Ricochet's CRAZY First Date With Samantha Irvin, Logan Paul SummerSlam Match, Double Moonsaults & More

Ricochet (@kingricochet) is professional wrestler signed to WWE and is also known for his time in Lucha Underground where he worked under the name Prince Puma. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his SummerSlam match with Logan Paul, taking big risks in the ring, the mindset that has made him so successful, his crazy first date with his fiancée WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin that started in Las Vegas, and ended at the Grand Canyon, why he doesn't do the double moonsault anymore, his favorite NXT matches and more!

Dude, it's so good to see you. And I'm so glad to have you back on for a longer conversation now. 

“Yeah, absolutely, the one was that WrestleMania was it.”

And it was such a nice surprise to just be able to spend some time with you there. And now so much other stuff has happened since then. And I also feel like almost every Logan Paul highlight in WWE has you on the other side of that match, on the other side of that moment?

“Yeah, it seems to be connected somehow.” 

I'm actually really curious. When Logan Paul first came into WWE, what were your initial thoughts of him?

“I mean, I've never had any preconceived notions, I just think, you know, like, we have people come in all the time. So that was nothing new to me. But I'm seeing like, he was actually at the PC training with Shawn [Michaels] and some of the people down there. And then he was like, putting the work in for the match with like, the tag match with The Miz and the other matches with The Miz, and like he's putting the work in. So when he initially came in, I mean, I was curious to see what happened, but then to see actually what he has done since it's been, I mean, actually pretty cool.”

You've done this thing now. You've done this thing now twice in WWE where you know, the promo ends with you jumping over the top rope to the outside landing in front of the person. How do you figure out like, oh, yeah, that's something I'm completely capable of doing.

“You know what? It's funny, I was just asking my fiancée. I was asking her I wonder at what age, because the first time I did it, I think it was like, 29. And now I'm like, 34. So I was like, I wonder at what age will I not be able to do that anymore? Not necessarily will I not want to do it? You know, there'll be an age where I’ll be like guys, I don't want to do that. I can but I don't want to. I wonder what age will it be where I'm like, Guys, even if I wanted to, I can't do that anymore. I always tried to push myself, and that's something I don't know. I just like, I don't know, maybe the barrier, I just want to break through that. Whatever that is, I just want to keep it going. I don't know what that is, I don't know why.”

Is there anything that you used to be able to do in the ring that now almost 20 years into this that you're like, Yeah, either I can't do that anymore. Or I don't know if I should do that anymore.

“Honestly, probably only the double moonsault maybe, and that's not even, honestly, I probably could still do it if I wanted to do it. But I don't want to, I don't want to. I did it off the cage.”

I mean, it looks so smooth the way you do it.

“I would have to actually take some time to like practice, really practice, because it's just one that's[not used often]. I was just asked the other day, when was the last time I even did it. And I couldn't tell you the last time that I did the double moonsault, I don't know. Other than the one off the cage at NXT, before that even like in the ring. Man, I couldn't tell you.”

Dude, what's so fascinating about this as you're like, Yeah, I would have to practice to do a double moonsault which makes me think that all the other things that you do require no practice and they're just innate to you.

“I mean, technically, I guess you're kind of right. But at the same time, it's like I have been doing, it's like asking a gymnast to do something that they've been doing their whole life. Obviously, I'm not a gymnast, but I have been training myself on this type of stuff since I was six years old, and then I've been wrestling since I was like 14. So to literally have been doing it for so long, it is kind of second nature. Some of it is second nature when you're out there like it is just like instinct. Some of the stuff still takes practice now that I'm getting older.”

Do you remember what the very first high flying move that you ever successfully did was?

"Yeah, it was, do you remember Jeff Hardy's, like whisper in the wind? It was basically that, the guy was laying on the ground and I would do the whisper in the wind onto the guy. Like I remember like, that was like my first, I mean, very first match in the backyard. Whisper in the wind to the guy laying down."

No big deal, just a whisper in the wind.

“I mean, I was scared to do it, I wanted to do like a Phoenix Splash, a full Phoenix Splash. But I was too scared. I don't know why. On a trampoline I could do it. But in the ring it's different. It's just different when you get in there.”

But I feel like there's so many moves that you now do off the top rope where you do them so seamlessly, so effortlessly. How do you build the courage up to stand up there, because it doesn't maybe look that tall.

“You don't build the courage up, you just gotta go. You can't stop and think about it. Because if you stop and you think about it for a second, the courage is gonna go down. You know what I mean? Courage comes from when you're not thinking, you know what I mean, you gotta use, I never do anything that I don't think it's beyond my abilities. I tried to stay within my capabilities. But so when I'm in there, it's literally like a split second decision. Do it on the spot, because the more you sit there and think about it, the more the courage is going to go down, at least in my experience.”

So what's something that you do that looks so seamless and so effortless? But when you actually hit it, it kind of does hurt?

