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After watching Ricochet take an absolute beating at the hands of Bron Breakker, being thrown through the real glass windshield of a rental car in a move that must have had CM Punk clutching his pearls, the vast majority of the greater wrestling fandom – minus Pat McAfee – assumed that the “Highlight of the Night” would be debuting in AEW at some point this summer, be that at All In, All Out, or maybe even sooner, depend on the actual date his contract expires.
And yet, you wouldn't know that from Tony Khan's recent interview with TV Insider, as, when asked about Ricochet's impending free agency, the AEW CEO refused to comment on the situation, as he doesn't want to tamper with a performer under contract somewhere else.
“If it's okay, I'd rather not get into wrestlers that still work for someone else,” Tony Khan asked of TV Insider.
While TK could have simply put over Ricochet for being a fantastic talent like he did for Becky Lynch a few weeks back in an interview with Rich Eisen, he doesn't really need to politik, as Will Ospreay has been pushing for his long-time friend to join the promotion for months now.
“I don't know how much longer he has got in his contract, but I think it might be up soon, man, I don't know. I want him to know that there are people here that genuinely appreciate his work and I want to wrestle him again. I want him back here,” Will Ospreay told Comic.com “I want him to know that there isn't a bar. You are the f**king bar. I just want to see him with more time and ability to showcase himself how I saw him. He's one of the best going, and if the opportunity presents itself, I think he should bet on himself. I think he should remind himself that he's one of the best high-flyers to ever do it. If it means he's got to come for me, then do it, boss, because I'm right here waiting for you.”
Will Ricochet ultimately land in AEW when his contract officially comes to an end? Yes, that feels like a borderline guarantee; still, considering that's the case, why should Khan contradict himself and talk up Ricochet before he officially hits free agency? If he's going to land Ricochet either way, why not stick to his convictions, prove to wrestling fans that you can run an ethical company, and still secure one of the most exciting wrestlers in the world today when it's all said and done?
Leon Slater wants to see role model Ricochet come to TNA.
While Tony Khan doesn't want to tamper with Ricochet while he's still under contract with WWE, as he's raged against WWE for doing the very same thing to his own talent in the past, Leon Slater doesn't have the same issue with publically recruiting “The One and Only,” telling Cultaholic Wrestling that he would love to see the high-flying phenom make his way over to TNA to put on some bangers in the X-Division.
“I think that would be extremely cool, as I think a lot of people from my generation, we kind of grew up on Ricochet. Him and [Will Ospreay] really introduced this new style that we all kind of mold ourselves into,” Leon Slater told Cultaholic Wrestling via Fightful. “So to get to work with him would be incredible for sure, and I think more than anything, it'd be a real kick up the a** for us all in the X-Division to really up our game because Ricochet, no word of a lie, is one of the greatest high flyers of all time and one of the greatest to ever do this style that we do. So especially for me, I think it'd be a great challenge, and I think he'd be someone that I'd really want to step up to and up my game to face.”
While you wouldn't know about it from how he was booked in WWE, Ricochet truly is one of the innovators of the modern style of high-flying and fast-paced action, with his matches against Kota Ibushi and the Young Bucks among the true classics of the last decade of indie wrestling. Though he has wrestled for PWG, NJPW, Dragons Gate, and darn near every other major promotion in a pre-AEW world, he has never set foot in the Impact Zone… at least not yet. Fortunately, with free agency on the horizon, that could change in the very near future, even if AEW feels like his obvious landing spot.
