WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet recently spoke with Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports and talked about how he had doubts about making it to WWE while he was wrestling the indies and around the world. He also recalled a discussion he had with Rey Mysterio following their Lucha Underground match in 2016.
Ricochet said he wanted to be like Mysterio and The Rock, but he was willing to accept a smaller scale as he never thought he would make it to WWE. Ricochet began his career in 2003, but hings changed when he started going to Japan in 2010.
“I wanted to be like Rey Mysterio. I wanted to be like those guys. I wanted to be The Rock, even if it was on a smaller scale in someone’s backyard. I wanted to do that,” Ricochet recalled. “I never thought I would be in the WWE. I was just doing it because I liked it. 2010 is when I started going to Japan, and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, I can really start making a career out of this.’ And again, I didn’t even think that I would be in the WWE. I was like, ‘I can make a career out of this because there are other places where I can make some money. I’m not going to be in the WWE, but I can still make some money and pay my rent and pay my car payments off of wrestling, which was great.”
Ricochet continued and talked about how the WWE landscape changed a bit with the signing of guys like Finn Balor and Sami Zayn, and the launch of the WWE NXT brand.
“As the landscape of the WWE started to change a little bit — the Balors and the Sami Zayns. Those guys really starting to change how the WWE views their athletes. Those guys are getting success there,” he said. “And even before that, I started to see it and I’m like, ‘Okay, so it might be possible.’ Especially after NXT started, I’m watching the Takeovers and I’m watching all that stuff and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s actually where I want to be. I want to be there. I want to be in NXT at the Takeovers and do those things. When Cesaro and Sami Zayn had their match, when Balor and Samoa Joe were going, Neville and Sami Zayn. I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s why I want to be there.’ When Seth Rollins and those guys started going to Raw and having crazy success, I was like, ‘I could probably do this.’ And then things just fell into place and pieces started falling together. Now, look at me.”
The Ultima Lucha Dos Part 3 of Lucha Underground’s Season 2 saw Mysterio defeat Ricochet, who was then known as Prince Puma. The January 2016 match served as the main event of that card. In this new interview with CBS Sports, Ricochet recalled his post-match conversation with Rey, and what Rey said about WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero.
“It was crazy because after the match I went to his locker room and was just thanking him for everything because that was just a huge, absolute dream match of mine,” Ricochet said. “Not only was it a dream match of mine, but we got to create a masterpiece that we created and we went out there and performed how we wanted it to be. I just wanted to thank him and he was like, ‘We’re going to do this again one day on a bigger scale.’ He already was saying all that stuff. The crazy thing, he was like, ‘Man, I wish you could have met Eddie. Eddie would have loved you.’ That was just right to my heart.”
Ricochet then talked about being in WWE with Rey now, and having a possible rematch.
“Once I got here… we got together and we just kind of reminisced like, ‘Man, remember that?’ And now we’re actually here. And now we might actually have a chance to do it,” he said. “Now we’re here, so we might actually have a chance to do it once again and on a bigger scale. I really, really hope before he is done lacing the boots, that we get a chance to just lock horns again.”
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