Ricochet: WWE Raw call-up was the ‘worst thing’ for my wrestling career
Ricochet feels like he is back to being the wrestler he was before WWE.
During an appearance on The Mark Hoke Show, Ricochet said his time in WWE felt like “being blipped away into another universe” and that his call-up to Raw was the worst thing that happened to his wrestling career.
“The Ricochet that I am now is the same Ricochet that I was on the independent scene and in Japan, and doing the things that got me popular to where I am today,” he said on the show.
Ricochet compared his time on the WWE main roster to the Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline in which half of Earth’s population is erased from existence for five years before being brought back.
Ricochet continued:
“You’ve seen the Marvel movies? Thanos snaps, and there was a five-year blip of people (who) were just gone “
“That five years was like being blipped away into a different universe. It just wasn’t what I was doing, it wasn’t me. Coming back to AEW and finding that love, it’s like when Tony Stark finally defeated Thanos and all the people came back. That’s how I feel, Ricochet finally came back to what he was doing. And I feel like that five years was just blipped away.”
“I already know how this is going to sound, and I already know how people are going to take this, but I think that the day we got called up to Raw was the worst thing that happened to Ricochet’s wrestling career.”
Ricochet clarified that he was referring only to the wrestling side of his time in WWE, not personal memories such as meeting his wife.
“The trajection that I was on compared to the trajection that I got for those five years and how it completely changed the public’s image of Ricochet and who Ricochet was.”
“Specifically the wrestling side of it, that five years really tarnished Ricochet’s wrestling legacy.”
Ricochet was called up to the WWE main roster in early 2019. He was voted Most Underrated in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards in 2020 and 2021, and was named Best Flying Wrestler in 2011, 2014, and 2015. He was also named Best Flying Wrestler of the Decade for the 2010s, finishing ahead of Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay.
Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite takes place in Las Vegas, where Ricochet and his wife Samantha Irvin live. Ricochet will defend his AEW National Championship against Jack Perry on the show. His appearance on The Mark Hoke Show is available below, with his comments about WWE cued in the video.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.