To fly high in professional wrestling’s current era, it isn’t enough to simply soar through the sky with reckless abandon. You must do so as spectacularly as possible. You must evolve and you must innovate. Ricochet has been doing all of this for almost 20 years now.
And he’s making his mark on the generation that has followed him.
Across all forms of entertainment originality is in short supply. Remakes (or ‘reimaginings’ as they are sometimes marketed) and prequels (sorry ‘origin stories’) dominate the landscape. In pro wrestling too, it has become harder than ever to stand out. The aesthetics skew a little smaller these days than they did in previous eras, with airborne athleticism not simply restricted to the cruiserweight, but abundant among even the superheavyweights.
So how does the former Intercontinental and United States Champion stand out from the pack?
Speaking exclusively to SPORF ahead of next week’s huge Money In The Bank show at the O2 Arena in London, Ricochet revealed that it is not necessarily he alone that allows his work to flourish.
“Y’know, I stand out because the younger generations are just stealing all my stuff.”
The former NXT North American Champion then did go onto elaborate how he had done similar with his own favourites when he was breaking into the industry.
“But it’s OK because my generation just stole all AJ Styles’ stuff and Evan Bourne’s stuff. So the tucked moonsault is definitely the Matt Sydal/Evan Bourne moonsault that we all do.“
Then again, there wasn’t too much space for modesty. But when you’ve stolen the show as much as Ricochet has in his career, modesty doesn’t factor in to business all that much.
“But the way Ricochet really stands out, and take this however you will take this, but the way Ricochet stands out is he just does it better than everybody else. Whether it’s a crossbody, whether it’s a super kick, a moonsault, a dropkick, Ricochet just does it better than everyone else, so that’s how Ricochet stands out.“
Ricochet – Making It Look Good Since Day One
When it comes to comparisons, the man who could be the next Mr. Money In The Bank looked to NBA royalty as the company he keeps.
“Like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, those guys. You had guys who could score, like your Charles Barkleys. Watching Steph Curry you’re like ‘what is he doing? What?’ There’s other people who can throw a three point shot, but when Steph Curry throws a three point shot it’s like ‘my goodness. What is happening?’
“So Ricochet’s got that little it factor to him. You’ve got to have that to stand out in this wrestling world. And you’ve got to be adaptable. Ricochet adapts his style to whoever he’s in the ring with.
“It does take a lot nowadays to stand out because everyone has something that makes them stand out. But the difference with Ricochet is, like on Men In Black when he says ‘you know the difference between you and me? I make it look good’. That’s the difference.”
The expectation is that Ricochet will be making it look good all over the O2 Arena next weekend. The artist formerly known as Prince Puma will be lighting up London as part of the men’s Money In The Bank ladder match on Saturday 1st July. And will more than likely be showing out the night before when SmackDown emanates live from the same arena.
Taking this sort of confidence to a sell out crowd for one of the biggest shows of the year? Safe to say Ricochet is going to be dropping jaws left, right and centre in the capital.
WWE Money In The Bank will be streaming live from the O2 Arena in London only on Peacock and the WWE Network on Saturday 1st July
Featured Image Credit: WWE