Ricochet On His AEW Debut, Samantha Irvin's WWE Exit, Will Ospreay Match, Logan Paul. Randy Orton
podcast.chrisvanvliet.com
On how the last few months have been since his move to AEW:
"They've been great, they've been awesome. There was like a two-month period where I just didn't wrestle, I didn't do anything at all from middle of June to, maybe late August, I guess until All In. I was just at home, chilling with my family, working out, eating right, it was great. Honestly, I was like I can feel retirement. Because some people retire and they're like, Oh, I got to do something. If those two months showed me anything, it showed me that retirement is going to be a breeze."
On the timeline from WWE to AEW:
"I think my last match was against Andrade on Speed. I think that when he won, I think that was my last WWE appearance, unless you count, I guess, except for the Bron Breakker segment. So whenever that was until All In, it was early June to late August, something like that."
On being written off TV:
"I think they kind of left it open-ended for a reason, nobody really knew at that point what was going to happen. I think they were trying to leave it a little open-ended. I think we were still talking. So I think that's why they kind of did it the way they did it, especially because Ricochet, he could have come right back in a couple of weeks. But no, it just didn't go that way. Then I went this way and I'm really happy with everything that's happened so far and, yeah, It's been great."
On if he knew he was done with WWE at that point:
"Not even necessarily, no. So I knew my contract was ending in June, mid-June, give or take. But all the way up to that point there was never a point where I knew I was leaving. I think it was just again, there was a point three and a half years ago into my WWE career where I just said this isn't what I want to do, but I'm just going to do whatever's asked of me, whatever they need me to do, whatever they want me to do, whoever they need me to lose to, or whatever move they need to make look cool, or whatever. I'm just going to do it because I'm here and I want to put in the work and show that I'm willing to do what they need me to do to get other opportunities. I feel like if they did give me a bone here or there, and I was always on television. I was always showcased on television. So that was always nice. But I felt like it was always for Shinsuke, for Sami, for Sheamus, for someone else. It was never Ricochet’s story. Even with Logan, it was for Logan. They gave me little bits and pieces, but it was really for Logan to move on to something else. After a while, it's just like, Ah, man, and again, anything can happen at any turn of the road. It could have been the next week they could have been like now we're doing this. So that's always a chance, but at the end of the day, I think I was really just trying to find out where I was going to be the happiest. Like I said before, when I was younger, I always loved watching the WWE or WWF at the time, WWE now. I always grew up with the figures and loved it, but I never thought I was going to be in the WWE, even when I started wrestling, I just started wrestling because it's something that I enjoyed, I found friends in it, and I found camaraderie, and it's something that made me feel good. Again, maybe being from Paducah, Kentucky, a little kid, you never think you're going to be on that stage. So that's why maybe I never thought about it. I just happened to chance and chance happened, just something else bigger happened, and something else bigger happened, and then the landscape kind of changed. Then, luckily, things started changing. NXT happened, and then Lucha happened. But, yeah, I don't think there was ever a point where I was, this is what I'm doing. I think I just want to do what's going to make me feel good now. What's going to make me feel good?"
On what became the deciding factor:
"I got to thinking, Okay, what will I be doing? Where will I be in three years? And after that, where will I be? And again, anything can happen. You don't know the circumstances, but you just kind of have to play from your experiences. Because again, especially in the wrestling industry, everybody has a different experience. Just from my personal experiences and what I feel like Ricochet has been put through, I don't know, I felt like I had already not paid my dues or whatever, but I felt like I was able to be on the next level of performers there, I guess. But I still feel like I was starting over again. I felt like I was starting over with the Bron Breakkers and the Iljas and the Carmelos and the new guys just coming in. I feel like Ricochet was with those guys coming back in, it's like, man I've already been here for five or six years, I want to be doing something else. Again, at the end of the day, I wasn't going to go to the highest bidder, I was just going to go to whoever was going to make me feel good and ignite that spark again, because I felt like that fire that was burning inside of me was still there, but it was just like little embers that needed that gasoline on it to really make it ignite. At the time, I felt like AEW could be the gasoline for my fire. Since being there, I feel like I made the right choice. Just even getting to be in there with the guys that I've been in there with Lio and AR Fox and even Nick Wayne, someone I've never been in there with, Sammy Guevara, Mortos, people I've never worked with that I've been excited with, but also people like AR Fox and Lio, who I've worked with before years ago, now we're both different performers. So I really think that had a lot to do with it. But there was no specific moment where something happened and I just flipped the switch and that's where I'm going. I just think it's what felt right. Even when I find myself walking around the bowl and looking, I know I made the right decision."
