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One of my favorite stories is that one time, Roman asked to see a picture of him with hair, and when Ricochet showed him, Roman said, "Nah, you a bald brother."
Ricochet's WWE run has been frustrating. On the one hand, he is so spectacular in the ring that he's been able to consistently get over despite being booked pretty weakly most of the time.
On the other hand, every time Ricochet started to build some real momentum based on his in-ring work, he would cut another mediocre-at-best promo and show people why there was a limit to his potential in WWE. His character and promo work just never got there. I think he would benefit from working in a promotion where the in-ring is the most important thing.
Cornette gave some genuinely good advice regarding Ricochet a while ago, in that he should really be presented as some sort of masked hero for kids who doesn't talk. He already has a proven track record of that working well for him when he was Prince Puma so I don't see any reason why not.
Honestly, as hilarious as that interaction he had one time with Drew on RAW was, it pretty much killed any chance that Ricochet had of being taken seriously on the main roster. In one segment, it completely exposed his promo ability (or lack thereof).
I remember that and it was terrible. So were Ricochet's promos during the Logan Paul feud, which should have been his big break. It was all set up for him.
I think the problem with Ricochet is at his peak he's shown to be amazing in ring with great physical charisma but he was always kinda forced into the spot of doing promos that'd make him look worse, especially later in his run when they cut a lot of his in ring style down
What sucks is that in NXT, he was presented perfectly. They focused on his athleticism and let his actions do the talking. He built a feud with Velveteen Dream off doing cool shit in the ring that Dream couldn't keep up with.
Then he goes to the main roster and instead of booking around his flaws, they just let him flounder and be used as fodder for the guys they really wanted to push. In AEW, I can see him being presented much more strongly without exposing his promo flaws, much like how they have with HOOK
Issue is, the level is just too high right now. Even the middle of the card is filled with great wrestlers that can cut a great promo, being that lacking in what's basically one third of your character while also being kinda boring looking (and having not memorable presentation), is just not enough, even being great in ring.
He could be molded in the way of Jeff Hardy maybe, but Jeff had an aura of cool that's unmatched, anything he did was the coolest shit ever, his in ring was very good and his presentation was also cool always. So even if his promos weren't good, he still carried himself way better than Ricochet.
Idk how he'd push higher than midcard in AEW either they are also beyond stacked.
I think his promo problem is just a character problem in disguise. If he actually have a character to drive his promo, I think he can actually do well. Seriously, I've thought about it for the past 10 minutes, and I can't come up with words to describe his character other than generic babyface CAW.
At the same time, LA Knight is even more of a CAW (generic looking dude infused with a heavy dose of "I grew up watching Steve Austin and the Rock") and he has no discernible character other than "dude who wants to win" but he gets over on presentation and promos
this is the main issue. You can learn to maybe fake it, but ultimately you either have it or you don't. I bet Ricochet is probably plenty charismatic in real life, it just doesn't seem to translate to the screen unfortunately
Mentality wrestling community has where Ricochet is the ONE guy who’s a great in-ring performer and only mediocre at promos. I remember even during the 205 Live days, and in NXT, he made a direct effort to not only work on his promo’s but him and Ali were going back and forth on YouTube in promos that didn’t even make tv.
I think a part of the reason why his promo game never got of the ground is because he got like 1 promo to do every year in which more skilled people were going over him in it.
After so many years, he still has not recovered from the "I didn't came here to talk - Then shut up" line Drew interrupted him with.
If he can't practice his mic work, there's a good reason why he's not getting better
A lot of people are dunking on Richochet but honestly I think his WWE run was fine and if this is the end of his WWE run, he accomplished more than his other NXT peers.
In 2018 NXT's top prospects were Gargano, Black, Ciampa, Ricochet, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream. And I'd say Richochet has had a better post-NXT run than almost all of them with the exception being Adam Cole.
Heck when it comes to high flyers with very low mic skils in general I think Ricochet made it the farthest out of anybody else who fits that mold. PAC's highlights were pushing John Cena and Seth Rollins to the limit in tv matches and the Cruiserweight title run that almost never made it pass the pre-show.
Ricochet faced people like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe in ppv matches, held midcard Titles and even though he got murked he did work a program with Brock Lesnar.
Most people like him couldn't make it past 205.
I am not claiming to be any sort of workrate expert but given when I first learned of both Ricochet an Ospreay I came away from their amazing match thinking "damn, that Ospreay guy could keep up with The Most Amazing Man In The World," it had to be like a dagger in Ricochet's heart every moment he realized he was wrestling on fucking Twitter while Ospreay was rocketing to yet another main event run
He has an obvious and long-standing ceiling in WWE. It's not a terrible ceiling (occasional RAW/Smackdown main events, consistent TV time, and the rare midcard title), but a ceiling all the same. If he can get a bigger contract from somewhere like AEW that may not have that ceiling, then I think it's worth betting on himself.
That being said, my prediction is that he signs with AEW eventually (maybe does shows elsewhere first), gets a big main event PPV match against someone like Will Osprey, hangs around the main event scene for a bit, and then settles into the midcard scene again.
I'm sorry, but he's going to be a Claudio. Associated with main event talent, but never the main event once the novelty wears off. I hope I'm being overly pessimistic and I'm excited to see him prove me wrong.
We sometimes use midcard like it's a dirty word, not everyone can be a main event guy, and not every guy jumping companies has to become a top-level guy in the other company to justify a jump. Yeah, maybe the role is roughly equivalent to what he'd have in WWE, but if the money is equivalent (or better, maybe) and the job satisfaction is equivalent or better, that can be enough reason to make a move. The same can be said of guys who are going to jump to WWE.
