When Flyers Can't Draw Flies
Will Ospreay and Ricochet had a match on May 27 at New Japan's "Best of the Super Juniors" in Tokyo. Maybe you've heard. It was the talk of the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) for days after Vader , a Hall of Famer with a tremendous legacy in Japan, Tweeted critically about a choreographed spot early in the match. Predictably, IWC sentiment sided with the young blood, while a few old fogies (and people who admire old fogies) defended the big man. Overlooked, at least until the June 6, 2016 Wrestling Observer was perused, was the fact that the match didn't draw. Patches of seats at the 2,005 seat Korakuen Hall were visibly unfilled during the match, and the announced attendance was a mere 1,505. The flyers match couldn't draw flies. Best of Super Juniors ran over two-and-a-half weeks and Ospreay vs. Ricochet are both non-Japanese headliners, so perhaps the lukewarm attendance was predictable. Though the show was on a traditionally strong drawing