On if he had to tone his style down in WWE:
"That's funny, even I see it online, people try to say that, Oh, I'm so glad he got to AEW so he could be unleashed but he's doing all the same stuff. I've said from the beginning, I probably said it on your interview last time, however, many years ago that was, I've said this on social, I've said this before, but I have not changed anything from jump. Even in WWE, I was doing Springboard 450s to the outside onto the announce tables. I was doing 630s I was doing double jump, shooting stars to the outside. I was doing double Moonsaults off the cages. I was doing double Springboard corkscrew splashes. I gave Logan a Spanish fly off the top through the table because I wanted to. I just think it's the opportunities in how often I get to be in there. And also I just didn't win a lot. So I'm personally not going to do the 630 in a match where I'm not going to win. So I think that kind of had a lot to do with it, too. But as far as my move set goes, I have not toned down anything. I think it's time and place and obviously the opponents that I'm in there with. If I'm in there with a Lio or an Ospreay or Nick Wayne, it's going to be a lot different match than if I'm in there with a Randy or Drew McIntyre or Sheamus or Bobby Lashley or Samoa Joe or Baron Corbin, because that's usually who I was in there with. I was in there with Bronson Reed. I'm not going to be able to have the same match with Bronson as I am with Lio. So my move set is going to be different with Bronson Reed than it is with Lio or whomever. So as far as that goes, I really don't think that I've toned down anything, and I didn't personally come to AEW to be unleashed move-set-wise either, because I don't feel like I've toned down or really done anything differently. I feel like I have tried to evolve. Especially now I'm 36, I'm not 26 and I think my appearance has a lot to do with it as well. ‘Is he older, or Is he younger? Is he Brazilian, or is he half black? What is he?’ So I think that has a lot to it. So when all that comes into play, people don't know what to think, because it's like so much stuff. So I think just that has a lot to do with it, too. So I do feel like I have tried to evolve my style just again for longevity, I'm trying to be my LeBron. I'm trying to be like AJ Styles, look at him, he's still going. Rey Mysterio, still going, killing it. So I see those guys as the bar, and they've changed their style. Rey's not doing the same stuff, he's doing some crazy stuff, he's not doing the same stuff. AJ, he's not doing the same stuff. He's still doing crazy stuff. He's not doing the same stuff. So I feel like I have tried to evolve my style. But as far as toning it down and stuff, I try to do everything that I can still do, other than, like, the double Moonsault, which I just haven't done."
On his fiancee Samantha Irvin leaving WWE:
"She's been talking about that for a while, even before my stuff was up. I think it happened at WrestleMania. I think year's WrestleMania [40] was for her, because, especially for her announcing was only supposed to be like the way into WWE. Because she, first and foremost, is a fan. Before all of that, she grew up with it. Her dad watched it and her brothers grew up with it. So, of course, yes, she's a performer. So her time performing and traveling the world performing got her to a position to where Mark Henry found her and said, Oh, this girl is amazing. We need her for something. Again, like I was telling you earlier, the pandemic happened. She used to live in Vegas and did Cirque du Soleil, and she did Vegas and she did stage shows. So when the pandemic happened, luckily Mark Henry got a hold of her during that. She actually did the full tryout, because they didn't know she was going to be a ring announcer. Mark Henry said, we just need this girl for something. She's so talented, we need her. She's got pictures where she was hitting the ropes, her tailbone is bruised and her back is bruised, big bruises on her back. She did the whole tryout, taking bumps, body slams, did the whole thing. Then I think she was in NXT as an interviewer. Then I think once Greg Hamilton did his thing she replaced him on SmackDown because she was already interviewing, but they needed somebody. Then they just kind of said, Hey, can you do this? And she was like, Yeah, sure, because she was already doing 205 Live, and she was doing things like that. But again, I think ring announcing was only supposed to be the way in, she wanted to be a character. That's what she's been her whole life. She's been stage performing her whole life, drama club to stage performing, to traveling the world doing stage performance. So that's kind of what she hoped, and then I think once WrestleMania happened, I think she was like, that's the highest I'm going to get. Because for her, she's a performer. It's funny because it's hard to explain, when you're just a performer, I guess announcing, because now she's getting hate because she said she didn't enjoy announcing, but she enjoyed making the WWE Universe feel emotions, and She enjoyed using her voice to help promote and help move the company forward, but just literally, the act of ‘Coming to the ring and weighing at 230…’ This is just my Example. It's like having Mariah Carey, but she's just a ring announcer, and you don't get any of the other stuff."