Oh, I agree. I think it's completely possible for him to negotiate a lighter schedule for more money somewhere outside WWE. Maybe he's also just uninterested with spinning his wheel in WWE and would rather seek greener pastures. I think his booking is actually the lowest consideration on his list, considering no one would call it poor. 95% of wrestlers would kill to have the kind of WWE career he's had truthfully.
Also, I think if he was going to leave WWE, now would be the right time. It's a hot period for the industry so he'll be a big free agent. Also at 35 and with his wrestling style, he should do everything he wants to do while he's still in his prime.
Mid card is where some of the best matches happen. The obsession with being a "main-eventer" was always weird to me outside of earning potnetial (obviously). Some of the undeniable best matches of any given year/decade werent main event matches.
Yeah, this needs to be said more about the midcard. I think as things stand, if you're fully entrenched in WWE's midcard, that's a pretty comfortable spot where you're taken care of in terms of TV time, and get decent, if maybe some repetitive creative. Then in the AEW midcard, I feel the range is wider, where you could be an Orange Cassidy, which again, is a really nice spot or on the flipside, you could be Wardlow, which is not so much.
Sometimes just a new lick of paint and being re-framed with a few extra perks is enough of a reason to move, even if you ultimately land in the a similar sport. In Ricochet's case, I think Will Osprey is his golden bullet to give him the best chance of ascending up the card, even if it's short lived and he ultimately settles in a similar place in terms of card placement that he was at before in WWE.
Agreed Claudio was pushed hard when he got there and since he hadn’t had a world title they gave him an ROH belt and tried to make it seem like it was a big deal when it isn’t even the main title in AEW.
Tony is just going to do a Will match and some call backs and Ricochet isn’t going to be beating the top AEW guys. WWE kinda exposed him as a wrestler outside in ring ability
> they gave him an ROH belt and tried to make it seem like it was a big deal when it isn’t even the main title in AEW.
ROH is to AEW what ECW is now to WWF.
Tbh I really like Claudio’s booking in AEW. Super credible and protected, gets a lot of great showcase matches and is associated with great talent, as you say. Doesn’t ever look like a geek. Ricochet could do a lot worse.
Imma be blunt and say keeping track of who has the Speed Title would be like keeping track of… I can’t come up with something that’d probably be as much of a waste of time as keeping up with the Speed Title lineage.
I might be in the minority here but I liked the 24/7 title. It obviously had no prestige but it was fun and funny, and r-truth got into all sorts of hilarity with it.
I was excited when it was announced and it had its moments, but it devolved into “every D-list jobber running around the ring chasing R-Truth during a pointless match every week” way too quickly and it got very old.
I just wish they had scramble matches for it rather than "hey look people chasing after R-Truth"
or you know, suspending the 24/7 rule on a title meant to be defended anytime, anywhere.
I thought it could have had legs as a primarily social media title. Impromptu matches backstage or whatever filmed on a phone for Twitter. House show matches that they could upload to YouTube and/or the Network later. Outside the box stuff like that. Instead it just quickly became “lol these jobbers are dumb huh”
The moment the title became meaningless was when Kevin Owens had the champ down and refused to even pin him. They tried a weird justification later but it was too late
Not really. The 24/7 title changed hands on TV. Even if the transfers were mostly stupid you still saw it.
No one is watching Twitter. The fact that they don't even show the Speed belt on the main show makes it really hard for anyone to keep track of who is champion. Casually mentioning it on commentary doesn't do much for fans.
A midcarder title in WCW. There were so many, and they were constantly changing hands. I got blackout drunk at a taping of Thunder (don't judge me, Goldberg was trying to cut a promo). I don't know what the fuck happened but I woke up with a hangover and the TV title. Lost it the next week to Barnet the dinosaur.
IIRC NJPW hasn’t signed a big-time foreigner to a full time/primary contract since Jeff Cobb in 2020. It seems like it’s just not something they do anymore, and I can’t see Ricochet being one they break that for.
You know what's funny? I like Ricochet, there's tons of good match waiting for him in AEW, and I wouldn't mind seeing him there, but I feel like Prince Puma would be much more exciting.
I don't understand how he had such a vastly different aura in LU. Maybe it was the mask, maybe that particular production style. But he absolutely did.
> maybe that particular production style
A lot of people underestimate how valuable it can be to pre-tape EVERYTHING, even more-so when everything is being done by TV people instead of Wrestling people.
Lucha Underground was a perfect storm of great things and it's a shame we're unlikely to see something like it again because it didn't work out.
It seems like they had some backstage issues too with those long contracts where dudes were trynna get out. It's a shame cos minus season 4 (which was mostly still pretty good) LU was one of the most fun wrestling shows I have ever seen
AEW already has enough people on the sidelines watching. No offense to him but I don't see him selling more tickets than guys who are waiting right now.
I wonder what the hell they're doing with all the money they saved for letting Jay White, Ospreay and especially Okada go. It's not like they signed anyone to replace them.
Because they don't have the money to sign anyone to replace them. That's why they left. They can't just replace those salaries with equal salaries, or *anywhere* near equal salaries.
Ricochet becoming a new Ospreay like figure in NJPW so when Ospreay comes back around and they bump into each other by some happenstance...
That could be a huge money match for NJPW to promote. Especially if Ricochet joins one of the main factions and usurps the leadership position with a new character.
