Ricochet On Being Called Up Before WrestleMania, Getting A Push Without Paying His Dues First
Ricochet is one of the most exciting and dynamic Superstars to debut in WWE in recent memory. He signed with WWE in early 2018 and after a stint in NXT, joined WWE a couple of weeks before WrestleMania 35.
Most debuts from NXT don't happen until after WrestleMania, but Ricochet talked about getting the early call-up when he joined the State of Combat podcast.
"All four of the call ups were super-surprised," Ricochet said of himself, Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. "We were starting to prepare for NXT TakeOver that was going to be before WrestleMania so that was where we were at. The WWE is constantly moving, changing and innovating and always trying to find something new and I think that was what they wanted. They wanted some new faces, maybe I don't know, but when we got that call it has been wild ever since. I still have to stop for a moment and think, wow, I was just on the WrestleMania card. It is wild on my end."
Ricochet was paired with Black after the two had won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic earlier this year in NXT. Ricochet talked about teaming with The Dutch Destroyer.
"We have known each other from the independent scene and we have worked with each other on the independent scene, so being put into the tag team, so yeah, random for us because we didn't know what they were going to do with us," said Ricochet. "But what I think personally, we meshed pretty well and it got better and better and by the end of it we were really flowing and our styles really meshed well. And then he got drafted to SmackDown and I got drafted to Raw and while it sucks, I do realize that it has opened up a lot of avenues for me and are great that I am looking forward to. It really started to take off and then we got switched."
Most WWE newcomers have to spend years applying their craft before they get title matches, but Ricochet has already competed for both the Raw and SmackDown tag titles. He discussed getting a push right away without paying his dues on the main roster.
"I mean everyone has ups and everyone has downs, right now I am lucky enough to get one of the ups. You can take someone like Kofi Kingston; Kofi has had his ups and he has had his downs but now he is on top. Everyone has those. Whether you are AJ Styles, Randy Orton, me, whoever, we all have those ups and downs and it is constantly changing. At the moment I am trying to take everything for what it is and I am trying to adjust and I guess adjust to the system and be part of it and learn how to do it to become the best that I am," stated Ricochet.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit State of Combat with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.