On Samantha Irvin wanting to do more:
"She wants to be a stage performer. It's hard to sing, and it's funny, because a lot of that stuff she was like, I'm so nervous. I don't even want to do this, because it's so nerve-wracking, especially the national anthem. Singing the national anthem is the hardest song you can sing. Especially just the pressure of singing the national anthem when you're on a pay-per-view, or you're at Allegiant Stadium, and all the fans are watching, it's the hardest song to sing, and you gotta pick your breaths properly. But again, at the end of the day, she loves and respects the position, and she loves and respects wrestling, but she wanted to be like Paul Heyman, like a manager or something. But at the end of the day, it's like me, for example. I loved WWE, and I loved my time there, and I loved everything that I did. But at the end of the day, it's a huge production. It's the biggest production in entertainment, it travels, it's huge. It's the biggest show on earth. I think in that production, people kind of have their roles, and this is what I was telling her, I feel like she broke tradition. That's why people are kind of upset. Because, again, how long was Fink doing it? How long did Lillian do it? Justin Roberts still doing it. The fact that she only did for four years and then she found out this isn't what I was born to do."
On fans feeling betrayed by her departure:
"I think she broke the tradition of wrestling. Again, you have people who are in it forever. Look at Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles, because they've been doing it for so long, and they're still in it, they're still doing that. So I think especially when wrestling fans find something that makes them feel good and makes what they like watching better, they just want it forever. I watch
One Piece. It's on 1,100 episodes. I want more episodes, I don't want it to stop."
On telling the world Samantha Irvin is not coming to AEW:
"I kind of think it was funny. No, I guess I didn't need to because, again, none of that's real. It's not real. Twitter's not real. No, it's not yes, you need social media for a lot of promotion. You need it for a lot of stuff, especially nowadays. But as far as our lives, again, it's not real, because no one says that stuff to us in real life, no one. Anytime I meet anybody, and I've traveled the world, no one's ever said you made a big mistake going, no one's ever said you need to change the way you wrestle."
On if he could have stood up for himself more in WWE:
"Yes and no, because not that it doesn't matter. But again, this is AEW, this is WWE. I'm sure TNA is the same way blah, blah, blah. But if they don't want to do something, or if they do want to, they're going to do it, or they're not going to do it. So I think after so long of pitching an idea or doing something and then seeing how it goes. For me, I'm not really a confrontational person, all right, now I'm just going to do whatever needs to be done, do what's asked of me, show that I'm a ball player, show that I can take directions, show that I can fight my battles for sure, fight my little battles that I need. But at the end of the day, I just am not going to be the one going in every week talking, trying to get my spot. I'm not going to be the one trying to catch them as they're talking. It's just not my thing. You put the work in, you show that you can put the work in, you show that you can level up. You show that you can evolve. You show that you can deliver when the opportunities are presented, and then you hopefully from that, just continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger opportunities. But sometimes again, it takes time. Some people, it does take time again. People are in the WWE for 20-30, years. So I get that. I totally understand that, and I get it. But at the same time, I feel like, again AEW is a little different. But in WWE, when I am doing Springboard 450s to the outside on the announce table, or I'm jumping off of something, or I'm doing a lot of stuff that really nobody is doing. Again, I blame myself. But it's like why can't I just win this match? I've been on TV for five weeks, but I've been losing. Can I win this one? Okay, I just lose again."
On possible AEW dream matches:
"Edge, Moxley, Swerve. I've had Swerve in the indies, but never in AEW. Obviously MJF, there's still mad opportunities right now. But again, like I said, I just got here. I literally just got here. But I've been excited with the stories that we've been telling so far, because I know people kind of just watch weekly and they only see what happens weekly. But if you really look at the story of Ricochet and Ospreay since I first got here with the family, and if you look at what we've been telling, there's so much story there. But again, I think people choose to see what they want to see and stuff, and that's fine, but I've really been so happy and so proud with what we've been doing."
On if Prince Puma could return:
"I feel like you'd have to ask Lucha Underground."
Do you own the IP?
"No, I feel like you would have to ask Lucha Underground about that."
What is Ricochet grateful for?
"Family, the ability to enjoy life and making connections."
