One of the top stars who had recently parted ways with WWE and jumped ship to AEW is the former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet.
Recently, while speaking to Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast, Ricochet reflected on his WWE run and opened up on why he chose to leave the Stamford-based promotion.
“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. 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 – I was always on television. I was always showcased on television. So that was always nice.”
It was never Ricochet’s story
“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?” Ricochet said.
Are you enjoying Ricochet in AEW?