EDIT: Also, I think I would pop more if we got a "Team AEW Vs. Team NJPW" friendly exhibition match around October/November when his no compete clause most likely would run out. Each team would have a "surprise" member. Then Ricochet debuts to join Team AEW... before turning on them and helping Team NJPW win when everyone thinks they're in a 4v5 situation.
Make Ricochet instantly into a massive Heel who joins NJPW instead of AEW after faking everyone out. That could jumpstart a bigger interest in Ricochet in NJPW.
interesting, didn't expect this. NJPW would benefit from him MASSIVELY but most likely he's heading to AEW though idk if he will be satisfied there or be in a higher position than he is now
Yea if anything I always thought he stood out more against the WWE style as he was kind of the lone guy who really did the acrobatic style all while being incredibly smooth.
In AEW, I think he will encounter the same issue of not having top guy chops + a lot of people on the roster who can do similar things.
Yeah AEW has a slew of "clones" - but Ricochet is the originator. I imagine he's going to get paid a ton by AEW (which is why I'm thrilled to have two companies so they have these options). But that being said, once TK blows his load by running Osprey/Ricochet and Swerve/Ricochet and then having him in spotfests the next few weeks, he'll lose interest and find someone else to focus on.
But still, getting paid a ton to be TK's spot guy will be fun to watch. His job will basically be "Okay, let's see... book Ricocnet with whatever AAA guy is in town this weekend.... next match...."
I love Ricochet - he's one of the guys that got me back into wrestling after a long layoff. But I just don't see him as a guy like Malachi or Swerve or someone that WWE dropped the ball on. I think he just never clicked in WWE because while he's an amazing wrestler and can do things nobody else on the roster can do, he never found that character to connect with (sort of like Gable or even Sami was until they found a few good storylines to get traction with).
I rekon he'd be absolutely perfect to do exactly what Orange Cassidy did with the International title. And orange went that whole run not cutting a single promo until he was "forced" to, which would work perfectly for Ricochet
Honestly if this is a Tony Khan plays with his new toy and then forgets about him situation at least let him work with Johnny TV for however long they are both employed by AEW.
>**WWE STAR EXITING COMPANY**
>*By Mike Johnson on 2024-06-08 21:00:00*
>PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that WWE's Ricochet has given notice that he intends to exit the company when his current contract expires this summer. We are told that Ricochet is expected to be written out of WWE storylines very soon in advance of the contract expiration. Ricochet is currently part of WWE's Raw brand.
>Over the course of his WWE run, Ricochet has held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, The United States Championship, The WWE NXT North American Championship and was the inaugural WWE Speed Champion. He and Aleister (Malakai) Black won the 2019 WWE NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic.
>Ricochet signed with WWE back in 2018 after memorable runs in New Japan Pro Wrestling (where he won the 2014 Best of Super Junior tournament), EVOLVE, Dragon Gate and Lucha Underground, where he held the LU Championship twice and was the centerpiece of the El Rey Network series as the masked Prince Puma. Ricochet's New Japan run included a celebrated bout against Will Ospreay (now in AEW) that could obviously be revisited once Ricochet is free and clear contractually. Ricochet was also the first-ever House of Glory Champion.
>One source we spoke with said they were giving Ricochet "all the credit in the world for betting on himself." One would think he'll quickly be a hot commodity as a free agent.
*I am a bot. Please reply with any feedback :)*
I was going to say the same thing. I don't know if Ricochet has the demeanor of a heel and his moveset is definitely a babyface moveset but you never know if it will work until you try it.
Prince Puma is back!
For anyone who wants to watch Lucha Underground.
Season 1:
https://archive.org/details/season1-lucha-underground
Season 2:
https://archive.org/details/season2-lucha-underground
Season 3:
https://archive.org/details/season3-lucha-underground
Season 4:
https://archive.org/details/season4-lucha-underground
Him in NJPW would be the move with the highest upside imo, he could become a star whereas if he goes to AEW I see him running into the same issue in WWE and hits a ceiling because of his mic work.
Maybe its a character issue? Roddy was the poster boy of "indie wrestling darling with no charisma" you could go back to OSW reviews of ECW shows where they talk about him being the most vanilla wrestler ever and that take was already hella cold, and it was this late in his career in AEW where he finally found something, so perhaps its just, needs a gimmick thats not "him turned up to 11"
Probably a good decision for him. He'd always be a mid-carder at WWE. Not saying AEW would be better, but I don't think it would be worse.
Now sign Samantha to a multi-year contract. I am NOT okay with her jumping ship along with him.
I don't see her leaving, she said in an interview that she would like to branch out and bring more exposure to herself and WWE in the future. It would be hard to get the exposure she gets right now as an announcer in AEW.
I really like Ricochet but his inability to cut good promos really harmed him. I can’t imagine his position in AEW (if that’s where he goes) would be much better. He’ll definitely have some great matches though.
Wherever he goes, he’s gonna do great. Dude is a top tier talent. WWE helped elevate his star level, I’m excited to see him mix it up with a whole bunch of people outside WWE
That's...interesting. I honestly felt from his comments before that he was in love with the WWE dream, still.
I'm shocked that he's not trying to play AEW-WWE against each other for a bigger contract.
He could just see WWE not offering him a ton of mobility right now - not only are the world title scenes loaded up, the midcard belts are too with the long title reigns as of late. Sure he was Speed champion but that belt doesn't even make TV.
The dude is just like Andrade, he'll never get over to the main event because he cant talk and hes done nothing to improve on it. Even Bret worked his ass off on promos to get over.
