October 1, 2025 • 48 mins
Welcome back to another episode of Wrestling with Freddie! Jeff Dye and I have the pleasure of chatting with AEW's Ricochet. We dive into his journey, his memorable moments in Lucha Underground, and his incredible matches against top wrestlers like Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay. Ricochet opens up about finding his love for wrestling again, the transition to AEW, and his dynamic with fans. Plus, we discuss his personal life, including his relationship with Samantha and their shared love for wrestling. Don’t miss Ricochet’s insights on the creative process in wrestling and his perspective on the evolving wrestling landscape.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, my friends, Welcome back to a brand new
episode of Wrestling with Freddy. With Me today is my
lovely co host, mister Jeff Dye. That's right, I called
him lovely and we have our first guest of the
season this year, a man I'm very excited to have.
He's one of the most innovative high flyers of his generation.
He has redefined what's possible inside the ropes. You may
(00:21):
know him from his incredible runs and independence from New
Japan to Lucha Underground. That's where I first saw him.
That was some sick shit. And he's also wild crowds
all around the world, and now he's making waves in
ae W, already stacking up matches against some of their
absolute best Kenny Omega, Swerve, Strickland, Will Osprey, just to
name a few. We're talking about a man who's been
called the one and only for a reason, and today
(00:44):
he's here to talk about his journey, his new chapter
in aew, the matches that I've already lit up the fans,
and what's next for the one we like to call
right here on this show, Pretty Ricky. Now your main
event introducing the hosts har Wrestling with Parreddy Jeff.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Die Hand of Parredy, Prince.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Tune, ladies and gentlemen, Ricochet, welcome to the show, sir.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Hey that yes, that is how someone should be introduced.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That was amazing, Thank you, sir. Thank sorry gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I should have done that voice. Yeah, that's the voice
they should have been. That wouldn't have gotten over. That's
good too, I take that too. That was almost like
nineteen eighty two Vince McMahon, that voice.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I was trying to mix Vince with with Paul Hammon.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Hey man, he used to be one of my favorite
like commentators, Vince like when he was like.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Commentating great on the mic, right he was.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
He would always use different words, and he would always
like just really hype up the event or like he
would like put all of it into like hyping up everything.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He really he loved it, you could tell. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I loved the old school stuff man, and I loved
how Jesse would always trash on him.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
They would do commentary together. He's like, you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Don't know what yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't do a
Jesse impression or I would so listen man, just to start,
because there was tons of talk when you when you
left WWE and went to AEW, but you've been there
for a while now. You just celebrated a year in August.
How has life settled in for it? I mean, I know,
(02:38):
outside of wrestling, you've had a lot of life change,
you got married and all that. But within your work
career creatively, how are things settling in for you so far?
How are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Honestly, someone just the other day who it doesn't matter,
someone just the other day asked me, so, do you
feel like you've gotten your your love back and your
left back of the wrestling? I said, absolutely, I absolutely do.
And I think again, just being around that environment of
(03:14):
all those people that I had spent years traveling the
world with, building those relationships and making some of the
you know, the best memories I'm ever going to have.
I think being back in that environment and connecting back
with those feelings and those emotions and those memories helped
out a lot with like my en ring work. Because
(03:35):
I was just telling someone the other day on a
different interview that what I'm doing now is basically what
I was doing on the independen scene that got me popular,
you know what I mean. So what I'm doing now
is basically just reverting back to all of that when
I was actually having fun and stuff, and it's sexually
just paying off now on television. So I've gotten lucky
(03:57):
that they've aw and everyone there has given me the
chance and the opportunity to just be this this character.
But I've had a lot of help as well. It
hasn't been just me. So that's another thing that I've
been lucky on is that everyone's been like wanting to
help me build and develop this character and the story
and where we're going.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So that's another thing that I've been lucky on.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So it's really just everything is all together just kind
of brought back what, you know, why I started it
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So that's it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Jeff, let me follow up on that real quick and
then I'll let you jump in. You know, you had
like this real fast transition in the year you've been there,
because like when you came in, everybody was like, he's
going to AW.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He has to go to a W.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
If he doesn't go to AW, oh my god, he's
still but no, no, no, he's got it. So you you
gave the fans the satisfaction. So when you came in,
you were beloved, but right now you're hated yea for
the things you do, which is a quick transition in
just a year. Was that a conscious thing that you
were feeling from the crowd or was had something that
you went in there kind of thinking about doing right away?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Honestly, it's all been the crowd's fault, to be honest
with you, it's been their fought. I did, like you said,
I came in ready to give the people, you know,
amazing matches, spectacular moments, to give them, you know, my
body poles. And what happened, they literally rejected me. For
(05:24):
the most part, they rejected me. It didn't matter what
I did. It seemed that something was always a missing
and they just kept rejecting me. And then actually the
hurt Syndicate stuff didn't help. And then immediately following the
hurt syndicand stuff, Swerve had something to say. He just
popped out of nowhere, had something to say to me.
And then since then the fans Swerve and honestly, it
(05:46):
seems like the entirety of aw almost has been trying
to keep me down, to be honest with you, Luckily,
I have two guys now that's seen. You know, they've
walked the path that I've fought. They've been trying, they've
been held down too. So now we are finally building
ourselves together to show that no more keeping us down.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
We're gonna We're gonna fight.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So honestly, I blame the fans because, like you said,
I came in, I came in ready to go.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I came you. Me and will Ospray were teaming up
like we were, we were.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Doing our thing, and then literally along the way, the
fans just literally turned their backs on me.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, you turned.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I'll be honest, I don't give a damn about the fans.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I've been saying that they've been holding you down in
every place You've gone w W E A W in
every in every every market. I didn't follow you on
the indies because I don't know how to follow anyone
on the end. But uh, but I've been saying since
day one, you're the guy. You know you you do
all the high flying stuff, which I like you're. You've
(06:49):
got a great body as far as you're strong. You
don't hide under a mask, You do your do, you
do your stuff. You've got all You've got all the
makings of a Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
In this household. I appreciate that you're currently.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
In aaw which is probably what we're going to talk
about most. So how do you view the current locker room?
All the competition there, the camaraderie, the mentorship.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Is this better?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I don't know if you're even allowed to answer that,
but like I know you're happy with where you're at.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Is this is this the right landing spot for you?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think for me absolutely, And again I said this
in a different interview a couple a couple of weeks ago.
If you look at like any locker room and basically
any company around the world right now, whether it's WTNA,
AW New Japan, CMLL like start on, like whatever company
(07:48):
you look at, like stop the bottom, the rosters are
pretty stacked, I mean really like if you look at it.
So that's one thing I think the wrestling world in
general has something going for it that's good.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Just there's so many good people out there.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But as for me specifically and what I want to
do and what I like to watch and what I
like to create specifically, when I'm just like walking around
like the backstage or like in the bowl of the arena.
I look around and I say, Oh, all these guys
are stupid, dumb idiots, but man, they're all talented. I
look around, I think everybody is ridiculously dumb, but man,
(08:27):
they're all so talented. And I just look at all
the different combinations of matches and stuff, and I'm like, man,
they're all good matches. And everyone's different, Like Darby's different
than Will and Swerves different than Hangman, and Kyle Fletcher's
different than Takeushta, and like, everyone's so different, and we're
all kind of a little bit crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think we're all like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all
liked that aspect of like I don't know, we like
the aspect of just going crazy, like doing the most
crazy see.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
A, staying off the top rope, I don't. We just
like it. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
That also gives us a thrill as much as seeing
the fans and hearing hearing them go crazy and feeling
that like we also enjoy that part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
We're kind of like stuntman, we love that part. Take
me into that a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If you could, like, do you see other wrestlers moves
and think like, oh, I could do this off of
moves X, Y, and Z, and that would look sick.
I got to wrestle this guy. We got to get
in the ring. I got to see if that works.
Like is that how you do it or is it
just more like on the day.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I think for a lot of people that for me
now specifically, I've honestly been doing it so long. I'm like,
I don't want to wrestle anybody anymore. I've wrestled everybody,
so I don't want to wrestle no one. Just give
me my championships, so let me sit at the house
with them, you know. But but I will say that
(10:04):
when you do see something that you think is cool,
or when someone does something that you know can connect
with some stuff like your your your brain, your your
brain does just get to thinking and fire and automatically
of potential stuff that you could do if you were
ever in the ring with this person. At least That's
just how I think, because I'm obviously I mean obviously,
(10:26):
I'm honestly not a person that prethinks of anything. I
am the day of as soon as I get there,
I feel the like we feel the person out, we
start talking, and then we start from there. Sometimes I
get lucky and they have everything they want to do,
which is great because if you come with all the
(10:46):
ideas and then we can fit them somewhere, which is great.
