If you scroll through the GRAPPL 100, you'll get used to seeing one face pretty regularly...
To say that Will Ospreay has had a phenomenal 2019 almost feels like an understatement at this point, and the GRAPPL 100 reflects this.
19 of the matches in the 100 were Will Ospreay matches, essentially 1 in 5! The majority of these were singles (16), with three tag matches also making the list.
That's some going by anyone's measures, and it reflects the consistency he's displayed over the course of the year. Being in both the Best Of The Super Juniors and G1 Climax obviously helped, but he still had to perform night in, night out for a sustained period, and he clearly delivered.
His match with Shingo Takagi in the Best Of The Super Juniors final took number one spot in the GRAPPL 100, and his tag match (alongside Paul Robinson) at PROGRESS against Aussie Open was also the number one rated tag team match. He did the double!
Tellingly, he also had more than twice as many matches in the GRAPPL 100 as his nearest rivals. Kota Ibushi, Kento Miyahara and David Starr all had nine matches in the 100, with Kazuchika Okada and WALTER both having eight.
But does that tell the full story?
If you break the list down further, the top end performances of Shingo Takagi really come to the fore. While Ospreay has two matches in the top ten, Shingo appears THREE times, with his Ishii and Naito matches from the G1 ranking 4th and 9th respectively. Nobody was more 'elite' than Shingo in 2019.
When you isolate the top 25, Ospreay regains top spot with five of his matches featuring compared to four from Shingo. This still sits Shingo higher than Ibushi, Miyahara, Starr, Okada and WALTER however, despite these five all having more matches than him in the full 100.
Although Shingo and Ospreay both featured in the BOSJ and G1, Ospreay had more opportunities to perform on a singles basis outside of these tournaments which certainly enhanced his ratings potential. Ospreay had 35 singles matches this year which were included on GRAPPL, compared to just 24 for Shingo.
However when you look at GRAPPL 100 appearances in the context of the number of eligible singles matches on the app (minimum of 30 ratings), it really does just cement how good and consistent Ospreay has been...
Kento Miyahara - 14 matches (9 in the GRAPPL 100 - 64%)
Kota Ibushi - 18 matches (9 in the GRAPPL 100 - 50%)
Will Ospreay - 34 matches (16 in the GRAPPL 100 - 47%)
David Starr - 23 matches (9 in the GRAPPL 100 - 39%)
Kazuchika Okada - 21 matches (8 in the GRAPPL 100 - 38%)
WALTER - 21 matches (8 in the GRAPPL 100 - 38%)
Tomohiro Ishii - 19 matches (7 in the GRAPPL 100 - 37%)
Shingo Takagi - 21 matches (6 in the GRAPPL 100 - 29%)
While Miyahara ranks highest from a proportionate perspective, it has to be factored in that he has had 20 fewer eligible matches than Ospreay with less people watching and rating All Japan. On average Miyahara's matches were rated by 47 people (high of 78), whereas Ospreay's were rated by 263 on average (high of 901).
For Ospreay to rank essentially level with Ibushi, despite having nearly twice as many matches in the same promotion is outstanding.
For balance we've looked at some different angles, but it's quite clear to us that Will Ospreay is the undisputed MVP of the GRAPPL 100 2019!