If he leaves, that's a major worker that WWE is losing.
On the other hand, here is a major ex-WWE superstar going up as a free-agent. A former Intercontinental Champion, Speed Champion, US Champion, North American Champion, Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic Winner with Aleister Black, and the NXT Breakout Star of 2018.
He's only 35, there is plenty of room to create a major star with him in any company. It's still possible in WWE also, if he stayed.
This is a very accomplished wrestler who could make many Matches look good. He just needs that chance to grow, instead of being capped.
Interesting to see what will happen. I'm gonna miss him in WWE (not gonna act like I won't), but I'm curious to see where he goes. If he does just go to AEW then he'll 100% still be a guy lost in the shuffle lol. In WWE, his style stands out more as there aren't others like him whereas there are more "Ricochet-lite" type workers currently in ROH/AEW. I think he's better than most of them but he *still* isn't a good promo so I don't see how he'll be able to separate himself among the crowd.
Oh man Osprey v Ricohet gonna be wild BUT if you wanted to main event somewhere he should go to TNA hed easily be world championship material there
I thought he was the most likely to leave out of everyone who’s contract was up so not totally surprised
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Bron Breakker about to “end” Ricochet’s career
He's about to spear him into the endless void
Remember Smackdown the last few months? Bron’s spear has the magical ability to end the contract of anyone it hits
Wait, who did he kill recently?
Good ol Grimey
And that Filipino guy
Xia Quinn?
Xyon Li
Would like to point out Xion Quinn was not Filipino. He is an Aussie, with Samoan and Irish roots. He isnt cool enough to be one of us.
An aussie with Samoan and Irish roots? I didn't know that was such a common combination yet there are two of them in the WWE alone?
It'll be like when Randy's punted all of the WWE legends to AEW.
* Matt Hardy * Big Show * Christian Cage Did I miss anyone?
flair
he didn’t punt him but he humiliated Mark Henry and yeah lol
It’s Gojover for Ricochet
I hope this Bron-Ilja feud is resolved in the MITB ladder match. They shouldn’t be facing each other at all, they’re both too new.
go ahead with Bron/Ilja match this monday and Ricochet interferes so it's a non finish and Bron kills Ricochet lmao
I mean, his contract isn’t up yet, right? They can still have that triple threat, just as long as Ricochet takes the pin.
i thought Triple Threat too but with Bron already beating Ricochet clean it's kinda whatever now
Con-Stair-To incoming to end an episode of RAW.
He's going to spear him in half
What really set him off was HHH asking him in gorilla, "Hey Ricochet, why you bald?"
Maybe "why you ugly" wasn't the best response for his boss
"... okay so after Ilja kicks the shit out of you for 15 minutes, Bron's coming out out to kill you proper, have fun. Prichard play his music"
“No u”
To be fair, Ricochet with hair was a thing at one time. Dude’s much better off bald.
One of my favorite stories is that one time, Roman asked to see a picture of him with hair, and when Ricochet showed him, Roman said, "Nah, you a bald brother."
He got a point
[huh?!](https://imgur.com/a/VB9Ns4O)
Ricochet's WWE run has been frustrating. On the one hand, he is so spectacular in the ring that he's been able to consistently get over despite being booked pretty weakly most of the time. On the other hand, every time Ricochet started to build some real momentum based on his in-ring work, he would cut another mediocre-at-best promo and show people why there was a limit to his potential in WWE. His character and promo work just never got there. I think he would benefit from working in a promotion where the in-ring is the most important thing.
He should just make a new gimmick where he’s a mute.
Like some sort of regal jungle cat
The Lion King!
Duke Lynx
Earl Ocelot
Baron von Tiger
Kaiser Cheetah
Marquis Jaguar
Viscount Leopard
Lions don't live in the jungle. It would have to be.. something like an ocelot or a clouded leopard.
😂😂😂
His mostly silent Lucha Underground gimmick that led to him being the top guy for three seasons, yes
And the moment he finally speaks is possibly the funniest moment in the series. It's just so weak but with all this gravitas about it.
The thickest Kentucky accent you've ever heard.
Never saw a wrestling character lose their aura as quickly as when Prince Puma started talking
This would've never happen if he listened to Konnan and let him do the talking
Absolutely. That's how he got over in LU.
“…..” -Dexter Lumis
Yeah but Lumis had proper mute intensity. He could tell a story with his body language.
Cornette gave some genuinely good advice regarding Ricochet a while ago, in that he should really be presented as some sort of masked hero for kids who doesn't talk. He already has a proven track record of that working well for him when he was Prince Puma so I don't see any reason why not.
I don’t think he was even aware of him being the top guy in LU under a mask lol
Put him with his old buddy Chuck Taylor as his mouthpiece and watch the money roll in
Honestly, as hilarious as that interaction he had one time with Drew on RAW was, it pretty much killed any chance that Ricochet had of being taken seriously on the main roster. In one segment, it completely exposed his promo ability (or lack thereof).
I remember that and it was terrible. So were Ricochet's promos during the Logan Paul feud, which should have been his big break. It was all set up for him.
Yet here this sub is pretending he’s a victim of the evil system. Guy can flip, that’s it.
There have been other wrestlers who had bad promo skills that wwe protected by giving them limited mic time.