We don't have to like sit and think about what
we're gonna do. And if you have all the ideas,
that's perfect that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
So you really like to improv like a lot of provisation,
like an actor. I would compare you to. It would
be like Karen Culkin, right, like he hates rehearsals. He
doesn't want to rehearse. He doesn't want you to know
what he's gonna like he'll give you a brief like
here's where we're going in the scene, but let's just
do it and see what happens and let's work off
one another. And about is it more like that?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Or I mean, honestly like the weekly to week the
week shows, I kind of like the the the un
expected of like not fully like obviously you want to
know what you're doing. You want to like have bullet
points and you want to you know, know the direction
you're going, of course, but like the weekly shows, the
(11:38):
kind of unexpectedness and the sporadicness of everything kind of
I think helps, but I think for like the big
shows and the big pay per views and stuff like
getting some time to like go over it and getting
some time to like really know what you're doing isn't
bad either.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Seriously, this may sound weird, but thank you so much
for letting us and our listeners into that part of it.
You know what I mean, creator, I don't. I'm not
trying to like have the magician give away the magic trick, right,
and honestly, normally I always you see my answers here already.
I usually try to stay within I feel in cafe,
but sometimes I do like to I like also to teach,
(12:16):
and I also like to you know, let people know. Yeah,
you guys are artists. I've I've said this a million times.
It's it's it's the literal blood, sweat and tears on
an actual canvas, like to me, the coolest form of art. Like,
it's it's everything at once. And I've seen people cry
in that ring. I've seen people bleed and sweat in
(12:37):
that ring, and the ring is a canvas, and so
I respect it and I'm very appreciative and so are
listeners that you let them into the creative side a
little bit, Jeff, I won't hog it all.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You can jump in whenever.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I'd like to talk about the way you talk to
these fans. First of all, you've got a long history
long and also first what is kay fabe anymore? But no,
I know how long before you were a heel or
a or a you have a long history of trolling
these fans. And I gotta say I love it. It's
(13:13):
finally someone using social media the way it's meant to
be used. Tell us a little bit about that, if
you got any anecdotes about it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And again, honestly, I am just defending myself amongst a
world of bullies. That's all I'm specifically doing. Anytime you
see me lash out, it's towards someone who has said
something negative about me or my family or my work
or my boss or something.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I So, anytime you see me say anything, it's usually
to some dumb idiot who thinks they know everything right.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
That's right, they are and talking to you, you know
who you are.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Exactly to you specifically, And then people are going to
see that and be like he's such an idiot, and
be like, yeah, I'm talking to you, you.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Know, call of duty? Do you do you you talk
some trash.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
In there and the yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, especially
because like I'm not especially on my team specifically, I'm
ever like the best person. So especially if we win,
someone's like, yeah, you suck you at last, I'm like,
we still would sucker.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Get out of here, that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
But no, yeah, yeah, even if I'm losing, you still
you can say something that they're gonna not like, which
is great. But it's so funny because I kind of
just revert back to my days when I first started
watching like the local like Tennessee area and Illinois area
and Alabama. Like I would travel with my friends, like
(14:39):
a guy named like Matt Winners and a guy named
Todd Blade whose real name was Jonathan Payne. It's like,
you have an awesome Jonathan, but he picked Tdy Blade
for some reason.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But they would just do so good at getting under
people's skin and like getting on their nerves, like just
a knowing little kids, you know, wrestling, but they're the
bad guy, so they're saying stuff and that would just
make people so mad. And so I'm just picking stuff
like from them and even Chuck Taylor back in the day.
He was such a good heel, Like, so I'm just
picking stuff from them, and it's like stuff that I know,
(15:17):
you know, I've seen and but at the end of
the day, sometimes people give you a layup too. They
say something so dumb, you're just like, I gotta say something.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
When I was a kid, and our producer can beep this.
But when I was a kid, I went to a
went to one of these WWE Lives or WWF Live,
was like off, there was no cameras or anything, and
the Godwins walked by me and I was reaching out
my hand to try to get a five, and one
of the Godwins like I must have touched him or
(15:48):
got close or something. He looked over and he goes,
shut up, you little right to my face. When I
was a little kid, and I turned to my dad
and he was like he just shrugged. He's like, I
don't know what what to tell you, dude, Like just
like that's when I learned these wrestlers are will commit.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Ultimate heal whole wow. And there are no rules back
then either.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, man, But it's honestly, and some of the indie shows,
when again it's the live events they call them on
the independence is just you know, regular, but it's like
it is a little intimate and it is like just
you and the fans and there is no beyond eyes watching,
so you can kind of like they get into it
(16:35):
just as much as you get into it, you know. So,
But that's so funny because some of the shows we
did back in the day, sorry, like the cz WS
and the like the iw A Mid South and some
of the indies that were like known for being like
are rated, like.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Some crazy stuff was said.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Let me take you kind of back in time if
if you don't mind, uh, Tulucha Underground when you were
doing that, did you guys know and girls did did
Did the wrestlers know you guys were doing something that special?
Or was it like, hey man, we're working, I'm just
glad to be working. Did you guys know it was
gonna still kind of have this cult following and cult
(17:15):
love that it does today.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Honestly, No.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I remember Conan for a while was trying to get
me to play this part in this TV show. Principal
mcconan was calling me and texting me and emailing me
for months, maybe even a year, up to a year.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I remember a long.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Time because he kept I would say months, and he
kept calling me, and you know, sometimes I ould hear him,
and sometimes I wouldn't even because he kept pitching like
this new show. It's it's like, uh, Mark Brunette and
Robert Rodriguez, We're going to be you know, executive producers
on it. It's going to be like a new style
(17:57):
of wrestling. He kept trying to pitch it, and I
kept thinking to my had like Wrestling Society X.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I don't know if you remember Wrestling Society X on MTV.
It came on.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It came on like it was like I remember like
seeing trailers for it. I don't know if I ever.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It was like they had like explosions and they had
like music artists and they had like and it lasted
for maybe a season, and I just remember not getting,
you know, any traction.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
And so that's what I had in my head.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
It was gonna be something like that, which wasn't bad,
but it just at the time it wasn't gonna catch on,
and so I was just like, nah, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Man, I'm just gonna wait. I was gonna wait. I'm
just gonna wait.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But then finally one day I was going out for
PWG and they said, well, just come out here, because
they were out in LA.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
They said, come out here.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You come to the studio, look at the set, look
at some of the you know, the photos and stuff
that we have, and we'll give you the whole rundown
and just see what you think. And actually, me and
rich Swan at the time, we flew, we flew down
the air. Then we drove down there, and then they
showed me the temple. They showed me the arena. They
showed me like dodio Quito and like what he was
(19:09):
going to be, and Prince Puma and what he was
going to be, and they showed me all the stuff
and everything, and I.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Said, honestly, man, this looks cool.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Like the art looked cool and all the like the
temple looked cool, and everything looked awesome. And I said,
they wanted me to be this Prince Puma character, which
is like the main character of the whole thing. And
I said, wow, this is crazy, so okay, sure, and
then we got the talking and then the first episode
was me and Morrison and the main event and actually
(19:38):
wasn't supposed to be me and Morrison. It was supposed
to be I don't know, one of the one of
the luchadors, but they had like visa issues so they
couldn't make it into the next taping. So they literally
just said, Okay, Johnny, Mundo and Prince Puma will be
(19:58):
the main event of the night one. And luckily we
went out there and we had a I love wrestling Mundo,
he was awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
We had.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
We went out there and we killed it, and we
really like kind of set a statement that first night
for like what we're gonna do after that, and I
think maybe around like season two, we're like, oh man,
we really got something here, Like I think, but the
first season, I don't think we knew it was gonna
like stick like it did. I don't think we at
(20:27):
least I didn't expect it. And the people that we
were with again, we were all kind of just indie
darlings at the time. So now we're like on television
like getting paid real good money, and like we didn't
know that it was gonna develop this like following that
he did. I'm glad it did. But as we were
watching it again, like season two. As you're watching it
(20:47):
develop and you see the story and you see how
it is on TV, You're like, oh, this is pretty cool,
Like this is really it was cool. Yeah, it was
really cool, all right. So that leads me to my
personal question. And Jeff and I both love lucha libre.
I love luchador's.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
The first match I ever went to was in Puerto
Rico with my grandma in Bocron or in San Juan.
She lived in Bokon and uh, yeah it was, and
it was and the crowd was crazy, like it was.
I was scared. I was a little kid and the
crowd was like mean to the heels and like throwing batteries.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
At the guys. Yeah it was, it was. It was.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
I was really scared. My Grandma's like keeping me under
her little shirt so I wouldn't get hit. So who
is You've wrestled a lot of them, dude, who is
your favorite or you can say the best, I don't care.
But who's your favorite luchador or your favorite match that
you had.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
With a Luca Besides Laparca? I mean we all agree
Laparka as the goat besides the.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Chairman. He was the chairman in WCW.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I mean I would have I'd be lying if I
didn't say Raymon stereo, but like not counting a Raymon stereo.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Man, I I've I've wrestled so many I know, dude,
I know. And if we take ray off the table,
it's really hard. It's really really hard.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
There's a guy in dragon Gate named Flamita. He was
really good. Titan is really good. U vol Jr. Is
a guy, He's really good. Man Commander. I wrestled Commander
in a e W hell Ya. He's new, but like
he does, he is wild. He he does some crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But I mean Vol I like wrestling. Volador. I wrestled Titan.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I wrestled U Mascaraderada also known as Grand Metallique him
in New Japan.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Uh. He was really good too, ah man, I don't
know that to be hard.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I mean, I'm just gonna go ahead and say right, I'm
gonnahead and say ray because that's sure. He literally was
like crying after like spheak, and I was like so emotional.