“I mean the 630, every single time, the 630. Whether it's my neck or my back or something? It's usually, I mean it's a painful move for both people in the ring, absolutely. Anything where you are landing on someone, I mean, it doesn't feel good when you're coming down. Like, I'm sure you've seen Montez do his Frog Splash from the rafters. Like that hurts both of us. Or when I'm doing my Shooting Star, that's gonna hurt both people a little bit at least.”

I feel like you know, the more you talk about this, I feel like the 630 is gonna go the way of the double moonsault. Please, we can't have that happen.

“No, no, that's like my spirit bomb. You know, Goku only throws that out when he needs it.”

Speaking of Logan Paul, that Spanish Fly that you guys did at Money in the Bank. That one looked like it hurt a lot.

“I mean, it all hurts a lot, but that's kind of why we do it. But that one especially hurt giving the circumstances at hand, absolutely.”

And this one that just happened on Raw where he's holding the camera up, like holding the phone up selfie style, and you super kick him in the face. I feel like that's like an all time highlight for both of you guys.

“Yeah, I mean, I'm sitting there doing my thing and he wants to come and attack me from behind. You know what I mean? But he only hit me once and it had me rattled. Absolutely. I'm not gonna even take anything away, it had me rattled for sure. But then he just wants to get straight on his camera and like start, I don't know, talking smack like I'm still right there, bro. Like, I'm not gonna just let you sit there and talk smack but it just happens that he had a perfectly good shot of my shiny shoe going across his chin. It was hilarious, hilarious.”

Yeah, the actual shot from his iPhone it's so perfect. 

“And it's cool because I look really cool when I walk into the screen. And then I just look at him like, I'm glad he did it, good for him, because it makes me look great.”

I think there's a lot of WWE fans that may just be familiar with your work now on the main roster. If they were to go and look at some of your best NXT stuff. Where do they need to begin?

“Man, that was such a good time for me, that was such a good [time]. Because honestly, I feel like you can start anywhere and because like everybody, everyone was good. You know what I mean? Everybody that I was in there with was so good. So it really helped me out a lot. But even I guess if I had to point you somewhere first, Probably the WarGames is one of them. WarGames is great, but that's a little long. So that's like a long match. So I mean, probably me and Aleister [Black] versus The Viking Raiders. That was one of my favorites. That was one of my faves. Me and Dream was one of my favorites. Obviously I would have to go me and Adam Cole, point you there first because just of what that match was what it became but also like me and Johnny [Gargano] was good. Me and Pete [Dunne] had a title for title match on an NXT TV taping one time. I think me Pete and Adam Cole had like a Triple Threat thing going one time. I think, there's a bunch of cool multi-man matches. It was like me, [Matt] Riddle, Adam Cole, Aleister, like it was like one crazy match that one was cool. Halftime Heat, remember that? So it was just like, that was just a cool[time], because it was only really like maybe nine or 10 months. It wasn't very long. But that little bit of time, I just, you know, it was great.”

When you did get called up to the main roster, and you made your debut there. Was there a part of you that was like, I know, I've done so much here in NXT. But maybe people here aren't going to be familiar with me or familiar with my work. Were you nervous at all about that?

“I wasn't actually even, I wasn't worried about that at all. Not even because I think everyone's gonna know me. That just was like, if you don't know me, you about to know me. Like, if you don't know me, you're going to find out very soon. So like, that wasn't, that has never been [an issue], because I've always kind of like starting fresh. Like, you know, like even on the independent scene, you know, start fresh. Build your name value up until like, a new bigger company sees you, then literally start at the bottom at this big company, then you work at this other company, then you go overseas, and then you're starting at the bottom again. And you know, you go to Japan or whatever, like you always start at the bottom until you build that rapport you build that, you know. And so I guess maybe that's kind of how I saw that as well. Like if you didn't know me, then I guess you got to know me soon enough, because just watch.”

What was the genesis behind the name Ricochet because it's very fitting for what you do.

“So when we first started, it was like this, it was called Chaos Pro Wrestling, CPW, that was our thing. And as I was training, I was like, 14, we were training we trained for like, six months, maybe. And then it was the day, our big show, our first match. And it was me and my two friends and we had started the same time. We were training the same time. And they're asking our names, what are your names gonna be? And I had like a list of names that I wanted. But I wanted like a two name, like John Cena. You know what I mean, something like that. But I just couldn't think of anything that I liked. I couldn't think of anything that I liked. I was I had Ricochet down. I had a couple of other things. But also at the time, like the show Mucha Lucha was very popular. And so Ricochet was a character. So like, I didn't want to just pick that either, because I knew people were going to put the two together. And that's not where I got it from. Anyways, we get to the day and he asked one of my friends, one guy was like, Blue Cat, like kind of Azul or something. And then the next guy, they're like, what's your name? And he was like, I haven't thought of one. And then like, Okay, you're gonna be Kevin. And then they like, looked around. And like they saw one of the cats walked by, and the cat's name was Hobbs from like, you know, Calvin and Hobbs, the strip. So he's like, so you're gonna be Kevin, and they're like, Hobbs, you're Kevin Hobbs. And he was like, I don't want to be Kevin Hobbs. And they like, you didn't pick a name? Sorry. That's what you're gonna be. Is it they got the mean or like, what's your name? And I don't want to be, I don't want to be Kevin Hobbs. So I said, I was trying to think I just said Ricochet because Ricochet goes with, I said I know I do flips. I know I do like high flying stuff, so I feel like Ricochet fits, like the name. So I just said Ricochet because I didn't want to be Kevin Hobbs. So I didn't want them to pick some random name. So I just settled on Ricochet. And then since then, now, I love that it's a one title name. I liked that it's different. I like that it's, yeah, it's different. It's something that will stand out in a group of names. I feel like and also, like you said, it does fit what I do inside the ring.”