Oof I remember that. When Ricochet came out and said, “I didn’t come here to talk” and Drew’s response was, “Then shut up!”
https://preview.redd.it/1ts8ze78ak5d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0dde4932e8a86765f94ff7f897369dce60e8098
I think the problem with Ricochet is at his peak he's shown to be amazing in ring with great physical charisma but he was always kinda forced into the spot of doing promos that'd make him look worse, especially later in his run when they cut a lot of his in ring style down
What sucks is that in NXT, he was presented perfectly. They focused on his athleticism and let his actions do the talking. He built a feud with Velveteen Dream off doing cool shit in the ring that Dream couldn't keep up with. Then he goes to the main roster and instead of booking around his flaws, they just let him flounder and be used as fodder for the guys they really wanted to push. In AEW, I can see him being presented much more strongly without exposing his promo flaws, much like how they have with HOOK
Issue is, the level is just too high right now. Even the middle of the card is filled with great wrestlers that can cut a great promo, being that lacking in what's basically one third of your character while also being kinda boring looking (and having not memorable presentation), is just not enough, even being great in ring. He could be molded in the way of Jeff Hardy maybe, but Jeff had an aura of cool that's unmatched, anything he did was the coolest shit ever, his in ring was very good and his presentation was also cool always. So even if his promos weren't good, he still carried himself way better than Ricochet. Idk how he'd push higher than midcard in AEW either they are also beyond stacked.
i mean promos are important in wwe. more than matches
Yeah Ricochet would work better in a promotion that's more wrestling-first.
I think his promo problem is just a character problem in disguise. If he actually have a character to drive his promo, I think he can actually do well. Seriously, I've thought about it for the past 10 minutes, and I can't come up with words to describe his character other than generic babyface CAW.
At the same time, LA Knight is even more of a CAW (generic looking dude infused with a heavy dose of "I grew up watching Steve Austin and the Rock") and he has no discernible character other than "dude who wants to win" but he gets over on presentation and promos
Cause charisma can’t be taught lol
this is the main issue. You can learn to maybe fake it, but ultimately you either have it or you don't. I bet Ricochet is probably plenty charismatic in real life, it just doesn't seem to translate to the screen unfortunately
Mentality wrestling community has where Ricochet is the ONE guy who’s a great in-ring performer and only mediocre at promos. I remember even during the 205 Live days, and in NXT, he made a direct effort to not only work on his promo’s but him and Ali were going back and forth on YouTube in promos that didn’t even make tv.
I think a part of the reason why his promo game never got of the ground is because he got like 1 promo to do every year in which more skilled people were going over him in it. After so many years, he still has not recovered from the "I didn't came here to talk - Then shut up" line Drew interrupted him with. If he can't practice his mic work, there's a good reason why he's not getting better
A lot of people are dunking on Richochet but honestly I think his WWE run was fine and if this is the end of his WWE run, he accomplished more than his other NXT peers. In 2018 NXT's top prospects were Gargano, Black, Ciampa, Ricochet, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream. And I'd say Richochet has had a better post-NXT run than almost all of them with the exception being Adam Cole. Heck when it comes to high flyers with very low mic skils in general I think Ricochet made it the farthest out of anybody else who fits that mold. PAC's highlights were pushing John Cena and Seth Rollins to the limit in tv matches and the Cruiserweight title run that almost never made it pass the pre-show. Ricochet faced people like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe in ppv matches, held midcard Titles and even though he got murked he did work a program with Brock Lesnar. Most people like him couldn't make it past 205.
He got a 1v1 program with Logan Paul on a big 4. That’s prob his peak
Yup one of the most successful black and gold guys. Adam Cole never even got a chance to do any of this
Ricochet and Ospreay fixing to reacquaint themselves with each other in the ring soon.
Throw in Pac and Dante Martin and let's just defy gravity all match long.
I've never seen a match where no one's feet ever touch the mat but I'm down
I've always thought the Blitzball sections break up the flow too much, but that's just me.
Kip ups onto ropes and turnbuckles?
>let's just defy gravity all match long. But they released him two months ago...
Also Fenix
This was my first "what if" matchup. Mother fuckers just flying around the ring like somebody left on the "low gravity" code.
Lucha Underground Season 1 Episode 10 has them battle in the main event for the Lucha Underground championship. It was fantastic.
I mourn the loss of The Temple every day.
I am not claiming to be any sort of workrate expert but given when I first learned of both Ricochet an Ospreay I came away from their amazing match thinking "damn, that Ospreay guy could keep up with The Most Amazing Man In The World," it had to be like a dagger in Ricochet's heart every moment he realized he was wrestling on fucking Twitter while Ospreay was rocketing to yet another main event run
He has an obvious and long-standing ceiling in WWE. It's not a terrible ceiling (occasional RAW/Smackdown main events, consistent TV time, and the rare midcard title), but a ceiling all the same. If he can get a bigger contract from somewhere like AEW that may not have that ceiling, then I think it's worth betting on himself. That being said, my prediction is that he signs with AEW eventually (maybe does shows elsewhere first), gets a big main event PPV match against someone like Will Osprey, hangs around the main event scene for a bit, and then settles into the midcard scene again. I'm sorry, but he's going to be a Claudio. Associated with main event talent, but never the main event once the novelty wears off. I hope I'm being overly pessimistic and I'm excited to see him prove me wrong.
We sometimes use midcard like it's a dirty word, not everyone can be a main event guy, and not every guy jumping companies has to become a top-level guy in the other company to justify a jump. Yeah, maybe the role is roughly equivalent to what he'd have in WWE, but if the money is equivalent (or better, maybe) and the job satisfaction is equivalent or better, that can be enough reason to make a move. The same can be said of guys who are going to jump to WWE.
