Ricochet can't draw money for WWE, wrestling veteran says
Ricochet recently won an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural WWE Speed Champion. Dutch Mantell, formerly known as Zeb Colter in WWE, disagrees with criticism of the 35-year-old's booking.
AEW's Will Ospreay faced Ricochet several times between 2013 and 2017. The Brit recently told ComicBook he is "a little bit sad" that WWE books his former rival in five-minute online matches.
On Story Time with Dutch Mantell, Mantell praised Ricochet's athletic in-ring performances. However, he raised doubts about the RAW star's ability to draw money and talk on the microphone:
"They're not doing him a disservice. They're giving him a job at a high-money price for him to go out there and do 10 minutes of high-flying. I don't think, seriously, and this is not a knock on Ricochet, I don't think you could draw a plug nickel with him. That's an old saying. Because he can't talk," Mantell said. [1:06 – 1:29]
Ricochet joined WWE in 2018 after wrestling around the world for more than a decade. He is a former Intercontinental, United States, and NXT North American Champion.
How Dutch Mantell would book Ricochet in WWE
Known for his days as a booker and creative team member, Dutch Mantell thinks Ricochet should be presented differently.
If Mantell were in charge, he would try to make fans excited about Ricochet's matches by writing him into compelling storylines:
"If they told a story with him, that's where they can draw money, but him just going out there and wrestling and wrestling and wrestling, and doing this move and doing that move, yeah, it's good to watch for a while, but after a while you go, 'Okay, what am I really looking at here?'" Mantell added. [1:33 – 1:51]
Ricochet's most recent televised match ended in defeat against Bron Breakker on the June 3 episode of RAW.
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Please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.