Yeah, like if someone's never seen one of your matches, and you go, you need to watch this guy named Ricochet. They go, Oh, I think I got it. I think I know what he's all about. 

“Yeah. So I really, now that I've gone through all of it. I really enjoy the name now. And I really liked that it's something different.”

Congratulations on your recent engagement, and I want to take it back. Talk us through the first time that you and Samantha met.

“Actually, I went to see her in Vegas because she used to perform out here, she did like Cirque du Soleil. And she did like, she did a bunch of cool, like production shows out here. But we actually started on Twitter. She added me on Twitter and then we started talking, but then I flew up to see her and we were hanging like we flew out. And then when I landed, we didn't have anything planned. And so we were just driving around Vegas, and I'm looking around Vegas because, you know, I've never even really been to Vegas before, it’s so pretty. And she's like, so we're trying to figure out what we want to do, And she says, Do you want to go to The Grand Canyon? And I'm thinking from Vegas to The Grand Canyon, I'm, I'm assuming it's not a very far trip, you know, I'm assuming, because also it was probably like eight o'clock at night, because I had just landed and we went, got some food. And we talked for a little bit, you know, so I said, sure yeah, absolutely. Like, how far away is it? She's like, I think it's like four hours. And I'm like, I was like, Sure. Yeah, let's go, absolutely. And so literally, like, eight, nine o'clock at night, we just take off for The Grand Canyon. I think we stopped at Kingsman Arizona. I think that's where we stopped like halfway. You know, that next morning, I saw a Cracker Barrel, I love Cracker Barrel. And I don't think she said she's ever been to a Cracker Barrel before. And I said, Oh, we gotta go, it's so good. And then she says she hasn't been in a long, long time. That's it. So we gotta go. So that was kind of our real first date was like, meeting at like a Cracker Barrel where we really sat down and talked. And it was so funny because the waitress, I guess she thought we had been together for a long time. And then we were like, oh, no, this is actually our first date. And she was like, what? She goes, Oh, you guys have just been sitting here. Like, is she because I thought you guys would have been together for a long time, but they were like, oh, no, thank you so much. So like, from day one, it's just been like, from day one. It's been like, I don't know, perfect. I want to say, nobody's perfect. But like, we are perfect.”

That is a hell of a first date, Vegas to Cracker Barrel on the way to the Grand Canyon.

“And then our first photo together is like us standing together from the Grand Canyon. But since then, it's just been great man every day.”

Before I let you go here, there was something that happened during the Money in the Bank ladder match, where I was like, only Ricochet could pull this off. And it's where you dive through the ladder, and then over the top rope, and then to the outside. Is that something you just look at and go, Oh, of course, I can pull that off. 

“I think it's something that I look at, and I go Yeah, I think I can do that. And then in the moment, you just gotta go for it. It's literally it's, there's no like, practice. Really, there's no, but I mean, obviously, you get the big, I think it was like a 12 foot ladder. So it was a huge ladder. And we're the, I guess the braces cross, that little triangle is actually pretty, I mean, it was pretty big. I actually clipped my elbow though I still have like a cut on my elbow, because when I went to jump through, I just clipped my elbow a little bit, but it's just one of those things where you gotta like, you see somebody out there you think you can do it and you just gotta again, don't think about it. You just gotta go for it.”

You are like a real life superhero. I'm actually really curious. Who's Who is your favorite superhero?

“My favorites, my list has like, changed over the years, but I think consistently, Peter Parker is my favourite superhero, Spider Man. Like since I've been like a kid, I feel like especially when I was younger, and I used to read the comics and watch old cartoons like I could relate to a kid going to school and trying to be a superhero type thing. So Peter Parker has always been one of my favourites. And then the flash. I'm a big fan of The Flash, obviously. Goku has been up there. I don't know Goku counts as like a superhero. But just our inspirations, I'll be in the gym working out and I was like, Okay, Goku would do another one that literally like do another set because Goku would do it. That's how I kind of like push myself.

So I think I asked you this at WrestleMania but I'm gonna ask you it again. What are three things in your life right now that you're grateful for?

“Sam, my family and my friends.”