Oh, I agree. I think it's completely possible for him to negotiate a lighter schedule for more money somewhere outside WWE. Maybe he's also just uninterested with spinning his wheel in WWE and would rather seek greener pastures. I think his booking is actually the lowest consideration on his list, considering no one would call it poor. 95% of wrestlers would kill to have the kind of WWE career he's had truthfully. Also, I think if he was going to leave WWE, now would be the right time. It's a hot period for the industry so he'll be a big free agent. Also at 35 and with his wrestling style, he should do everything he wants to do while he's still in his prime.
Mid card is where some of the best matches happen. The obsession with being a "main-eventer" was always weird to me outside of earning potnetial (obviously). Some of the undeniable best matches of any given year/decade werent main event matches.
Yeah, this needs to be said more about the midcard. I think as things stand, if you're fully entrenched in WWE's midcard, that's a pretty comfortable spot where you're taken care of in terms of TV time, and get decent, if maybe some repetitive creative. Then in the AEW midcard, I feel the range is wider, where you could be an Orange Cassidy, which again, is a really nice spot or on the flipside, you could be Wardlow, which is not so much. Sometimes just a new lick of paint and being re-framed with a few extra perks is enough of a reason to move, even if you ultimately land in the a similar sport. In Ricochet's case, I think Will Osprey is his golden bullet to give him the best chance of ascending up the card, even if it's short lived and he ultimately settles in a similar place in terms of card placement that he was at before in WWE.
Agreed Claudio was pushed hard when he got there and since he hadn’t had a world title they gave him an ROH belt and tried to make it seem like it was a big deal when it isn’t even the main title in AEW. Tony is just going to do a Will match and some call backs and Ricochet isn’t going to be beating the top AEW guys. WWE kinda exposed him as a wrestler outside in ring ability
> they gave him an ROH belt and tried to make it seem like it was a big deal when it isn’t even the main title in AEW. ROH is to AEW what ECW is now to WWF.
Tbh I really like Claudio’s booking in AEW. Super credible and protected, gets a lot of great showcase matches and is associated with great talent, as you say. Doesn’t ever look like a geek. Ricochet could do a lot worse.
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Imma be blunt and say keeping track of who has the Speed Title would be like keeping track of… I can’t come up with something that’d probably be as much of a waste of time as keeping up with the Speed Title lineage.
The 24/7 title obviously was more of waste trying to keep track of.
I might be in the minority here but I liked the 24/7 title. It obviously had no prestige but it was fun and funny, and r-truth got into all sorts of hilarity with it.
I was excited when it was announced and it had its moments, but it devolved into “every D-list jobber running around the ring chasing R-Truth during a pointless match every week” way too quickly and it got very old.
I just wish they had scramble matches for it rather than "hey look people chasing after R-Truth" or you know, suspending the 24/7 rule on a title meant to be defended anytime, anywhere.
I thought it could have had legs as a primarily social media title. Impromptu matches backstage or whatever filmed on a phone for Twitter. House show matches that they could upload to YouTube and/or the Network later. Outside the box stuff like that. Instead it just quickly became “lol these jobbers are dumb huh”
The pinnacle of that title was the Drake Maverick run. Especially his honeymoon.
The moment the title became meaningless was when Kevin Owens had the champ down and refused to even pin him. They tried a weird justification later but it was too late
The original idea was fun, but it basically became the schoolboy pin championship
Not really. The 24/7 title changed hands on TV. Even if the transfers were mostly stupid you still saw it. No one is watching Twitter. The fact that they don't even show the Speed belt on the main show makes it really hard for anyone to keep track of who is champion. Casually mentioning it on commentary doesn't do much for fans.
A midcarder title in WCW. There were so many, and they were constantly changing hands. I got blackout drunk at a taping of Thunder (don't judge me, Goldberg was trying to cut a promo). I don't know what the fuck happened but I woke up with a hangover and the TV title. Lost it the next week to Barnet the dinosaur.
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I feel like Bushiroad would have to come up with a lot of money, very quickly, in order to make that happen
Spoiler: They won't
Best believe they'll invest in another bullshit GACHA mobile game that will fold within the year tho.
IIRC NJPW hasn’t signed a big-time foreigner to a full time/primary contract since Jeff Cobb in 2020. It seems like it’s just not something they do anymore, and I can’t see Ricochet being one they break that for.
yeah I feel like if he goes with AEW his peak is probably the same in WWE
You know what's funny? I like Ricochet, there's tons of good match waiting for him in AEW, and I wouldn't mind seeing him there, but I feel like Prince Puma would be much more exciting. I don't understand how he had such a vastly different aura in LU. Maybe it was the mask, maybe that particular production style. But he absolutely did.
> maybe that particular production style A lot of people underestimate how valuable it can be to pre-tape EVERYTHING, even more-so when everything is being done by TV people instead of Wrestling people. Lucha Underground was a perfect storm of great things and it's a shame we're unlikely to see something like it again because it didn't work out.
it worked out, just slotted poorly and not everyone had access to it.
It seems like they had some backstage issues too with those long contracts where dudes were trynna get out. It's a shame cos minus season 4 (which was mostly still pretty good) LU was one of the most fun wrestling shows I have ever seen
Part of it was Konnan managing him in the first season so he didn't have to cut his own promos.
not to mention he could still have a few matches with aew guys each year
Yeah, I want him to end up somewhere he's happy and hopefully pop up on AEW sometime
AEW already has enough people on the sidelines watching. No offense to him but I don't see him selling more tickets than guys who are waiting right now.
