Ricochet On Logan Paul Royal Rumble Spot, Will Ospreay Match, Samantha Irvin, Gratitude

Ricochet (@kingricochet) is a WWE Superstar and is also known for his time in Lucha Underground where he worked under the name Prince Puma. He joins Chris Van Vliet during WrestleMania 39 week in Los Angeles and talks about his favorite matches in Lucha Underground, the reaction to his infamous match with Will Ospreay, reaching a wider audience when he signed with WWE, his fiancée Samantha Irvin, what he is grateful for, his favorite Adam Sandler movie and more.

For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com

I've been such a big fan of your work, dating back to Lucha Underground Prince Puma. Take me back to that time. What are some big moments that stand out from Lucha?

“Me versus Rey Mysterio, that was a big one for me. And actually, just the whole thing really, because it was like, it was different. It was a different thing. It was, you know, like, I feel like the WWE is a wrestling show, it is wrestling on television. You know what I mean? But like with Lucha Underground, they wanted to do like a TV drama about a wrestling company. It was a TV drama about a wrestling company. And so they still wanted to add the wrestling aspect, but so like the way they did the backstage and the way they did everything was like you shooting the movie scenes and cutscenes and stuff. So that was an experience for me. That was something that I had never really been, you know, introduced to until Lucha Underground. And so that was a big eye opening experience. But then obviously, like, meeting Rey and Konnan and a couple of those guys, it was really, really cool for me.”

That match with Will Ospreay is mind blowing, and I show it often to people who aren't wrestling fans, and I go, this is wrestling. And as you know, that match is very divisive, right? There's people that go I love this, it's amazing! And there's people on the other side who go this is not wrestling. Were you surprised when you saw that reaction?

“No, it's funny, because going into it, like we obviously wanted to put on a good match, I think it was the main event that night. We obviously wanted to put on a good match and just, you know, give the people something to enjoy. We weren't, we were just gonna go do Ricochet and Ospreay stuff and we were just going to be us. We weren't expecting like the, what I guess either backlash or praise it got. like we weren't expecting like that. We were just kind of having a good match.”

You weren't planning to have the match of all matches?

“Like literally you can ask like some of our friends who knew us before, like we've had matches before, you know, in England and other places. Like they were like, Yeah, that was just a Ricochet Ospreay match. Like that was just the normal, you know what I mean, because we've had kind of, we just took stuff from other matches that we've done, and put them into this match. So we just weren't expecting literally like, well, we're gonna break the internet. We're gonna like go crazy viral with this. We were literally just trying to play the match. And so literally like the next couple days, it was like an influx of just everything. Again, good, bad like it was just everything. But I get it I get it like, because wrestling can be anything, wrestling is comedy, wrestling is hardcore, wrestling is strong style, wrestling is high flying, wrestling is a lot of different aspects. Some people, although they don't just like a certain style, they rather than saying I don't like this style, they just say that's not wrestling and it's like, well, you're an idiot, because wrestling can be literally anything you want it to be. Like from the Santino Marella to Stone Cold Steve Austin, to you know, Rico and Chuck, to Undertaker, you know, Rey Mysterio, like, it's just wrestling is so versatile, like you can do whatever you want with it. And as long as people are talking, hey, that's good.” 

When you got signed to WWE, I felt like it was like my favourite band started getting played on the radio, because I was like, Oh, you're gonna be able to see what he can do. And it was cool, because it opened you up to a whole new audience.

“Yeah, which is great. And not only that, but like it opened me up to a lot of new things to learn because on the independent scene, and in Japan and overseas, you do learn a lot. You learn different styles, you learn different techniques and different things that people go through and do. But like coming here and learning from Triple H and learning from Shawn Michaels and learning from you know, all these guys was crazy for me. And you have the William Regals, and you have, you know, all these guys in the back that I get to pick their brains and talk to. So that was amazing for me to come here, and then use all of that, plus all the stuff that I've learned from Japan and my travels, like you said, really get to show who Ricochet is to a huge audience, which was amazing, still is amazing.”

