One weekend out of the year, WWE takes the show on the road to pay tribute to the troops at a show conveniently named Tribute to the Troops. The show, a mixture of matches and outside-of-the-ring activities, featured three matches this year and was headlined by a trios match between Imperium and the team of Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, and Ricochet, who just lost a match to GUNTHER for the IC Championship earlier in the month. Though his efforts in the ring weren't enough to wipe away that defeat, Ricochet worked his tail off, got a major pop from he fans, and ultimately secured a pin over Ludwig Kaiser that was certainly appreciated, especially since it was done in front of a crowd of vets cheering him on.

Catching up with Cathey Kelly after the show, Ricochet was asked how it felt to work such an impressive match against his long-time rival in front of the troops, and, needless to say, “The One And Only” did not take the oppertunity for granted.

“Absolutely, this is my second time doing this for them, and it’s always, obviously, when you come to a WWE show it’s going to be amazing, but these are, like, next level,” Ricochet said. “And, I mean, if I can do anything at all to even thank them a little bit for what they do for us to allow us to do what we can do, if I can go out there and do something like this to get them loud, to get them excited, to get them going, if I can do something like that then it’s the least that I can do for the amount of things and the sacrifices they do for us. So like you said, anytime I can go out there, the energy’s up, the electricity is through the roof, and, man, like you said, Tribute to the Troops is one of my favorite things to watch, and now it’s one of my favorite things to perform for, so it’s just great man, it’s always cool.”

With Kelly pointing out that Ricochet also secured the win in the match, which is true, the Superstar with the athleticism of a puma – a King Puma, if you will – called securing the win over Imperium “the cherry on top” of a fantastic show.

“Absolutely,” Ricochet said. “The win on top of going out there for them and thanking them is like the cherry on top for everything, you know what I mean? It caps off the night perfectly.”

While wrestling for titles is important, sometimes giving back to society is its own reward.

Passion drives Ricochet's efforts in WWE.

Ricochet has been through a lot in 2022; he won the Intercontinental Championship, lost the Intercontinental Championship to GUNTHER, and has since wrestled for the strap unsuccessfully on multiple occasions, most recently after winning the SmackDown World Cup Tournament. While some have questioned Ricochet’s future with the promotion, suggesting that his in-ring efforts would be far better suited in AEW or elsewhere, Corey Graves took things in another direction in his interview with “The One And Only” on After the Bell, instead asking the 26-time champion what motivates him to keep getting in the ring and duking it out against (usually) much larger opponents.

“Honestly, I think it’s really just the love for the business,” Ricochet said. “It’s just I’ve talked to a couple of guys, and it’s like almost to my detriment in the past years, like, I’ve not been like, ‘how do I get to the money? The money-driven person, you know what I mean? How do I get the most money?’ Obviously, everybody wants to be compensated for talents or volume of work done or whatever. Everyone wants to be compensated for their work… But, like, for me, and man, like you said, since I started, it’s been for the love of it, to want to be the best at something, to want to show the world that, like, I don’t think it really matters, size. I don’t think the size matters, I think the skills matter when you step into the ring. And I think once you step into that ring, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find anybody who’s more skilled than I am, You know what I mean?”

“So, I think that passion to want to just show I can be the best at something, I am the best at something, you know what I mean? I think it’s always just driven me since I was younger, you know what I mean? And just, you have people you look up to like the A.J. Styles’ and The Rocks and the Rey Mysterios’ and all these guys who have succeeded at what you want to succeed at, and they’re just still the coolest guys, and  they’re still such good inspirations for you it’s like, ‘I want to get to that point’ and I don’t think anything’s gonna stop me.’”

Can Ricochet eventually get to that level? Or will he be stuck in the same range he is in now until he hangs up his WWE ID badge for good one way or another? Only time will tell, but if he doesn't succeed, it certainly won't be for a lack of trying.