Ricochet recently appeared as a guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the decorated international pro wrestling veteran spoke about leaving WWE to jump-ship to AEW, whether or not he was ever told to slow things down during his run in WWE and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview sent to us by Chris Van Vliet where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On leaving WWE: “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, Beast 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 and looking, I know I made the right decision.”
On if he was told to slow things down in WWE: “No, 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’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. So I think that has a lot to it, people think I’m 26. So when all that comes into play, people don’t know what to think, because it’s 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 the double Moonsault, which I just haven’t done.”