I couldn't even like talk to him afterwards because I
was just I don't know, I was just so emotional.
I've been watching him at ninety six ninety seven. You
know what I mean, He's got that aura.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
When I when I worked.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
At WW back in the day, they were like, well,
you speak Spanish, so you're working with Ray. That's kind
of like how the writers got assign people. It was like,
if you're black, you write for the black writers. If
you're spending, they didn't know I was Puerto Rican. They're like,
your Mexican, go work with Ray. And so I got
to meet him and I really had a very similar
moment with him where I was just like, I don't
know what to say, Like I came up watching this dude, yeah,
(23:34):
and loved his matches so many. He's my favorite luchador,
like he's everyone's favoriteluchidor that's not news. And I literally
it was like his aura was there, like like that
Charlie Murphy thing when he talks about Rick James had
an aura. Oh yeah, he's like you could see it,
Like I could see his aura around him, and it
made it hard for me to work with him and
give him my best because it was like you're around
(23:55):
greatness and you know you are right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I know, it's it's he's just all those because again
why and having all those memories and emotions of like
what he's done for you just pop up and you're like,
he's like, hey, what's up. Like he's just the nicest
guy in the world. He's a shitless guy in the world. Yeah,
you couldn't even tell, like he's the mega star. But
it's awesome. I love it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Okay, So that's a moment you had where you got
to kind of see it not a hero, but a
peer that you respect. Right So with the young generation now,
and it may just be the gentleman you're working with
right now, but who have you found that's receptive to advice?
Who's come up to you for advice? Because ah, you're
(24:45):
in that position. Yeah, No, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It's so funny because October will be twenty two years actually,
so I legit half people coming up to me because
I was always the young kid, like because I would
travel with Chuck Taylor and everyone else who were all
older than me.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Like I was always the youngest.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
So now that I have kids, like oh, I grew
up watching you, or like I used to watch you
when I was a kid, or like I'm like, wow,
that's crazy because I'm the kid.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm the little one. So there's a nick Wayne for example.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I always use him. I always use him as my example.
He's only like twenty years old, so I've been wrestling
longer than he's been alive, which is crazy because I'm
the kid. I'm the baby, so that's crazy to me.
But yeah, like it is cool like when you especially
when I do the indie shows or something, but an
aew two as well, Like we're all pretty receptive to everybody.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I think everyone wants everyone to do well.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
So it's actually pretty cool because sometimes MJF has something
to tell me. He's like, oh I noticed something, try
to do like this. I'm like, oh, thank you, or
vice versa, I say to this person or so that's
actually pretty cool because I think we all do want
it to just grow and want everyone to be our
(26:09):
best selves and we want everyone to be the best
good guy or bad guy that we can be to
tell whatever story we're trying to tell. So but as
far as specific people, it's hard to name specific people,
but it feels like you do have people. Okay, can
you watch my match? Can you you know, give me
some advice? But also for me, I'm the type of person,
(26:32):
I would have to like sit down with you and
rewatch your match and go over it, because if I'm
watching it, like and you guys are doing anything kind
of cool, I'm going to forget that I'm watching it
and I'm going to start like really watching it, and
I'm gonna be like.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Oh, that was crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I was like, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be taking notes,
so like that's not good for me. I A little
bit of my fan always pops out and I start
to really watch the match. So we would have to
like sit down and we would have to watch it
and go over it. And because that's kind of how
I was not taught, but like being in like the
Shawn Michaels the Skull class, he would sit down with
us and we would watch our takeover match. We would
(27:08):
watch our life event match, and he would like go
over little tits and bits and little things like literally
just nitpicking because he's like, oh, you guys are you know,
really advanced.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
You guys know what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
He's like, this is just to help the little pieces
that you can make the picture better, you know. So
that's kind of how I would have to do it,
because if you just asked me to watch your match,
and you do anything remotely cool, I'm I'm gonna forget that.
I'm watching it to like for to give you advice.
I'm going to watch it and be a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It's funny. Something you said there reminded me. And I
don't know if this will interest the listeners. I don't
know if it'll interest you guys. But knows. World War two, Nope. Done.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Post World War two, a lot of artists like Pablo
Picasso and I'm adel Modigiani and that whole group of
post Impressionists. They were all hanging out in Paris at
this place, this hotel called the Hive, and they had
a very similar style where they would look at each
other's works, their sculptures, things like that, and they'd say, hey,
you know, I think you could do a little more
of this, or you have a lot of African inspired,
(28:14):
like you know, cultural things with your stonework, so maybe
you should try some of this, and they would literally
That's how they evolved so quickly, and they became my
favorite generation of artists. But it's a very similar thing
creatively that you're talking about, which is it just reinforces
that wrestlers are artists, you know, because you guys are
even going working with each other in a very similar way.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I'm not afraid to ask. I'll go to Chris Hero
or I'll go to.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Christopher Daniels or somebody and be like, what do you
think about X Y Z? Or if we're trying to
get here, so what do you? I like leaning on
those guys a lot, and leaning on the people that
we have there to like get advice, to get something from,
because I don't know they have it and they're vail
(29:00):
and they want to help. So and then and again,
the guys that the wrestlers that are there have been
doing it for so long that again, like you pull
anyone aside and any any one of the wrestlers and
be like, can you think of something like something like
this and whatever the situation is, And for the most part,
(29:22):
they'll stop kind of what they're doing and they'll help
you think of something like So it's pretty cool, honestly,
And everyone's kind of crazy. So everyone's going to think
of something a little bit crazy and you're like, oh,
that's awesome. Yeah, and then you know, but normally it's like, oh, okay,
you like crazy. You keep saying that you like you
like the crazy. Really, it's not even that I like it.
(29:42):
I think we just all happen to be that way instinctually.
I think we all like you see the Ladder match,
it just happened at all out. Yeah, man, the ghost
guys are crazy. You have to want to do that.
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
No, I'm a dad.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So now when I watch it, I'm like, oh God, no,
don't feel that high.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Freddie into blood, he's getting into I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Getting back into blood. I used to get grossed out
by it, but now I feel you. I feel you,
I feel you. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I've always been a bloodthirsty animal wanting them to do
all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Even when I was a kid, I was like, that
was real.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
That part was real, that they went off thing they
weren't supposed to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
John Cena and jbl that match, they were both just.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I got a question for you.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Are are Me and Freddy are often guilty of neglecting
or forgetting about our female listeners.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So I thought, you know, keeping them in mind.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
I'd like to ask you a question getting to the
mind of Ricochet. Were you and your wife Samantha love
it first sight or how did you meet what was
soul mates? How did how did that go down? And
tell tell our fans about that?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Honestly, I think honestly, yeah, I think so as funny
as it sounds. We actually she started following me on Twitter,
so I followed her back obviously, and then Instagram other socials,
and then you just start talking and then from there
it goes to phone talking. Right, So we're talking, you know,
(31:29):
for good couple. We're like two weeks, We're like talking.
And at the time I didn't know because she lived
in Vegas at the time. So at the time we
started talking and and and getting, you know, to know
each other.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
She lived in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I lived in Orlando, and I didn't know that she
had already had a try out. I didn't know that
she had already been talking with the WWE. I didn't
know that she had you know, she was actually gonna
be involved.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I just you know, she followed me, so I as
I say, she's she's hot. But but then you know
that whole time, I'm like, Okay, she lives in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
I'm gonna either have to go out there, She's gonna
have to come, Like, I don't know how we're gonna
do this, but I guess we're gonna have to make
it work. But then when I found out, you know,
like two or three weeks later that she was actually
coming down to Orlando, I said, oh that's that was like,
oh wow, perfect, yeah, perfect, because I was trying to think,
how are we going to do this? But but then
(32:26):
she was there for about I don't know, nine ten months,
maybe she was in Orlando with the NXT stuff. And
then that's when we really you know, got to really
just see each other.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
No.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Actually I flew out to Vegas before she came to uh,
before she came to Orlando.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I flew out there. And it's funny, I landed at
like nine thirty.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Let's say I landed at nine thirty West Coast time PM.
We start, we drive. She shows me like the cities
because I've never really been to Vegas by the way,
like I've maybe went once for a wrestling show. But like,
we landed early in the morning, and I went straight
to my hotel to like take a nap because it
was like we landed at.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Like five in the morning.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
The wrestler life, yeah, and then you know, wake up,
get ready, go to the show, do the show. And
then like I had a red eye out that night,
so like I didn't even get to see Vegas. I
didn't get this do anything. That was like the only
time I've been here. So she showed me a bunch
of stuff. And then so it's maybe an hour later,
so ten thirty, she says, she's like, what do you
(33:28):
want to do. I'm like, I don't know. I've never
been to Vegas. She was like, you want to go
see the Grand Canyon. I said, I'm thinking, Okay, it's
in my head. I'm thinking it's probably fairly close, you know,
if she's gonna offer it, it's probably fairly close. I'm like, sure,
let's go. How far away is it? She looks it up,
She's like, oh, it's like four and a half hours. Yeah,
it's wild. Sure, I have no other plans, let's just go.
