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Former AEW International Champion Will Ospreay has revealed WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat’s Tiger Driver 91 backstage comment.
At AEW Dynasty, Will Ospreay defeated Bryan Danielson by using the Tiger Driver 91 and Hidden Blade to get the win.
After Bryan got hurt and had to be helped to the back following the win, Ospreay announced during the post show media scrum that he would no longer be using the Tiger Driver 91 finisher moving forward.
Ospreay previously stated that Bryan needing to get neck surgery was enough to keep him from using the move.
Speaking on Close Up with Renee Paquette ahead of the August 21 edition of AEW Dynamite, Will Ospreay was asked to discuss his mindset about the Tiger Driver 91. He answered:
“I don’t really like addressing it, but we’ll get into it. Back in 2023, I had just wrestled Kenny [Omega], it was one of the most high-profile matches ever.”
“During the COVID era of Japan, it wasn’t kind of any of us, and Kenny belittled all of my work, and I hold it to such a high regard.”
“He belittled me, and that’s why we just don’t like one another anymore, right. I lost. I’m not afraid to say it, I got my ass handed to me. It was like 80% him, 20% me. I got my ass handed to be bad.”
“So recovering from that and coming back from that, I just wasn’t in the mood. I was vengeful,”
Recalling what Ricky Steamboat told him about the move backstage in AEW, Ospreay said:
“We’re told in wrestling, like if I throw an elbow at you for a Hidden Blade, yeah, you can put a guard up. If you’re trained enough, you put a guard up.”
“But I don’t want to take anyone’s livelihood away, and I don’t want to take anyone’s career away.”
“So back at Revolution, I remember talking to Ricky Steamboat, and he just wanted to chat with me about strategy, which I’ve never done with a man [like him].”
“So I start talking to him, and I said, ‘If this doesn’t work, I’ll hit him with the Tiger Driver.’ He was like, ‘What is that?’ So I got it up on my phone and I showed him.”
“His face completely changed. He said, ‘Don’t bastardize that move.’ I never understood what he meant.”
On realizing what Steamboat meant after his Dynasty match with Bryan Danielson, Ospreay said:
“It’s only when, the aftermath of it all, when I wrestled Bryan, I remember hitting him with a Hidden Blade. I just said, ‘Do a Tiger Driver. Go for it.’”
“I remember hitting it, I remember firing up. I didn’t see the referee calling for the doctor, so I nail the Hidden Blade, one, two, three, done.”
“It was only when the doctor started coming in and I was just, I don’t know. I’ve never felt like that. Bryan, I genuinely hold, he’s my hero.”
“I have never felt this awful about a man who was on his last legs with pro wrestling, who’s had neck issues before,”
Will Ospreay will challenge MJF for the AEW American Championship this Sunday, August 25 at AEW All In London.
Photo credit WWE &AEW
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