More than six years after making his debut, Ricochet reportedly informed WWE he’s planning to leave when his current contract expires this summer. In a general sense, it’s an odd decision given WWE is booming right now, and the superstars under Triple H and TKO seem to be way happier than they were under Vince McMahon. For the high flyer personally, however, the desire to bolt isn’t all that surprising, and you only need to glance at his recent Twitter activity to see why.
Ricochet is, from a workrate, moveset and talent perspective, one of the best in-ring performers WWE has. He’s able to do things no one else in the company can, which is why he’s had some big moments and big pushes. He won The United States Championship and The Intercontinental Championship. He also won The Smackdown World Cup, the inaugural WWE Speed Tournament and had one of WWE’s most viral moments ever alongside Logan Paul. Most performers can only dream about having a career with that many highs, but in between those really solid upper mid-card moments, the Human Highlight Reel has also had a lot of periods in which he’s repeatedly taken losses and/ or been shunted to the side.
Yes, he was The Intercontinental Champion in 2022, but despite holding the belt, he didn’t get a match at WrestleMania. He defended his title in a triple threat match on the SmackDown before ‘Mania. Yes, he defeated Samoa Joe for The United States Championship, but he didn’t even hold the title for a month before dropping it to AJ Styles. Yes, he won the first WWE Speed Tournament, but he’s done nothing but take Ls on TV since. In fact, look at this tweet he liked mere days before PW Insider reported he’s leaving the company…
Every live TV match since @KingRicochet won the @WWE Speed Championship #WWESpeed pic.twitter.com/wCXW4TH7pfJune 5, 2024
That’s far from the only tweet that shows a level of dissatisfaction either. Over the last several weeks, he’s hammered the like button on a bunch of messages calling out WWE for how he’s being used. A few discussed the perception that he’s bad on the microphone with one saying if WWE doesn’t wanna let him talk, they should bring in a manager to talk for him. Another, which is the most recently liked tweet on his account, argued WWE should give him a chance to talk for himself. You can check that one out below…
No lie….i frfr think it’s time for @WWE to really let @KingRicochet show what’s he’s got on the mic….his wrestling ability goes without saying….I feel Rico got some shit to get up off his chest….for everybody that thinks he can’t talk the talk like he walks the walkJune 7, 2024
Most fans think it’s pretty likely when Ricochet finishes his contract up, he’ll head to main rival AEW. The upstart promotion has built its reputation on stellar in-ring work, and several of the performers over there, most notably Will Ospreay, have said publicly that they think WWE should be utilizing Ricochet more. It’s easy to imagine him having some absolute classics over there, especially since AEW has also shown a willingness to allow performers to try riskier moves that WWE discourages its performers from using.
Whether or not WWE will regret not utilizing Ricochet to its full potential is unclear. He’s certainly capable of giving more and really showed out when given opportunities, but there’s also a limited amount of TV time and space to push performers to the top. I think Ricochet is a bit better on the mic than WWE gave him credit for, but for better or worse, the company is always going to push to tell stories before delivering in-ring action.
Triple H has definitely prioritized the actual wrestling more than McMahon did, but even so, the fastest way to get pushed in high profile storylines will always be to get over with the fans and do something compelling on the microphone. After six years, it was clear WWE didn’t feel they could get that from Ricochet; so, now it’s time to see him pull off some incredible moves elsewhere.
At this point, there’s no reason to suspect Ricochet’s heavily rumored departure will have any affect on his fiancée Samantha Irvin, who is WWE’s primary ring announcer. Unlike her future husband, she’s been loudly pushed as a cornerstone of WWE’s supporting talent. It would be tremendous blow to see her walk out the door too, but despite some fan rumblings on Twitter, there’s no reason to think that’s going to happen. The wrestling business is filled with significant others who work in different companies.
Ricochet is currently involved in a program with Bron Breakker and Ilya Dragunov. Outlets are claiming he’ll be written off television shortly, but I really hope WWE gives us a premium live event triple threat match with these guys on his way out the door. They could really put on a banger, and given all he’s given to the company over the years, it would be nice to see them give him the chance to deliver one more highlight.