(33:52):
So we started driving in the middle of the night.
We drove, I think we got to like king Kingsman, Arizona.
We stopped at Kingsman, Arizona. Wow, had some cracker barrel
the next day, so that was technically like our first
like date was cracker barrel.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Technically, then we literally just finished.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Roles are reversed that is like a man driving a
woman four and a half hours.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Hey, what could go wrong? What could I promise I
won't murder you?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Literally, So we just finished the drive.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
We go to the Grand Canyon and get an awesome photo,
Like at the Grand Canyon there's like snow capped mountains
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
It's like an awesome photo that we have. Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And then I think since then, I think we always
kind of knew, even on the drive there. I think
we just kind of knew, Like I think we just Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
She's made a very follow up question.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
She's made it very clear she wanted to be a
personality in WWE. She's she's got gifts, she's got talents.
You don't want to just be announcing and all that stuff.
So has there been any thoughts of, you know, maybe
having her as a manager or getting her getting her
in the in the g Oh.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Absolutely, And I think I think it's still possible. I
think just right now, she again, like me reverting back
to what got me popular to get to where I'm
at now, she is going back to what got her
popular because she's been doing music and she was in
drama club and she was in theater and she's been doing.
(35:23):
She's been she literally traveled the whole world singing doing
a Michael Jackson like live performance, like a group. She
like traveled Australia, Europe, she's been in Japan. She's been
all over doing like this theater performances and stuff, you
know what I mean. She's been on America's Got Talent.
She's been on I Can See Your Voice. She's been
on like so much stuff before she got here. You
(35:45):
know which one I Can See your Voice. I was
one of the detectives on I Can See Your Voice.
Oh really, I think it was like I forgot who
was this for hers? She wasn't my episode. I remember that,
yeah exactly. And so she again, I think once she
found out like she's not going to really be able
to do what she kind of wanted to do, she
(36:07):
just wanted to take a step back and then kind
of go back to what she her passion was because
a lot of in the way she was announcing in
the gravel in her voice, she felt like, She's like, man,
my singing voice isn't what it used to be because
I'm using like my rock voice, like I'm using like
a like a you know when she's screaming, roam and
(36:29):
reins and it's it's kind of it's more than singing
like a note, you know. So she just wanted to
get back to like doing what she you know, her
passion was. And I think right now also again, because
she grew up loved wrestling. She grew up you know,
in love with the stories and making it and you know,
it being as good as possible, and she wanted to
(36:49):
make it as good as possible, and that's why she
puts so much effort into it. And I think she's honestly,
she got tired a lot of the lot of the
online community, to be honest with you, like that has
a lot like along with like, you know again for her,
like saying people's hometowns and weight wasn't her dream, Like
I don't want to say someone's hometown where they're from,
and like their weight, like it is cool, and I
(37:12):
loved she'd loved actual the act of doing it and
being live in front of the fans doing something like
like that's you know, that was great. But like again,
she says, I'm an actress playing the role of a
ring announcer, you know what I mean. And she's like
I'm just done, like I'm kind of over playing this role.
I want to play a different role to make the
(37:33):
company better. She's like, if I can make people feel
this way just on my announcements, Like how do you
think I could make them feel with like a promo
or like a you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (37:43):
And she's easily that became one of the most famous
in the short amount of time of naming people's cities
and wait, Sky's the limit if she can be anything else.
I mean like literally everyone's sharing her pictures and what
she does and she's literally just saying cities and waits,
So sky's the limit for Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So she always thought was like, imagine if I hit
him with a crazy Paul Hayman style promo that you
know she could do because she's an actress and she
can just even like at home, she she is a
character all day long.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
She all day long.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
She's a character, So I know it would translate. But
right now, I think with the music and stuff, she's
really loving that and she's really like connecting with a
part of her that she kind of had detached away
from for so long. But I think it's always possible,
and I think obviously She always wants the fans of
hers that actually were fans of hers, that are like
(38:44):
sad that they don't get to see her now, she
does still want to do something for that group of
people who still want to, like, you know, see her
and follow her.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
So I think it's great to see her manage. Man
we need a strong female manager out there that can.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Do more managers in general.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I agree, yeah's mouthpieces out there when the brain and
you know what I'm saying, Cornett, all those guys.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Absolutely, Yeah, there's so many wrestlers that are fantastic wrestlers,
but the mic work isn't isn't as strong as maybe
their body of wrestling, and so it's like just bringing
a manager.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
And even sometimes like you have like Roman Reigns who
did a lot of his own promos, but the manager
just helped. Yeah, just elevates its just elevates elevates everything.
I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, all right, dude, six years is coming up in
a e W six years.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
People said it wouldn't even last two years. Uh it is.
It has surpassed a lot of a lot of people's
skepticism and criticism, and six years is nothing to shake
a stick at as the old people would say, you
haven't been there the whole time. But how do you
see your personal trajectory within the company oversay the next two.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
To three years? Where would you like to be? Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I know, right now, me and Homie's about to come
after the OPS. I don't care if Shabout has hurt
or not. It's not cool. I don't care if hurt
or not. I'll hurt him even more if I have to.
I'll go to the hospital he's at. They can take
the other two guys, you know, I'm saying, they can
take Hobbs and and Joe.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I'll take care of Shabata.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
And I think that with that, you know, with that
game plan, we can easily take out the OPS and
get those trios championships and give a shot of adrenaline
to this trios division.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
AW got me into trios wrestling, by the way, I
never understood six man tags in WWE, and then once
there were like titles on the line and people had
something to care about and give a shit about other
than hey, those are my friends, I was like, I'm
starting to get this now, and I've really grew Trios
matches have really grown on me, and it's that's because
of as and.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
I think you know in at the end of the day,
wrestlers are prize fighters, you know what I'm saying, Like
at the end of the day, Like we fight for
the championship because the champion gets more money, and like
that's why we want Like the story helps that. But
at the end of the day, we're prize fighters, just
like boxers, just like UFC fighters.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yea, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
We're so like that's another thing about aw Like you
can be champion, but then all of a sudden, Tony
throws out a four hundred thousand dollars four way match,
and as champion, you can you can say wait wait,
wait wait, it's so cool, or you could be you know,
on the verge chasing a champion, right, you're chasing whomever
(41:32):
the Kyle Fletcher. But then Tony throws out this four
hundred thousand dollars four way match, and you're like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait side Quesz, Kyle's probably still going to be champion,
but I got a chance to win four hundred thousand
dollars real quick, absolutely, because then within that match something
(41:53):
could happen someone could screw you out of the match,
and now your story goes towards that guy because he
screwed you out of four hundred thousand dollars, And now
I want to beat that guy up because he screwed
me out of four hundred thousand dollars. And then afterwards
I'll go back to Kyle and I'll take that championship.
So that's kind of I do like that about aew
is that again, we are prize fighters and we want
(42:15):
to fight for something, So but within that stories can
develop and you could go a whole different direction than
you were going because someone screwts you out of all
that money, you know what I'm saying. Or maybe you
want some money and someone's mad and they jump you
at or whatever, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
So that's I do. I do enjoy that aspect of it.
I really do.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Jeff, why don't you jump in there with your with
your final question?
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Well, I feel like we should do a three hour interview,
so it's not really there.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I know.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
Agreed, Right before the ops came into your vision, went
after them, you took out the Hurt Syndicate. What did
they do that made you take them out? Was because
they didn't let you into the hurt syndicate. What's what's
going on here?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
We'll see.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
If it was simply they didn't let me into the
hurt syndicate, that would be a whole different That would
make me seem crazy, right, that would make me seem
like a crazy person. If it was only they just
didn't let me into the hurt syndicket. But not only
did did they just not let me into the hurt syndicate?
But like when I was finally ready to show them
that I had that dark So when I was finally
(43:20):
ready to show them that I had a switch that
could be flipped, they decided to grab my face and
rip the card up and call me a kiss ass
and kicked me out the ring and like embarrass me
in front of all these people. For like, like I said,
for years, MVP has spit game MVP. For years, MVP
has put me on and has taught me and has
led me through like the wilder wilderness that is professional wrestling.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
And he's he's taught me a lot.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
So like it's funny that he would choose to go
this route with me specifically of all people, not thinking
that Yo, you taught me like, don't take don't take
nothing from nobody.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
You taught me that.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
You taught me, don't let nobody embarrassed me, don't let
nobody step on me. You taught me that, you know
what I'm saying. So it's not only that they didn't
just let me in. They literally embarrassed me in front
of the world to lead up to Swerve, thinking that
he can now embarrass me in front of the world
immediately after, you know what I mean. So for me, like,
that's kind of what it was. And then, like I
(44:19):
said before, as soon as I saw the match GA
versus the Hurt Syndicate, as soon as I saw that
tag match and I saw that the Hurt Syndicate barely
squeaked by, I said, I know that these guys can
take on these guys. I knew that for a fact.