That spot at the Royal Rumble this year with Logan Paul was amazing. And I feel like everybody's talking about Logan Paul here and they're not talking enough about your role in this.

“I mean, it's kind of, I guess it goes, I think, again, it's, I don't want to compare myself. But it's when I sit here and think about it's kind of funny because I'm a fan. I think of like LeBron James, who's since high school came into the league as the chosen, like literally, the pressure was put on him, right. You know what I mean? And he's kind of delivered for 20 plus years in basketball, I feel like LeBron has delivered a pretty good resume, right? So much so that now he's almost 40 years old and people are like, LeBron is not winning. He's, he's not good. It's like he's still averaging 30 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds a game. So like, I think, once you go so long, and like you do like good stuff, like you do good things for so long. Like I've had good matches for so long. People just expect me to have good matches or expect me to like. So like, when you're in Royal Rumble, and you're doing a crazy spot and Ricochet does something crazy. It's just like, Oh, that guy did something crazy because Ricochet just did something normal.”

I saw the way that you timed that, it was Logan got up and jumped. And you're like, Oh, you're jumping? Okay, I got you. 

“I told him like, guys don’t like secrets, whatever, who cares? Going into it, I told him Listen, I want you to be as comfortable as possible. So I don't want you to wait on me. I don't want you to think about me. I don't want you to even worry about me at all. So whenever you're comfortable, you just go and I'll go and time it off of your jump, I'll time it off of you. I'll go with you to make sure that we're good. It's like don't worry about if I'm gonna jump or if I'm gonna go, don't worry about me. You just go. And then I follow you. I follow suit.”

How proud are you of Samantha? She is crushing it!

“I mean, there's no words to even explain it. There's no words. She's literally the best person I've ever met. And not only that, but we are all here because we love wrestling, right? I don't think there's anyone here who loves it more than her. I know you right now are like no way. Yeah, I promise you. When she was a little girl bro, she was watching Royal Rumble. She was watching all the stuff. She was writing down the names of the entrants. She was writing down who eliminated who, she was writing down the times. She was making Shawn Michaels storyboards. She was literally like dude, it as a kid like what she loved like her dad got her into it at a young age. And she just, as she's so talented, her talents got her here, not because of wrestling, but because of her singing, because of her acting, because of her other talents got her here. And then now she's able to sing and she's able to show exactly what she can do. Because honestly, she's probably the most talented person in the company. She probably is the most talented person. She is the most talented person and she can play the flute She's a master flautist. She's probably the best voice I've ever heard. She can act, she can dance. She's funny. I mean, how much time do we got? I could go all day. Yeah, I'm so proud.”

I end every conversation talking about gratitude. Because it's just such an important part of my life. What are three things in your life you're grateful for right now?

“I am grateful for, honestly, professional wrestling. I'm very grateful. Because since 14, it's kind of I mean, I've been watching it since I can remember watching TV. But since 14, since I've started doing it's literally all I've dedicated my life to, and it's gotten me here. And it's gotten me in a place in my life to be able to support my family and do things so professional wrestling, that will kind of always be my number one love. And even Sam, we talk about it all the time, she understands. I am grateful for my fiancé. I am grateful for Samantha Johnson, because without her I don't know, really where I would be or like as a human being right now these past two years with her. She's really helped me get to a place of gratitude of just being one with awareness and being aware of what's going on right now. And like right now, this is all crazy and like. I've gone a lot of my life just not being aware of the present, but you gotta be aware of the present, and she's taught me a lot. So pro wrestling, and Samantha. And then the third thing that I am grateful for would be God, baby. He's the one that got us here. He's the one that got me here. He's the one you know, he's led me here. He's kept me safe. He's kept me healthy. He's kept me comfortable. He's kept my friends safe. He's kept my friends healthy. He's got all my friends here. I mean, without him I don't think any of this is possible. And that's something else that Sam and I have talked about a lot recently is that part and I think man like without, you know, going up above I don't think you know, any of this will be possible especially at least for me. I've given a lot of things to him and he's the reason why I'm here.”