Will Ospreay

William Charles (born 7 May 1993) is a British professional wrestler better known by the ring name Will Ospreay. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Early life
A fan of Light Heavyweight wrestling since his youth, Charles was a fan of Essa Rios and Eddie Guerrero as a child. He cites the three-way match between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe at TNA Unbreakable 2005 as the match that made him want to become a wrestler. He received his training at the London School of Lucha Libre, and made his professional debut soon after.

His nickname, "The Aerial Assassin", comes from his fandom of the Assassin's Creed series of video games. said Charles in the interview from The Huffington Post.

Independent circuit (2012–present)
Ospreay marked his first appearance in Progress Wrestling at Chapter Two: The March of Progress teaming with Alex Esmail as "The Velocity Vipers". They were defeated by The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch). He also was defeated at IPW:UK Samuels vs Frazier 2012 by Ashley Reed and Paul Robinson. His only wins this year came at NWA-UK Hammerlock, when he defeated Darrell Allen.

In 2013, Will Ospreay had matches in Progress and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW). He started to teaming with Paul Robinson as "The Swords of Essex". As a team, Ospreay and Robinson would win a #1 contenders match for the RPW British Tag Team Championship on 26 May. One month later, they defeated Project Ego (Kris Travis and Martin Kirby) to win his first RPW British Tag Team Championships. At IPW:UK, Ospreay participated in a team with Super Crazy in the IPW:UK British Tag Team Title #1 contendership tournament, but they lost in the final match. Ospreay also took part in an All-England Championship #1 contendership battle royal, but was eliminated early on in the match. Finally, on 8 December, "The Swords of Essex" defeated "The London Riots".

On 26 January, "The Swords of Essex" were defeated at the Progress Tag Team Title Tournament semifinals by Eddie Dennis and Mark Andrews. They defeated "Project Ego" at the FPW Tag Team Title Tournament semifinals. On 15 March, after a 273 day title reign, "The Swords of Essex" lost their RPW Tag Team Championship against "The Inner City Machine Guns" (Rich Swann and Ricochet). In singles competition, Ospreay won a 30-man battle royal at IPW:UK Battle Royale 2014. He also participated in the Speed King Title Tournament 2014, losing in a six-way elimination match. On 11 May, "The Swords of Essex" won their first FPW Tag Team Championship in the final match of the tournament in a four-way tag team elimination match. One week later, they participated in a #1 contendership match for a shot at the Progress Tag Team Title, but they lost against "The London Riots".

Also in Progress, Ospreay won an eight-man match to become the #1 contender for the Progress Title. On 14 September they defend the FPW Tag Team Championship against Terry Striker and The Warden. After that, Ospreay participated in the IPW:UK Super 8 2014 tournament, but was defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. in the finals. In one week, Ospreay defeated Josh Bodom and Rich Swann to win the RPW British Cruiserweight Title, defended the FPW Tag Team Title against The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), and also won the SWE Speed King Title in a six-way elimination match. At the end of 2014, Ospreay defeated Josh Bodom and Uhaa Nation to retain his RPW British Cruiserweight Title and his SWE Speed King Title respectively.

During the firsts months of the year, Ospreay had a Progress Title match against Jimmy Havoc, but he lost. Also, "The Swords of Essex" lost their FPW Tag Team Title on 8 February against "The London Riots". Then, he had one of his "dream matches" against AJ Styles, but he was defeated. One week later, Ospreay defeated Rocky Romero to defend his RPW British Cruiserweight Title, and he also started to wrestle with Chris Sabin as "2 Guys Hanging Out". In March, Ospreay defended his SWE Speed King Title in a four-way, and one month later against Pete Dunne. He also had a match to defend his RPW British Cruiserweight Title, defeating Jimmy Havoc. In May, Ospreay participated in the NWA British Title Tournament, losing at the final match in July against Marty Scurll. On 30 May he also lost his SWE Speed King Title in the Speed King 2015 Tournament final against El Ligero. Later, in August, Ospreay participated on the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) 2015 Battle of Los Angeles, being defeated by Mike Bailey in the semifinals. One month later, in two days, Ospreay lost his RPW British Cruiserweight Title against Josh Bodom and won the Progress Title, defeating Mark Haskins. In October, Ospreay had a series of matches being defeated by Kazuchika Okada, AJ Styles and Austin Aries. Also, he had a match for his Progress Title defeating his old partner Paul Robinson.

In November and December, Ospreay made his wrestling debut in Scotland. For the Scottish Wrestling Alliance, he was victorious over Lewis Girvan but unsuccessful in a match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship and a battle royal for #1 contendership to the NWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship.

For British Championship Wrestling, he notably challenged Kenny Williams in a three-way match with Noam Dar for the BCW Openweight Championship in a losing effort. The following night he was victorious over BT Gunn.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2016)
On 29 January 2016 Ospreay made his debut for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), during the promotion's tour of the United Kingdom. Ospreay unsuccessfully entered the 2016 Joker's Wild tournament and challenged for both the TNA King of the Mountain Championship and TNA World Tag Team Championship. Reportedly, TNA had plans to push Ospreay, but dropped them upon finding out that he had signed to appear for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–present)
On 3 March, Ospreay was announced as the newest member of the NJPW stable Chaos. Appearing in a video, Ospreay challenged Kushida to an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match at Invasion Attack 2016 on 10 April. On 10 April, Ospreay failed in his title challenge against Kushida. Following the match, it was reported that NJPW had offered Ospreay a contract to become a regular for the promotion. On 27 April, it was reported that Ospreay had signed the contract. The following month, Ospreay entered the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. On 27 May, Ospreay faced Ricochet in the tournament in a match, which received widespread attention in the professional wrestling world. While some like William Regal praised the two, others criticized the match with the most notable criticism coming from Vader, who compared the match to a "gymnastics routine". Ospreay ended up winning his block in the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, advancing to the finals. On 7 June, Ospreay defeated Ryusuke Taguchi in the finals to win the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the tournament as well as the first English and the fifth gaijin wrestler to win tournament. Following the win, Ospreay was granted another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was again defeated by Kushida on 19 June at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * 630° senton
 * Corkscrew shooting star press
 * Essex Destroyer (Front flip DDT)
 * Imploding 450° splash
 * OsCutter (Springboard cutter)
 * Rainham Maker (Wrist-lock transitioned into a standing moonsault side slam)
 * Signature moves
 * Multiple kick variations
 * Cheeky Nandos Kick (Super to opponent on the turnbuckle)
 * Drop
 * Handspring enzuigiri
 * Jumping corkscrew roundhouse
 * Roundhouse
 * Super
 * Octopus stretch
 * Sasuke Special (Cartwheel over the top rope suicide corkscrew moonsault)
 * Springboard forearm smash
 * Standing corkscrew senton
 * Standing shooting star press
 * Nicknames
 * "The Aerial Assassin"

Championships and accomplishments

 * Future Pro Wrestling
 * FPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul Robinson
 * Lucha Britannia
 * Lucha Britannia World Championship (2 times)
 * New Japan Pro Wrestling
 * Best of the Super Juniors (2016)
 * Progress Wrestling
 * Progress Championship (1 time)
 * Super Strong Style 16 (2015)
 * Thunderbastard (2014)
 * Reloaded Championship Wrestling Alliance
 * RCWA Elite-1 Championship (1 time)
 * Revolution Pro Wrestling
 * RPW British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
 * RPW Undisputed British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul Robinson
 * Southside Wrestling Entertainment
 * SWE Speed King Championship (1 time)