And I know that Goa were hungry, and I know
they wanted opportunity, and I know that they just needed
something to get them to that next level. So as
(44:41):
soon as I saw that, I jumped on and they
I told them my plan. They saw that I had
their best interest at heart. I knew that they had
my best interest at heart and it's just been good
ever since. And so that's why we had to make
an example of them, a forbidden door, to let them
know that they not just here to They hurt people.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Both. We hurt people too.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
You know how I see? Uh, I see, And we
could edit this out as well. But the way, the
way I see it is m VP is like Bowser,
you know, and the Hurd Syndicate is like his little
goombas and and I see Ricochet as Marios Sanker Mario,
and I see Samantha as maybe Princess Pete. Yeah, who's
(45:24):
getting stole by Bowser over and over. I think we
could work something like that. I think that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
No, yeah, I just right.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Yeah, let's cut this and then you take that idea
and run with it and then nobody will.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Yeah, that'll be the next big storyline, Ricochet. If you
need someone that has a pretty consistent two to one
killed death ratio, if one of your guys is out,
call me. I'm your guy. I'm not great, but two.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
To one better than the one point one point two something.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I feel you.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
So, if you need a little if you guys drop
a player one night because it's why I phone let
them play that night. Take the kids to a birthday
or something. Hit me up, man, I like how that's.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Like that now that we're older, that's the that's the
Oh yeah, I said, Oh man, I gotta take the kids. Sorry,
that's that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Man, I'm taking my son go kart racing when we
finished this, when we finished this podcast, I'm so jealous.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
I am so jealous.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
Isn't this great that we're three grown man? It's the
fact that that is. Look at look at what when.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
We still play video games? But it's the time. What
a great time, What a great time to be just
a rich grown man. What a great time. You don't
ever have to grow up.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
No, don't always always stay young, man, You'll live longer
that way. Rick Ashe, thank you so much for being
a part of the show. Tell the people where they
can reach you on social media if they want to
get annihilated by your words.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
You can follow me at King Ricochet. That's on Instagram
and Twitter. Basically everything that I do is King Ricochet.
Uh yeah, follow me for a lot of video game
anime and sometimes some wrestling talk.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Did you say anime? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Bro, this is my favorite anime over my Shrubbers from
the eighties, that's Golgo thirteen. They used to make a
comment he was like the Japanese James Bond. Yeah, yeah,
and it's my favorite anime ever. And they didn't have
enough money to finish it, but they made it anyway.
So there's like one scene where it's just like an
animatic and it's like horrible animation.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Definitely is amazing. If you want to check it out,
check it out. Man, that's a lot of fourteen. Okay.
I've definitely seemed like the logo, but I've never watched
the show.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, he was famous in like the seventies over there
in Japan. I saw The New Demon Slayer with my son.
Did you see the New Demon Slayer?
Speaker 2 (47:45):
I did. It was awesome. Yeah, I loved it. We
saw it.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
We saw it in a four D theater and the
whole time, Bro, I had to tap out my son's
little he was getting launched out the seat. This Asian
dude to my right snatchos exploded all over.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
The place like it was. It was hard.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Like I get the concept behind it, but like, I
don't know what they were thinking with the four D.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
I don't know. I don't know, and.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
You get sprayed with water in your face for no reason,
like like I got moonimisted.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
Not.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
It was horrible, all right, Thanks for doing the show Man,
Thank you guys for listening. We appreciate y'all. We'll be
back next week. Rick Shay, You're the man. Thank you, peace,
Thank you guys so much
What's up, my friends, Welcome back to a brand new
episode of Wrestling with Freddy. With Me today is my
lovely co host, mister Jeff Dye. That's right, I called
him lovely and we have our first guest of the
season this year, a man I'm very excited to have.
He's one of the most innovative high flyers of his generation.
He has redefined what's possible inside the ropes. You may
(00:21):
know him from his incredible runs and independence from New
Japan to Lucha Underground. That's where I first saw him.
That was some sick shit. And he's also wild crowds
all around the world, and now he's making waves in
ae W, already stacking up matches against some of their
absolute best Kenny Omega, Swerve, Strickland, Will Osprey, just to
name a few. We're talking about a man who's been
called the one and only for a reason, and today
(00:44):
he's here to talk about his journey, his new chapter
in aew, the matches that I've already lit up the fans,
and what's next for the one we like to call
right here on this show, Pretty Ricky. Now your main
event introducing the hosts har Wrestling with Parreddy Jeff.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Die Hand of Parredy, Prince.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Tune, ladies and gentlemen, Ricochet, welcome to the show, sir.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Hey that yes, that is how someone should be introduced.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That was amazing, Thank you, sir. Thank sorry gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I should have done that voice. Yeah, that's the voice
they should have been. That wouldn't have gotten over. That's
good too, I take that too. That was almost like
nineteen eighty two Vince McMahon, that voice.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I was trying to mix Vince with with Paul Hammon.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Hey man, he used to be one of my favorite
like commentators, Vince like when he was like.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Commentating great on the mic, right he was.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
He would always use different words, and he would always
like just really hype up the event or like he
would like put all of it into like hyping up everything.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He really he loved it, you could tell. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I loved the old school stuff man, and I loved
how Jesse would always trash on him.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
They would do commentary together. He's like, you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Don't know what yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't do a
Jesse impression or I would so listen man, just to start,
because there was tons of talk when you when you
left WWE and went to AEW, but you've been there
for a while now. You just celebrated a year in August.
How has life settled in for it? I mean, I know,
(02:38):
outside of wrestling, you've had a lot of life change,
you got married and all that. But within your work
career creatively, how are things settling in for you so far?
How are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Honestly, someone just the other day who it doesn't matter,
someone just the other day asked me, so, do you
feel like you've gotten your your love back and your
left back of the wrestling? I said, absolutely, I absolutely do.
And I think again, just being around that environment of
(03:14):
all those people that I had spent years traveling the
world with, building those relationships and making some of the
you know, the best memories I'm ever going to have.
I think being back in that environment and connecting back
with those feelings and those emotions and those memories helped
out a lot with like my en ring work. Because
(03:35):
I was just telling someone the other day on a
different interview that what I'm doing now is basically what
I was doing on the independen scene that got me popular,
you know what I mean. So what I'm doing now
is basically just reverting back to all of that when
I was actually having fun and stuff, and it's sexually
just paying off now on television. So I've gotten lucky
(03:57):
that they've aw and everyone there has given me the
chance and the opportunity to just be this this character.
But I've had a lot of help as well. It
hasn't been just me. So that's another thing that I've
been lucky on is that everyone's been like wanting to
help me build and develop this character and the story
and where we're going.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So that's another thing that I've been lucky on.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So it's really just everything is all together just kind
of brought back what, you know, why I started it
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So that's it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Jeff, let me follow up on that real quick and
then I'll let you jump in. You know, you had
like this real fast transition in the year you've been there,
because like when you came in, everybody was like, he's
going to AW.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He has to go to a W.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
If he doesn't go to AW, oh my god, he's
still but no, no, no, he's got it. So you you
gave the fans the satisfaction. So when you came in,
you were beloved, but right now you're hated yea for
the things you do, which is a quick transition in
just a year. Was that a conscious thing that you
were feeling from the crowd or was had something that
you went in there kind of thinking about doing right away?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Honestly, it's all been the crowd's fault, to be honest
with you, it's been their fought. I did, like you said,
I came in ready to give the people, you know,
amazing matches, spectacular moments, to give them, you know, my
body poles. And what happened, they literally rejected me. For
(05:24):
the most part, they rejected me. It didn't matter what
I did. It seemed that something was always a missing
and they just kept rejecting me. And then actually the
hurt Syndicate stuff didn't help. And then immediately following the
hurt syndicand stuff, Swerve had something to say. He just
popped out of nowhere, had something to say to me.
And then since then the fans Swerve and honestly, it
(05:46):
seems like the entirety of aw almost has been trying
to keep me down, to be honest with you, Luckily,
I have two guys now that's seen. You know, they've
walked the path that I've fought. They've been trying, they've
been held down too. So now we are finally building
ourselves together to show that no more keeping us down.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
We're gonna We're gonna fight.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So honestly, I blame the fans because, like you said,
I came in, I came in ready to go.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I came you. Me and will Ospray were teaming up
like we were, we were.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Doing our thing, and then literally along the way, the
fans just literally turned their backs on me.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, you turned.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I'll be honest, I don't give a damn about the fans.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I've been saying that they've been holding you down in
every place You've gone w W E A W in
every in every every market. I didn't follow you on
the indies because I don't know how to follow anyone
on the end. But uh, but I've been saying since
day one, you're the guy. You know you you do
all the high flying stuff, which I like you're. You've
(06:49):
got a great body as far as you're strong. You
don't hide under a mask, You do your do, you
do your stuff. You've got all You've got all the
makings of a Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
In this household. I appreciate that you're currently.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
In aaw which is probably what we're going to talk
about most. So how do you view the current locker room?
All the competition there, the camaraderie, the mentorship.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Is this better?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I don't know if you're even allowed to answer that,
but like I know you're happy with where you're at.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Is this is this the right landing spot for you?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think for me absolutely, And again I said this
in a different interview a couple a couple of weeks ago.
If you look at like any locker room and basically
any company around the world right now, whether it's WTNA,
AW New Japan, CMLL like start on, like whatever company
(07:48):
you look at, like stop the bottom, the rosters are
pretty stacked, I mean really like if you look at it.