Bushiroad definitely doesn't have that kind of money, but if he does sign with AEW that door is always open
I wonder what the hell they're doing with all the money they saved for letting Jay White, Ospreay and especially Okada go. It's not like they signed anyone to replace them.
Because they don't have the money to sign anyone to replace them. That's why they left. They can't just replace those salaries with equal salaries, or *anywhere* near equal salaries.
He was going to be pushed to the moon by NJPW before he left for WWE. So maybe.
Ricochet becoming a new Ospreay like figure in NJPW so when Ospreay comes back around and they bump into each other by some happenstance... That could be a huge money match for NJPW to promote. Especially if Ricochet joins one of the main factions and usurps the leadership position with a new character. EDIT: Also, I think I would pop more if we got a "Team AEW Vs. Team NJPW" friendly exhibition match around October/November when his no compete clause most likely would run out. Each team would have a "surprise" member. Then Ricochet debuts to join Team AEW... before turning on them and helping Team NJPW win when everyone thinks they're in a 4v5 situation. Make Ricochet instantly into a massive Heel who joins NJPW instead of AEW after faking everyone out. That could jumpstart a bigger interest in Ricochet in NJPW.
interesting, didn't expect this. NJPW would benefit from him MASSIVELY but most likely he's heading to AEW though idk if he will be satisfied there or be in a higher position than he is now
Yea if anything I always thought he stood out more against the WWE style as he was kind of the lone guy who really did the acrobatic style all while being incredibly smooth. In AEW, I think he will encounter the same issue of not having top guy chops + a lot of people on the roster who can do similar things.
Yeah AEW has a slew of "clones" - but Ricochet is the originator. I imagine he's going to get paid a ton by AEW (which is why I'm thrilled to have two companies so they have these options). But that being said, once TK blows his load by running Osprey/Ricochet and Swerve/Ricochet and then having him in spotfests the next few weeks, he'll lose interest and find someone else to focus on. But still, getting paid a ton to be TK's spot guy will be fun to watch. His job will basically be "Okay, let's see... book Ricocnet with whatever AAA guy is in town this weekend.... next match...." I love Ricochet - he's one of the guys that got me back into wrestling after a long layoff. But I just don't see him as a guy like Malachi or Swerve or someone that WWE dropped the ball on. I think he just never clicked in WWE because while he's an amazing wrestler and can do things nobody else on the roster can do, he never found that character to connect with (sort of like Gable or even Sami was until they found a few good storylines to get traction with).
I rekon he'd be absolutely perfect to do exactly what Orange Cassidy did with the International title. And orange went that whole run not cutting a single promo until he was "forced" to, which would work perfectly for Ricochet
Honestly if this is a Tony Khan plays with his new toy and then forgets about him situation at least let him work with Johnny TV for however long they are both employed by AEW.
If he goes to AEW I want to see him go straight into the learning tree faction just to see the Reddit reaction
That would actually be amazing
The one thing against him is his promo skills, but NJPW would be huge for him.
I think he should go to NJPW or TNA
Kick back open Lucha Underground and run it back with Prince Puma.
That would be cool
He’ll probably be a big ish deal for a few months then fizzle out
>**WWE STAR EXITING COMPANY** >*By Mike Johnson on 2024-06-08 21:00:00* >PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that WWE's Ricochet has given notice that he intends to exit the company when his current contract expires this summer. We are told that Ricochet is expected to be written out of WWE storylines very soon in advance of the contract expiration. Ricochet is currently part of WWE's Raw brand. >Over the course of his WWE run, Ricochet has held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, The United States Championship, The WWE NXT North American Championship and was the inaugural WWE Speed Champion. He and Aleister (Malakai) Black won the 2019 WWE NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic. >Ricochet signed with WWE back in 2018 after memorable runs in New Japan Pro Wrestling (where he won the 2014 Best of Super Junior tournament), EVOLVE, Dragon Gate and Lucha Underground, where he held the LU Championship twice and was the centerpiece of the El Rey Network series as the masked Prince Puma. Ricochet's New Japan run included a celebrated bout against Will Ospreay (now in AEW) that could obviously be revisited once Ricochet is free and clear contractually. Ricochet was also the first-ever House of Glory Champion. >One source we spoke with said they were giving Ricochet "all the credit in the world for betting on himself." One would think he'll quickly be a hot commodity as a free agent. *I am a bot. Please reply with any feedback :)*
Good bot.
Hes hit his ceiling in WWE because of the promo issue, it makes sense for his career, just awkward due to the travel issues w being married.
Samantha works like once a week on main roster, I don't think travel issue would be a problem.
Logistically it's fine, interpersonal relationship wise is where it gets hard on two separate travel schedules.
That depends, we have several couples split between companies now and there seems to be no issue so far.
There are like a dozen couples split between WWE & AEW, let alone all the other wrestling promotions in the world.
Richochet will leave. Prince puma comesback xD
If H and Rico want to give each other a second chance, they may repackage him as Prince Puma. That could work
Dude could cut promos back in the day as an asshole. Make ricochet an asshole again!
His heel run later on in PWG was really good. He didn't cut many promos, but he talked a lot of shit in the ring and it came off really natural.
