Though the WWE Universe is still reeling from the fallout of Survivor Series WarGames, with big-time wins, big-time betrayals, and one of the most controversial title changes in recent memory, there's another big-time bout that's still on the WWE calendar that could play a big role in who ends up holding the Intercontinental Championship when the calendar turns from 2022 to 2023: the SmackDown World Cup Finale.

That's right, while fans tried to figure out which side Sami Zayn would fall on with by the end of the evening, be it with The Bloodline or his oldest friend, Kevin Owens, and Shotzi brawled out the dastardly duo of Ronda Rousey and Shana Baszler alongside her pal Raquel Rodriguez, there was, in fact, the second and final semi-finals matches of the SmackDown World Cup Tournament, where Ricochet took on the “Monster Of All Monsters,” Braun Strowman, for a chance to face off against Santos Escobar for the grand prize. Though on paper, Strowman should be favored in that match, Imperium came out to mess with “The Monster,” giving him a hard time following his interaction with GUNTHER on the previous week's SmackDown, and Ricochet was able to get the win as a result.

Is Escobar afraid to face off against Ricochet? Fortunately, WWE booked him for a sitdown interview with Cathy Kelley to find out that question, and if you know anything about the legacy luchador, you can probably guess his answer.

“Cathy, Shinsuke, and Butch were no easy task,” Escobar said. “And rest assured, la Familia mi hermanos will always be with me. So, as for Ricochet, there’s a universal truth: what goes up must go down. The game plan is easy; win the World Cup and become the new Intercontinental Champion, and that’s that.”

Pointing out that Escobar is talking a lot about the future, Kelley asked if El Hijo del Fantasma if he may be overlooking Ricochet in favor of fantasizing about future opportunities against Gunther. Escobar took umbrage with that assertion.

“Cathy, Santos Escobar is los hombres de palabra. I'm a man of my word,” Escobar said. “So don’t be surprised when this game plan plays to perfection.”

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Ricochet is ready for all of Fantasma in the WWE SmackDown World Cup Finale.

When asked about what he plans to do to prepare for his match not only against Escobar but the entirety of Legado del Fantasma by Kelley in his own sitdown interview, Ricochet lamented that he will all but certainly find himself at a disadvantage heading into the SmackDown World Cup Finals.

“That’s true, you’ve always got to take that (Legado del Fantasma) into account,” Ricochet said. “If you’re fighting any one of those guys you’re likely fighting all three of those guys, so that’s definitely something that you have to think about, that you have to take into account. But, I mean, that’s something that I’ve had to deal with multiple times, you know, with multiple people having backup I’ve had to think about those things and I’ve come up on top before, so, that’s just one of those things where like I said before, like I said last week, not a monster, not nobody is going to stop me from winning the SmackDown World Cup. And Santos, he’s a bad dude himself, you know? We have history together, we’ve known each other for a long, long time in multiple different universes, and we have yet to face each other in here in WWE, so what better way to do that, what a way for Santos and Ricochet to come to the WWE and face off in not only a regular match but it’s the finals of the SmacDown World Cup, you know what I mean? So I can’t think of a bigger match right now, Mexico vs. The US, you know what I mean? It all comes down to this, so there’s no way I can lose.”

Transitioning to the question of what it would mean to beat Escobar, beat GUNTHER, and become the WWE Intercontinental Champion once more, Ricochet explained just how important another win would be to his WWE legacy.

“I mean, it means the world, it means everything to me,” Ricochet said. “I mean, it was devastating when I lost it, I mean, so that’s another key motivating factor behind all of this. It’s not just to win for America, to win the SmackDown World Cup, or even to just win in general for Ricochet, because obviously we know Ricochet’s past, we know these last couple of years haven’t been the best, so this is a chance to redeem myself, to show I belong here. And then not only that, to face GUNTHER for the Intercontinental Championship, that is something I don’t look past, that is something I take into account and take seriously. And so, much like Braun, much like Escobar, much like everybody else I’ve entered that ring with, GUNTHER, Imperium, man, I’m on a roll right now and nobody’s gonna stop me.”