So that's one thing I think the wrestling world in
general has something going for it that's good.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Just there's so many good people out there.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But as for me specifically and what I want to
do and what I like to watch and what I
like to create specifically, when I'm just like walking around
like the backstage or like in the bowl of the arena.
I look around and I say, Oh, all these guys
are stupid, dumb idiots, but man, they're all talented. I
look around, I think everybody is ridiculously dumb, but man,
(08:27):
they're all so talented. And I just look at all
the different combinations of matches and stuff, and I'm like, man,
they're all good matches. And everyone's different, Like Darby's different
than Will and Swerves different than Hangman, and Kyle Fletcher's
different than Takeushta, and like, everyone's so different, and we're
all kind of a little bit crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think we're all like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all
liked that aspect of like I don't know, we like
the aspect of just going crazy, like doing the most
crazy see.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
A, staying off the top rope, I don't. We just
like it. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
That also gives us a thrill as much as seeing
the fans and hearing hearing them go crazy and feeling
that like we also enjoy that part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
We're kind of like stuntman, we love that part. Take
me into that a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If you could, like, do you see other wrestlers moves
and think like, oh, I could do this off of
moves X, Y, and Z, and that would look sick.
I got to wrestle this guy. We got to get
in the ring. I got to see if that works.
Like is that how you do it or is it
just more like on the day.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I think for a lot of people that for me
now specifically, I've honestly been doing it so long. I'm like,
I don't want to wrestle anybody anymore. I've wrestled everybody,
so I don't want to wrestle no one. Just give
me my championships, so let me sit at the house
with them, you know. But but I will say that
(10:04):
when you do see something that you think is cool,
or when someone does something that you know can connect
with some stuff like your your your brain, your your
brain does just get to thinking and fire and automatically
of potential stuff that you could do if you were
ever in the ring with this person. At least That's
just how I think, because I'm obviously I mean obviously,
(10:26):
I'm honestly not a person that prethinks of anything. I
am the day of as soon as I get there,
I feel the like we feel the person out, we
start talking, and then we start from there. Sometimes I
get lucky and they have everything they want to do,
which is great because if you come with all the
(10:46):
ideas and then we can fit them somewhere, which is great.
We don't have to like sit and think about what
we're gonna do. And if you have all the ideas,
that's perfect that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
So you really like to improv like a lot of provisation,
like an actor. I would compare you to. It would
be like Karen Culkin, right, like he hates rehearsals. He
doesn't want to rehearse. He doesn't want you to know
what he's gonna like he'll give you a brief like
here's where we're going in the scene, but let's just
do it and see what happens and let's work off
one another. And about is it more like that?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Or I mean, honestly like the weekly to week the
week shows, I kind of like the the the un
expected of like not fully like obviously you want to
know what you're doing. You want to like have bullet
points and you want to you know, know the direction
you're going, of course, but like the weekly shows, the
(11:38):
kind of unexpectedness and the sporadicness of everything kind of
I think helps, but I think for like the big
shows and the big pay per views and stuff like
getting some time to like go over it and getting
some time to like really know what you're doing isn't
bad either.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Seriously, this may sound weird, but thank you so much
for letting us and our listeners into that part of it.
You know what I mean, creator, I don't. I'm not
trying to like have the magician give away the magic trick, right,
and honestly, normally I always you see my answers here already.
I usually try to stay within I feel in cafe,
but sometimes I do like to I like also to teach,
(12:16):
and I also like to you know, let people know. Yeah,
you guys are artists. I've I've said this a million times.
It's it's it's the literal blood, sweat and tears on
an actual canvas, like to me, the coolest form of art. Like,
it's it's everything at once. And I've seen people cry
in that ring. I've seen people bleed and sweat in
(12:37):
that ring, and the ring is a canvas, and so
I respect it and I'm very appreciative and so are
listeners that you let them into the creative side a
little bit, Jeff, I won't hog it all.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You can jump in whenever.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I'd like to talk about the way you talk to
these fans. First of all, you've got a long history
long and also first what is kay fabe anymore? But no,
I know how long before you were a heel or
a or a you have a long history of trolling
these fans. And I gotta say I love it. It's
(13:13):
finally someone using social media the way it's meant to
be used. Tell us a little bit about that, if
you got any anecdotes about it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And again, honestly, I am just defending myself amongst a
world of bullies. That's all I'm specifically doing. Anytime you
see me lash out, it's towards someone who has said
something negative about me or my family or my work
or my boss or something.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I So, anytime you see me say anything, it's usually
to some dumb idiot who thinks they know everything right.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
That's right, they are and talking to you, you know
who you are.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Exactly to you specifically, And then people are going to
see that and be like he's such an idiot, and
be like, yeah, I'm talking to you, you.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Know, call of duty? Do you do you you talk
some trash.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
In there and the yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, especially
because like I'm not especially on my team specifically, I'm
ever like the best person. So especially if we win,
someone's like, yeah, you suck you at last, I'm like,
we still would sucker.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Get out of here, that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
But no, yeah, yeah, even if I'm losing, you still
you can say something that they're gonna not like, which
is great. But it's so funny because I kind of
just revert back to my days when I first started
watching like the local like Tennessee area and Illinois area
and Alabama. Like I would travel with my friends, like
(14:39):
a guy named like Matt Winners and a guy named
Todd Blade whose real name was Jonathan Payne. It's like,
you have an awesome Jonathan, but he picked Tdy Blade
for some reason.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But they would just do so good at getting under
people's skin and like getting on their nerves, like just
a knowing little kids, you know, wrestling, but they're the
bad guy, so they're saying stuff and that would just
make people so mad. And so I'm just picking stuff
like from them and even Chuck Taylor back in the day.
He was such a good heel, Like, so I'm just
picking stuff from them, and it's like stuff that I know,
(15:17):
you know, I've seen and but at the end of
the day, sometimes people give you a layup too. They
say something so dumb, you're just like, I gotta say something.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
When I was a kid, and our producer can beep this.
But when I was a kid, I went to a
went to one of these WWE Lives or WWF Live,
was like off, there was no cameras or anything, and
the Godwins walked by me and I was reaching out
my hand to try to get a five, and one
of the Godwins like I must have touched him or
(15:48):
got close or something. He looked over and he goes,
shut up, you little right to my face. When I
was a little kid, and I turned to my dad
and he was like he just shrugged. He's like, I
don't know what what to tell you, dude, Like just
like that's when I learned these wrestlers are will commit.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Ultimate heal whole wow. And there are no rules back
then either.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, man, But it's honestly, and some of the indie shows,
when again it's the live events they call them on
the independence is just you know, regular, but it's like
it is a little intimate and it is like just
you and the fans and there is no beyond eyes watching,
so you can kind of like they get into it
(16:35):
just as much as you get into it, you know. So,
But that's so funny because some of the shows we
did back in the day, sorry, like the cz WS
and the like the iw A Mid South and some
of the indies that were like known for being like
are rated, like.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Some crazy stuff was said.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Let me take you kind of back in time if
if you don't mind, uh, Tulucha Underground when you were
doing that, did you guys know and girls did did
Did the wrestlers know you guys were doing something that special?
Or was it like, hey man, we're working, I'm just
glad to be working. Did you guys know it was
gonna still kind of have this cult following and cult
(17:15):
love that it does today.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Honestly, No.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I remember Conan for a while was trying to get
me to play this part in this TV show. Principal
mcconan was calling me and texting me and emailing me
for months, maybe even a year, up to a year.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I remember a long.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Time because he kept I would say months, and he
kept calling me, and you know, sometimes I ould hear him,
and sometimes I wouldn't even because he kept pitching like
this new show. It's it's like, uh, Mark Brunette and
Robert Rodriguez, We're going to be you know, executive producers
on it. It's going to be like a new style
(17:57):
of wrestling. He kept trying to pitch it, and I
kept thinking to my had like Wrestling Society X.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I don't know if you remember Wrestling Society X on MTV.