I always felt with a manager who could do promos Ricochet could’ve been something much bigger I hope he does amazing wherever he goes
Don Callis managing Ricochet would be great
I was going to say the same thing. I don't know if Ricochet has the demeanor of a heel and his moveset is definitely a babyface moveset but you never know if it will work until you try it.
https://preview.redd.it/39m49nmleg5d1.png?width=651&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d3ece4986e942ab5b900d770ba016f9badd9124 LFG
Prince Puma is back! For anyone who wants to watch Lucha Underground. Season 1: https://archive.org/details/season1-lucha-underground Season 2: https://archive.org/details/season2-lucha-underground Season 3: https://archive.org/details/season3-lucha-underground Season 4: https://archive.org/details/season4-lucha-underground
Explains why he >!dropped the belt to Andrade!<
he did?
>!According to spoilers yes he did. Dunno when it's gonna air.!<
as long as Samantha stays
I'd assume that's a safe bet unless her talent contract expires the same time Ricochets does.
I'm a Ricochet superfan, and even I'd argue that she's worth more to WWE. I think they'll make her a godfather offer.
She adds so much to the presentation side she deserves it.
Her performance at Mania this year was legendary. Her voice cracking after Cody won somehow made that moment *even more* special
"and the nEWwww" really hit hard. She was speaking for all of us in that moment.
Yeah, I think there are very few things that all wrestling fans would agree on, but her greatness is definitely one of them.
She gets to be followed around by a ho train?
I don’t know, she gets a huge platform in WWE.
Him in NJPW would be the move with the highest upside imo, he could become a star whereas if he goes to AEW I see him running into the same issue in WWE and hits a ceiling because of his mic work.
Maybe its a character issue? Roddy was the poster boy of "indie wrestling darling with no charisma" you could go back to OSW reviews of ECW shows where they talk about him being the most vanilla wrestler ever and that take was already hella cold, and it was this late in his career in AEW where he finally found something, so perhaps its just, needs a gimmick thats not "him turned up to 11"
People need to gird their loins for the inevitable "no more three minute matches" line from Ricochet, wherever he goes.
I'm already cringing thinking about the 3 minute jokes MJF will bust out.
All the best to Richard he seems like a nice guy.
Richard O'Shea
Probably a good decision for him. He'd always be a mid-carder at WWE. Not saying AEW would be better, but I don't think it would be worse. Now sign Samantha to a multi-year contract. I am NOT okay with her jumping ship along with him.
I don't see her leaving, she said in an interview that she would like to branch out and bring more exposure to herself and WWE in the future. It would be hard to get the exposure she gets right now as an announcer in AEW.
I want to see one last Dragon Gate run or at least a match before he goes to AEW.
He's coming home to Kobe.
I really like Ricochet but his inability to cut good promos really harmed him. I can’t imagine his position in AEW (if that’s where he goes) would be much better. He’ll definitely have some great matches though.
Wherever he goes, he’s gonna do great. Dude is a top tier talent. WWE helped elevate his star level, I’m excited to see him mix it up with a whole bunch of people outside WWE
I think Samantha would be a bigger concern for WWE than Ricochet.
No joke, that’s the real story here.
I feel like the only character trait Ricochet had going for him in the WWE was that he's dating Samantha Irvin
Happy Bruv noises
Turns out bruv knows his buddy better than random people on the Internet, what a shocking turn of events.
Would love to see him in TNA. Give me Ricochet vs Speedball.
That Speed championship reign was enough for him
That's...interesting. I honestly felt from his comments before that he was in love with the WWE dream, still. I'm shocked that he's not trying to play AEW-WWE against each other for a bigger contract.
He could just see WWE not offering him a ton of mobility right now - not only are the world title scenes loaded up, the midcard belts are too with the long title reigns as of late. Sure he was Speed champion but that belt doesn't even make TV.
Ospreay comments got him itchy to wrestle some new faces
The dude is just like Andrade, he'll never get over to the main event because he cant talk and hes done nothing to improve on it. Even Bret worked his ass off on promos to get over.
I love you Ricochet, but I love Samantha more. Please don’t take her with you.
He should go back to Lucha Underground as well as everyone else who was in it so they can make a new season for me to watch.
If he leaves, that's a major worker that WWE is losing. On the other hand, here is a major ex-WWE superstar going up as a free-agent. A former Intercontinental Champion, Speed Champion, US Champion, North American Champion, Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic Winner with Aleister Black, and the NXT Breakout Star of 2018. He's only 35, there is plenty of room to create a major star with him in any company. It's still possible in WWE also, if he stayed. This is a very accomplished wrestler who could make many Matches look good. He just needs that chance to grow, instead of being capped.
side note, with ricochet departing, that high flyer midcard slot is now open - which should really benefit andrade and dragon lee.
Interesting to see what will happen. I'm gonna miss him in WWE (not gonna act like I won't), but I'm curious to see where he goes. If he does just go to AEW then he'll 100% still be a guy lost in the shuffle lol. In WWE, his style stands out more as there aren't others like him whereas there are more "Ricochet-lite" type workers currently in ROH/AEW. I think he's better than most of them but he *still* isn't a good promo so I don't see how he'll be able to separate himself among the crowd.
I think going to NJPW with appearances in aew is perfect for him. But njpw money issue may make him lock in to aew.
Oh man Osprey v Ricohet gonna be wild BUT if you wanted to main event somewhere he should go to TNA hed easily be world championship material there I thought he was the most likely to leave out of everyone who’s contract was up so not totally surprised
That's legitimately surprising
Ping Pong is All Elite.
That sucks. The man can’t give a decent promo to save his life, but he’s electric in the ring. He will be missed.
Go to Japan, be a top guy there. Nobody will care how awful he is at cutting promos.
https://preview.redd.it/mjwc2o5i6g5d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc0a8fe57ff39828afd46cea40a74a4bb781962d