Much has changed for Ricochet over the last year. Just six months into his stint in AEW, his mindset has shifted. No longer just happy to be here, Ricochet acknowledges the focus used to be on who he was in the ring with.
“I would have said it’s cool to be able to get in there with these guys who have accomplished so much, and just be able to show the world that I belong,” Ricochet tells Uproxx Sports. “But at the end of the day, all these guys, they were watching me.”
While Ricochet was navigating the next stage in his career, he watched guys like Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay, Darby Allin, and MJF carve their own respective paths in AEW. They’ve all had their moments in the spotlight with two world titles and numerous main events between them.
“Seeing a lot of the guys that I had traveled the world with, that I had honestly beaten already, go on to achieve such status or such acceptance and such accomplishments was definitely intriguing, incentivizing,” Ricochet says. “I wanted to prove that Ricochet is that good, and Ricochet can get in there with your favorites, and he can show that he’s better than your favorites.”
The turning point in Ricochet’s character wasn’t actually a turning point. He says since Day 1, he didn’t want to be famous. He says he was poor, wrestling in a small backyard company and didn’t think it was possible for him to get to where he is now. The drive to be the absolute best he could be was simply to show himself he could do it.
“I always said I wanted to be a wrestler, and this was my opportunity to do something that I loved to do. Whether that was in a backyard in front of nobody or in Wembley Stadium in front of thousands,” Ricochet says. “This feeling of, I don’t want to act this way or say this because the people might think this, it was holding me back. I was trying to, again, be something that I wasn’t, and the people called me out for it. And instead of coming at me with kindness, they came at me with harassment and bullying and they tried to embarrass me.”
People begged Ricochet to come to AEW, he says. He thought he was coming for the good of the people only to see them turn on him. Now, it’s not about getting respect, it’s about demanding it. That mindset has evolved on television in the form of a focused Ricochet, one that attacks his opponents with scissors, takes opportunities to get the upper hand, and isn’t content simply biding his time before rising to the top.
That started with getting the job done and adding to his catalogue of victories with his biggest win to date over Swerve Strickland, a former world champion who hadn’t been pinned since 2023.
“I know Swerve, he’s a former champ. The self proclaimed forever champ. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task, but, get the job done, prove a point, prove your point to these people,” Ricochet continues.
The venues, the matchups, the opportunities in AEW reminds Ricochet of the feeling he had when he first started wrestling more than 20 years ago. The flexibility to “create (his) own art” is one of the primary reasons he joined AEW.
And the last few weeks have opened Ricochet’s eyes to how he builds the next phase of his career in AEW.
“It’s been freeing, it’s been uplifting, it’s been like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. A burden, a facade I no longer have to be a part of. I can speak freely. I can talk freely. I can say what’s on my mind, I can just say it without feeling bad about what the people are gonna think about if I think this. I don’t care about the people,” Ricochet says. “No, I started wrestling because I knew I would be great at it. So these past couple of weeks, maybe you’ve been able to see. I’ve just been feeling more free, like another shackle has been lifted, another shackle, one after another until they’re all gone.”
This year isn’t necessarily about championship gold, some dream match or headlining one of AEW’s premier shows. Any of that would be a byproduct of simply proving his point — that he’s been consistently great at this and he belongs on the same level of AEW’s top talent.
“Now I would say Ricochet is where he belongs, amongst the greats,” Ricochet says. “And not only that, but he’s showing that he can thrive.”