It came on.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It came on like it was like I remember like
seeing trailers for it. I don't know if I ever.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It was like they had like explosions and they had
like music artists and they had like and it lasted
for maybe a season, and I just remember not getting,
you know, any traction.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
And so that's what I had in my head.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
It was gonna be something like that, which wasn't bad,
but it just at the time it wasn't gonna catch on,
and so I was just like, nah, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Man, I'm just gonna wait. I was gonna wait. I'm
just gonna wait.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But then finally one day I was going out for
PWG and they said, well, just come out here, because
they were out in LA.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
They said, come out here.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You come to the studio, look at the set, look
at some of the you know, the photos and stuff
that we have, and we'll give you the whole rundown
and just see what you think. And actually, me and
rich Swan at the time, we flew, we flew down
the air. Then we drove down there, and then they
showed me the temple. They showed me the arena. They
showed me like dodio Quito and like what he was
(19:09):
going to be, and Prince Puma and what he was
going to be, and they showed me all the stuff
and everything, and I.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Said, honestly, man, this looks cool.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Like the art looked cool and all the like the
temple looked cool, and everything looked awesome. And I said,
they wanted me to be this Prince Puma character, which
is like the main character of the whole thing. And
I said, wow, this is crazy, so okay, sure, and
then we got the talking and then the first episode
was me and Morrison and the main event and actually
(19:38):
wasn't supposed to be me and Morrison. It was supposed
to be I don't know, one of the one of
the luchadors, but they had like visa issues so they
couldn't make it into the next taping. So they literally
just said, Okay, Johnny, Mundo and Prince Puma will be
(19:58):
the main event of the night one. And luckily we
went out there and we had a I love wrestling Mundo,
he was awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
We had.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
We went out there and we killed it, and we
really like kind of set a statement that first night
for like what we're gonna do after that, and I
think maybe around like season two, we're like, oh man,
we really got something here, Like I think, but the
first season, I don't think we knew it was gonna
like stick like it did. I don't think we at
(20:27):
least I didn't expect it. And the people that we
were with again, we were all kind of just indie
darlings at the time. So now we're like on television
like getting paid real good money, and like we didn't
know that it was gonna develop this like following that
he did. I'm glad it did. But as we were
watching it again, like season two. As you're watching it
(20:47):
develop and you see the story and you see how
it is on TV, You're like, oh, this is pretty cool,
Like this is really it was cool. Yeah, it was
really cool, all right. So that leads me to my
personal question. And Jeff and I both love lucha libre.
I love luchador's.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
The first match I ever went to was in Puerto
Rico with my grandma in Bocron or in San Juan.
She lived in Bokon and uh, yeah it was, and
it was and the crowd was crazy, like it was.
I was scared. I was a little kid and the
crowd was like mean to the heels and like throwing batteries.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
At the guys. Yeah it was, it was. It was.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
I was really scared. My Grandma's like keeping me under
her little shirt so I wouldn't get hit. So who
is You've wrestled a lot of them, dude, who is
your favorite or you can say the best, I don't care.
But who's your favorite luchador or your favorite match that
you had.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
With a Luca Besides Laparca? I mean we all agree
Laparka as the goat besides the.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Chairman. He was the chairman in WCW.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I mean I would have I'd be lying if I
didn't say Raymon stereo, but like not counting a Raymon stereo.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Man, I I've I've wrestled so many I know, dude,
I know. And if we take ray off the table,
it's really hard. It's really really hard.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
There's a guy in dragon Gate named Flamita. He was
really good. Titan is really good. U vol Jr. Is
a guy, He's really good. Man Commander. I wrestled Commander
in a e W hell Ya. He's new, but like
he does, he is wild. He he does some crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But I mean Vol I like wrestling. Volador. I wrestled Titan.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I wrestled U Mascaraderada also known as Grand Metallique him
in New Japan.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Uh. He was really good too, ah man, I don't
know that to be hard.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I mean, I'm just gonna go ahead and say right, I'm
gonnahead and say ray because that's sure. He literally was
like crying after like spheak, and I was like so emotional.
I couldn't even like talk to him afterwards because I
was just I don't know, I was just so emotional.
I've been watching him at ninety six ninety seven. You
know what I mean, He's got that aura.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
When I when I worked.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
At WW back in the day, they were like, well,
you speak Spanish, so you're working with Ray. That's kind
of like how the writers got assign people. It was like,
if you're black, you write for the black writers. If
you're spending, they didn't know I was Puerto Rican. They're like,
your Mexican, go work with Ray. And so I got
to meet him and I really had a very similar
moment with him where I was just like, I don't
know what to say, Like I came up watching this dude, yeah,
(23:34):
and loved his matches so many. He's my favorite luchador,
like he's everyone's favoriteluchidor that's not news. And I literally
it was like his aura was there, like like that
Charlie Murphy thing when he talks about Rick James had
an aura. Oh yeah, he's like you could see it,
Like I could see his aura around him, and it
made it hard for me to work with him and
give him my best because it was like you're around
(23:55):
greatness and you know you are right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I know, it's it's he's just all those because again
why and having all those memories and emotions of like
what he's done for you just pop up and you're like,
he's like, hey, what's up. Like he's just the nicest
guy in the world. He's a shitless guy in the world. Yeah,
you couldn't even tell, like he's the mega star. But
it's awesome. I love it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Okay, So that's a moment you had where you got
to kind of see it not a hero, but a
peer that you respect. Right So with the young generation now,
and it may just be the gentleman you're working with
right now, but who have you found that's receptive to advice?
Who's come up to you for advice? Because ah, you're
(24:45):
in that position. Yeah, No, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It's so funny because October will be twenty two years actually,
so I legit half people coming up to me because
I was always the young kid, like because I would
travel with Chuck Taylor and everyone else who were all
older than me.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Like I was always the youngest.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
So now that I have kids, like oh, I grew
up watching you, or like I used to watch you
when I was a kid, or like I'm like, wow,
that's crazy because I'm the kid.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm the little one. So there's a nick Wayne for example.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I always use him. I always use him as my example.
He's only like twenty years old, so I've been wrestling
longer than he's been alive, which is crazy because I'm
the kid. I'm the baby, so that's crazy to me.
But yeah, like it is cool like when you especially
when I do the indie shows or something, but an
aew two as well, Like we're all pretty receptive to everybody.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I think everyone wants everyone to do well.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
So it's actually pretty cool because sometimes MJF has something
to tell me. He's like, oh I noticed something, try
to do like this. I'm like, oh, thank you, or
vice versa, I say to this person or so that's
actually pretty cool because I think we all do want
it to just grow and want everyone to be our
(26:09):
best selves and we want everyone to be the best
good guy or bad guy that we can be to
tell whatever story we're trying to tell. So but as
far as specific people, it's hard to name specific people,
but it feels like you do have people. Okay, can
you watch my match? Can you you know, give me
some advice? But also for me, I'm the type of person,
(26:32):
I would have to like sit down with you and
rewatch your match and go over it, because if I'm
watching it, like and you guys are doing anything kind
of cool, I'm going to forget that I'm watching it
and I'm going to start like really watching it, and
I'm gonna be like.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Oh, that was crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I was like, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be taking notes,
so like that's not good for me. I A little
bit of my fan always pops out and I start
to really watch the match. So we would have to
like sit down and we would have to watch it
and go over it. And because that's kind of how
I was not taught, but like being in like the
Shawn Michaels the Skull class, he would sit down with
us and we would watch our takeover match. We would
(27:08):
watch our life event match, and he would like go
over little tits and bits and little things like literally
just nitpicking because he's like, oh, you guys are you know,
really advanced.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
You guys know what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
He's like, this is just to help the little pieces
that you can make the picture better, you know. So
that's kind of how I would have to do it,
because if you just asked me to watch your match,
and you do anything remotely cool, I'm I'm gonna forget that.
I'm watching it to like for to give you advice.
I'm going to watch it and be a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It's funny. Something you said there reminded me. And I
don't know if this will interest the listeners. I don't
know if it'll interest you guys. But knows. World War two, Nope. Done.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Post World War two, a lot of artists like Pablo
Picasso and I'm adel Modigiani and that whole group of
post Impressionists. They were all hanging out in Paris at
this place, this hotel called the Hive, and they had
a very similar style where they would look at each
other's works, their sculptures, things like that, and they'd say, hey,
you know, I think you could do a little more
of this, or you have a lot of African inspired,
(28:14):
like you know, cultural things with your stonework, so maybe
you should try some of this, and they would literally
That's how they evolved so quickly, and they became my
favorite generation of artists. But it's a very similar thing
creatively that you're talking about, which is it just reinforces
that wrestlers are artists, you know, because you guys are
even going working with each other in a very similar way.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I'm not afraid to ask. I'll go to Chris Hero
or I'll go to.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Christopher Daniels or somebody and be like, what do you
think about X Y Z? Or if we're trying to
get here, so what do you? I like leaning on
those guys a lot, and leaning on the people that
we have there to like get advice, to get something from,
because I don't know they have it and they're vail
(29:00):
and they want to help. So and then and again,
the guys that the wrestlers that are there have been
doing it for so long that again, like you pull
anyone aside and any any one of the wrestlers and
be like, can you think of something like something like
this and whatever the situation is, And for the most part,
(29:22):
they'll stop kind of what they're doing and they'll help
you think of something like So it's pretty cool, honestly,
And everyone's kind of crazy. So everyone's going to think
of something a little bit crazy and you're like, oh,
that's awesome. Yeah, and then you know, but normally it's like, oh, okay,
you like crazy. You keep saying that you like you
like the crazy. Really, it's not even that I like it.
(29:42):
I think we just all happen to be that way instinctually.
I think we all like you see the Ladder match,
it just happened at all out. Yeah, man, the ghost
guys are crazy. You have to want to do that.
