Indy News: Ricochet says he’s keeping his options open, talks about WWE's Cruiserweight division
What’s the Story?
New Japan Pro Wrestling Superstar Ricochet was interviewed by Solowrestling.com about where he wants to wrestle and his immediate future in professional wrestling.
Ricochet said that while he was open to wrestling in other places in the world, he still had a lot of goals that he wanted to accomplish in Japan. He was quoted as saying:
“I know where I want to go and I know where I need to be to get there and so that’s kind of what I’ve been thinking about. I still have got a lot of things that I want to do in Japan.
I’ve got a lot of things I want to do, even in the [United] States. I’ve got a couple of things I want to do and check off the checklist and so I think anything’s an option right now, so again, I’m going to keep my options open and see what’s out there for me.”
In case you didn’t know...
Ricochet has been with NJPW since 2013 and has won both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships in addition to the Best of the Super Juniors and Super Jr. Tag Team Tournaments.
Ricochet was also a wrestler for Lucha Underground under the name Prince Puma where he became the first man to win the Lucha Underground Championship, he was also the first winner of the Aztec Warfare Battle Royal, and was also a former Trios Championship winner.
Also read: Lucha Underground News: Ricochet aka Prince Puma confirms that his Lucha Underground contract has expired
Ricochet has wrestled for a multitude of promotions such as Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and Chikara.
He has been heavily praised by several wrestling magazines including Pro Wrestling Illustrated, who ranked him #15 in the 2016 Edition of the PWI 500. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has also awarded him with their Best Flying Wrestler award three times and the Best Wrestling Manoeuvre award twice.
The Heart of the Matter
Ricochet commented on the WWE’s Cruiserweight Division and how there was a big difference in the way the current Cruiserweight Division was perceived versus the Cruiserweight Classic that the company had launched in 2016.
“The guys kind of got it bad because they’re the first ones. They’re the ones that [are] going to have to feel everything out, see what works and what doesn’t work. I think if they would let them go like they did in the Cruiserweight Classic.
Obviously, in the Cruiserweight Classic, they could tear the house down however they wanted. I think if they would let them go a little more that style and maybe less of the cheesy backstage promos and stuff.”
Ricochet also commented on the WWE pulling their United Kingdom wrestlers from the shows and he felt that it was because they were trying to pull in the best wrestlers to improve their product. He stated:
“I think they’re hiring so many people is because again, they want the best product they can have. Also, they have the [WWE] Network, so they have to have so many shows on the Network, so they have to have so many people in order to put on the shows.
So they have to have a surplus of people to do some of these shows, so I don’t know if they’re trying to monopolise. They’re just trying to put out a good product.”
What’s Next?
Ricochet hasn't committed his future to any company ever since his Lucha Underground contract expired. He might be looking to stay on the independent scene for a while or to even take some time off from wrestling altogether before he signs up for another promotion again.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Ricochet seems to be interested in working for other promotions in the future as well as the WWE. Though these could be his legitimate opinions about the WWE, his comments seemed very safe and he appeared to be walking a fine line about committing his future anywhere.
He claims that the WWE has reached out to him before and if this is true, then the likelihood of seeing The Future of Flight in a WWE could be a lot more than anticipated.
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