MR. TITO: Assessing the STUPIDITY of the Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay and Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat Match Comparison Debate

Folks, my head hurts… Why? Because I’m seeing grown men, such as top journalists, pro wrestlers themselves, and a country singer argue about WHICH IS BETTER between the recent Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay match at AEW All In 2026 or about any of the 3 Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat vs. “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair televised matches or houseshow practice matches from NWA/WCW during 1989. They are literally yelling at each other, and now you have a battle between the diehard AEW fans who will defend AEW no matter what and those who eat mouthfuls of member berries to suggest that anything after the year 2000 wasn’t great.

Can’t we just agree that each match was great for their era?

Geesh.

For one, let’s disqualify a few opinions first… Ric Flair was in the actual match with Ricky Steamboat, so obviously, he’s biased. Dave Meltzer is totally IN THE BAG for All Elite Wrestling and anyone who works for New Japan, so obviously, he’s very biased. One is protecting his legacy and the other is protecting his hidden ties to AEW.

But the rest of you fighting in the trenches… Who cares? Who cares which match is better? What are you trying to prove with online fights?!?

Steamboat vs. Flair happened in 1989, while Ospreay vs. Omega happened in 2026… That’s a 37 year difference, and that’s older than one of the wrestlers discussed (Will Ospreay is 33, born in 1993).

It’s like the same idiotic argument of which athlete from this era of MLB, NBA, or NFL is better, despite being decades apart or never having played each other. Like the Michael Jordan vs. Lebron James debate. Who cares? Just admire that both human beings were very talented and won multiple titles each. Sure, they did it different ways, but the leagues conditions for each era provides context.

Or even worse, the old Joe Montana vs. Tom Brady debate. Brady had to get 4 titles to even be included in the debate, but even that was enough. Tom getting 7 Super Bowl titles still isn’t enough in this lame debate. Who cares? Both were great in their era and both will be Hall of Famers when Tom gets in soon.

Then you have “any player today” versus Babe Ruth debate, as if Babe Ruth wouldn’t dominate with late 20th century or early 21st century medicine, performance enhancers, and nutrition if he played today.

Notice how I didn’t mention NHL… Nobody disputes Wayne Gretzky as the G.O.A.T there… I painfully admit that as a diehard Pittsburgh Penguins and Mario Lemieux fan.

But this debate that everyone is having is STUPID, especially since Ospreay vs. Omega from AEW All In 2026 JUST HAPPENED. Why can’t we let the damn paint dry before we see it’s long-term impact? Ospreay/Omega happened 5 days ago, while Flair and Steamboat happened 37 years ago.

What wrestling fans need to realize that Flair vs. Steamboat was through 1989 was an actual exception to what pro wrestling was back then. You didn’t see hyper-athletic matches like that back then because most of the fanbase believed that pro wrestling was real and wrestlers could do more with psychology or gesturing with fans during the match. With the fans emotionally invested already, they didn’t have to perform high risk moves or show extreme athleticism. Thus, why wrestlers could actually perform over 300 times per year back then because they just had to work the crowds who already believed what they were seeing was real. This is why Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3 was so unique for its time and then why Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair stood out in 1989. Those matches were complete outliers for their athleticism in comparison to other matches back then.

Fast forward to 2026. 37 years later, wrestlers are influenced by what Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and a metric ton of cruiserweight wrestlers and international wrestlers have put on for decades. Because kayfabe was shattered, wrestlers since the late 1980s had to TRY HARDER with their matches to keep the crowds interested. Hence why you saw workrate increasing by the year through what we see now with 2026. Sadly, along the way, too, we had ECW to influence everybody flying through tables or jumping off ladders.

Flair vs. Steamboat (specifically the WrestleWar 89 match) was the best match that we’ve ever seen until 1997 when Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin happened at Wrestlemania 13. THINK ABOUT THAT, folks… It took 8 freakin’ years for another epic 5-star match the equivalent of Flair vs. Steamboat to happen.

But then, through the late 1990s, guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Brian Pillman, and many other international wrestlers arrived to really speed up the tempo of the matches. Main eventers like the Rock, Austin, Undertaker, John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar actually adjusted their own styles to match the faster paced style. With time, wrestling schedules were reduced from 300+ nights pear year to around 150, if that. Wrestlers are working less, so thus they put more effort into the bigger televised matches than ever.

Again, wrestlers of today HAVE TO because putting their bodies on the line is the only way to keep the fans interested because fans know everything is scripted.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair stood out because there were no other matches like it, and nothing close to it until the late 1990s.

With Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega, we’ve seen many high impact, high energy, and high risk matches like it. Hell, there are other Omega vs. Ospeay matches that are equally as good as what you just saw at All In 2026. Both Omega and Ospreay have had many great matches with other opponents, notably Okada in the past or with other various opponents in New Japan. AEW often has 10-15 matches on their Pay Per Views and they are full of high energy and high impact matches that are receiving higher star ratings from fans and critics alike. Let’s not discount WWE… Their workrate is way up, as even Dave Meltzer had to give Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk at Wrestlemania 42 a 5-star rating.

The problem with Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega is that it’s in a much more crowded field, and thus can be forgotten in a short while. If you were a wrestling fan since the 1980s, you remembered 1989 with those 3 televised Steamboat vs. Flair matches and you never forgot about them. Then, it took about 8 years for any match to even be the equivalent of quality to that match.

Then I’m seeing stuff like “Ospreay vs. Omega drew over 40,000, which was higher than anything drawing in 1989 for WCW”. Yeah, well, WCW had more eyeballs watching their shows back then and that Clash of the Champions event in New Orleans drew poorly because it was given away for free on television. There’s a bigger population now, and plus for All In, they had a hometown kid winning the AEW Title. WWE drew strongly in Wembley with SummerSlam 1992 because British Bulldog was going for the Intercontinental Title.

Y’all are just in a worthless pissing match… This is apples and oranges. Flair vs. Steamboat was quality in an era of quantity of matches that didn’t require major athletic effort because fans were emotionally involved. Now, however, there’s too much quantity of quality matches and wrestlers have to work harder to earn fans’ attention.

Just be happy with the abundance of great matches today, but thank building blocks like Flair vs. Steamboat that helped influence what you’re seeing now.

STOP WASTING YOUR TIME arguing this crap online. It’s not good for your health and speaking through your fingers is worthless versus actually talking to and conversing with real human beings in-person.

Both Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega were great for their eras and years… Very simple premise to agree on.

That said, I’ve watched both matches and I’ll hand it to Flair vs. Steamboat. Why? Because Flair and Steamboat didn’t have to nearly injure themselves with higher risk moves than what Kenny and Will had to do. I don’t know how Kenny Omega’s neck isn’t badly injured after that match, while I believe that Steamboat and Flair were chilling comfortably after their matches in 1989.

Plus, again, Flair vs. Steamboat were the diamond in the rough back then… Now, we’re creating too many artificial diamonds that are drowning out the quality.

Gotta try harder to impress fans when you flush kayfabe down the toilet…

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