once MJF is able to capitalise on Ospreay's inner demons, the ref gets knocked over just enough to allow MJF to grab the ring and knock Ospreay out. Which is equally as ridiculous considering everything they did earlier in the match.
I'm sure if you look at the overall idea of the match, you can find an incredible match there. That is if you like this sort of thing. But I found it shockingly easy to pick apart. I thought Ospreay, despite the scrutiny, was awesome for the majority until the match fell apart. His selling was good. I think he did a solid job at selling the shoulder in particular. But that didn't matter in the long term. However, he is the reason to watch this match because MJF put in a terrible performance and the closing stretch was so badly discontented with the rest of it, it feels like a waste of 59 minutes.
This was overwrought with bad ideas. Not even good ones. The knee work was a waste of time, the doctor spot was a time waster and doesn't work in the context it was done in, the table spot was poorly set up and brought issues in regards to DQs and the rules. They abandoned telling the story they were doing to do hyper athletic spots like they didn't do 30 minutes of bone crunching wrestling. And capped it off with more badly executed melodrama. Ospreay can only do so much as a pure performer. The ideas and MJF's bad wrestling skills were too much to overcome.
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