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
No, I'm a dad.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So now when I watch it, I'm like, oh God, no,
don't feel that high.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Freddie into blood, he's getting into I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Getting back into blood. I used to get grossed out
by it, but now I feel you. I feel you,
I feel you. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I've always been a bloodthirsty animal wanting them to do
all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Even when I was a kid, I was like, that
was real.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
That part was real, that they went off thing they
weren't supposed to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
John Cena and jbl that match, they were both just.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I got a question for you.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Are are Me and Freddy are often guilty of neglecting
or forgetting about our female listeners.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So I thought, you know, keeping them in mind.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
I'd like to ask you a question getting to the
mind of Ricochet. Were you and your wife Samantha love
it first sight or how did you meet what was
soul mates? How did how did that go down? And
tell tell our fans about that?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Honestly, I think honestly, yeah, I think so as funny
as it sounds. We actually she started following me on Twitter,
so I followed her back obviously, and then Instagram other socials,
and then you just start talking and then from there
it goes to phone talking. Right, So we're talking, you know,
(31:29):
for good couple. We're like two weeks, We're like talking.
And at the time I didn't know because she lived
in Vegas at the time. So at the time we
started talking and and and getting, you know, to know
each other.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
She lived in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I lived in Orlando, and I didn't know that she
had already had a try out. I didn't know that
she had already been talking with the WWE. I didn't
know that she had you know, she was actually gonna
be involved.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I just you know, she followed me, so I as
I say, she's she's hot. But but then you know
that whole time, I'm like, Okay, she lives in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
I'm gonna either have to go out there, She's gonna
have to come, Like, I don't know how we're gonna
do this, but I guess we're gonna have to make
it work. But then when I found out, you know,
like two or three weeks later that she was actually
coming down to Orlando, I said, oh that's that was like,
oh wow, perfect, yeah, perfect, because I was trying to think,
how are we going to do this? But but then
(32:26):
she was there for about I don't know, nine ten months,
maybe she was in Orlando with the NXT stuff. And
then that's when we really you know, got to really
just see each other.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
No.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Actually I flew out to Vegas before she came to uh,
before she came to Orlando.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I flew out there. And it's funny, I landed at
like nine thirty.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Let's say I landed at nine thirty West Coast time PM.
We start, we drive. She shows me like the cities
because I've never really been to Vegas by the way,
like I've maybe went once for a wrestling show. But like,
we landed early in the morning, and I went straight
to my hotel to like take a nap because it
was like we landed at.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Like five in the morning.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
The wrestler life, yeah, and then you know, wake up,
get ready, go to the show, do the show. And
then like I had a red eye out that night,
so like I didn't even get to see Vegas. I
didn't get this do anything. That was like the only
time I've been here. So she showed me a bunch
of stuff. And then so it's maybe an hour later,
so ten thirty, she says, she's like, what do you
(33:28):
want to do. I'm like, I don't know. I've never
been to Vegas. She was like, you want to go
see the Grand Canyon. I said, I'm thinking, Okay, it's
in my head. I'm thinking it's probably fairly close, you know,
if she's gonna offer it, it's probably fairly close. I'm like, sure,
let's go. How far away is it? She looks it up,
She's like, oh, it's like four and a half hours. Yeah,
it's wild. Sure, I have no other plans, let's just go.
(33:52):
So we started driving in the middle of the night.
We drove, I think we got to like king Kingsman, Arizona.
We stopped at Kingsman, Arizona. Wow, had some cracker barrel
the next day, so that was technically like our first
like date was cracker barrel.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Technically, then we literally just finished.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Roles are reversed that is like a man driving a
woman four and a half hours.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Hey, what could go wrong? What could I promise I
won't murder you?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Literally, So we just finished the drive.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
We go to the Grand Canyon and get an awesome photo,
Like at the Grand Canyon there's like snow capped mountains
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
It's like an awesome photo that we have. Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And then I think since then, I think we always
kind of knew, even on the drive there. I think
we just kind of knew, Like I think we just Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
She's made a very follow up question.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
She's made it very clear she wanted to be a
personality in WWE. She's she's got gifts, she's got talents.
You don't want to just be announcing and all that stuff.
So has there been any thoughts of, you know, maybe
having her as a manager or getting her getting her
in the in the g Oh.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Absolutely, And I think I think it's still possible. I
think just right now, she again, like me reverting back
to what got me popular to get to where I'm
at now, she is going back to what got her
popular because she's been doing music and she was in
drama club and she was in theater and she's been doing.
(35:23):
She's been she literally traveled the whole world singing doing
a Michael Jackson like live performance, like a group. She
like traveled Australia, Europe, she's been in Japan. She's been
all over doing like this theater performances and stuff, you
know what I mean. She's been on America's Got Talent.
She's been on I Can See Your Voice. She's been
on like so much stuff before she got here. You
(35:45):
know which one I Can See your Voice. I was
one of the detectives on I Can See Your Voice.
Oh really, I think it was like I forgot who
was this for hers? She wasn't my episode. I remember that,
yeah exactly. And so she again, I think once she
found out like she's not going to really be able
to do what she kind of wanted to do, she
(36:07):
just wanted to take a step back and then kind
of go back to what she her passion was because
a lot of in the way she was announcing in
the gravel in her voice, she felt like, She's like, man,
my singing voice isn't what it used to be because
I'm using like my rock voice, like I'm using like
a like a you know when she's screaming, roam and
(36:29):
reins and it's it's kind of it's more than singing
like a note, you know. So she just wanted to
get back to like doing what she you know, her
passion was. And I think right now also again, because
she grew up loved wrestling. She grew up you know,
in love with the stories and making it and you know,
it being as good as possible, and she wanted to
(36:49):
make it as good as possible, and that's why she
puts so much effort into it. And I think she's honestly,
she got tired a lot of the lot of the
online community, to be honest with you, like that has
a lot like along with like, you know again for her,
like saying people's hometowns and weight wasn't her dream, Like
I don't want to say someone's hometown where they're from,
and like their weight, like it is cool, and I
(37:12):
loved she'd loved actual the act of doing it and
being live in front of the fans doing something like
like that's you know, that was great. But like again,
she says, I'm an actress playing the role of a
ring announcer, you know what I mean. And she's like
I'm just done, like I'm kind of over playing this role.
I want to play a different role to make the
(37:33):
company better. She's like, if I can make people feel
this way just on my announcements, Like how do you
think I could make them feel with like a promo
or like a you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (37:43):
And she's easily that became one of the most famous
in the short amount of time of naming people's cities
and wait, Sky's the limit if she can be anything else.
I mean like literally everyone's sharing her pictures and what
she does and she's literally just saying cities and waits,
So sky's the limit for Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So she always thought was like, imagine if I hit
him with a crazy Paul Hayman style promo that you
know she could do because she's an actress and she
can just even like at home, she she is a
character all day long.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
She all day long.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
She's a character, So I know it would translate. But
right now, I think with the music and stuff, she's
really loving that and she's really like connecting with a
part of her that she kind of had detached away
from for so long. But I think it's always possible,
and I think obviously She always wants the fans of
hers that actually were fans of hers, that are like
(38:44):
sad that they don't get to see her now, she
does still want to do something for that group of
people who still want to, like, you know, see her
and follow her.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
So I think it's great to see her manage. Man
we need a strong female manager out there that can.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Do more managers in general.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I agree, yeah's mouthpieces out there when the brain and
you know what I'm saying, Cornett, all those guys.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Absolutely, Yeah, there's so many wrestlers that are fantastic wrestlers,
but the mic work isn't isn't as strong as maybe
their body of wrestling, and so it's like just bringing
a manager.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
And even sometimes like you have like Roman Reigns who
did a lot of his own promos, but the manager
just helped. Yeah, just elevates its just elevates elevates everything.
I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, all right, dude, six years is coming up in
a e W six years.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
People said it wouldn't even last two years. Uh it is.
It has surpassed a lot of a lot of people's
skepticism and criticism, and six years is nothing to shake
a stick at as the old people would say, you
haven't been there the whole time. But how do you
see your personal trajectory within the company oversay the next two.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
To three years? Where would you like to be? Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I know, right now, me and Homie's about to come
after the OPS. I don't care if Shabout has hurt
or not. It's not cool. I don't care if hurt
or not. I'll hurt him even more if I have to.
I'll go to the hospital he's at. They can take
the other two guys, you know, I'm saying, they can
take Hobbs and and Joe.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I'll take care of Shabata.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
And I think that with that, you know, with that
game plan, we can easily take out the OPS and
get those trios championships and give a shot of adrenaline
to this trios division.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
AW got me into trios wrestling, by the way, I
never understood six man tags in WWE, and then once
there were like titles on the line and people had
something to care about and give a shit about other
than hey, those are my friends, I was like, I'm
starting to get this now, and I've really grew Trios
matches have really grown on me, and it's that's because
of as and.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
I think you know in at the end of the day,
wrestlers are prize fighters, you know what I'm saying, Like
at the end of the day, Like we fight for
the championship because the champion gets more money, and like
that's why we want Like the story helps that. But
at the end of the day, we're prize fighters, just
like boxers, just like UFC fighters.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yea, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
We're so like that's another thing about aw Like you
can be champion, but then all of a sudden, Tony
throws out a four hundred thousand dollars four way match,
and as champion, you can you can say wait wait,
wait wait, it's so cool, or you could be you know,
on the verge chasing a champion, right, you're chasing whomever
(41:32):
the Kyle Fletcher. But then Tony throws out this four
hundred thousand dollars four way match, and you're like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait side Quesz, Kyle's probably still going to be champion,
but I got a chance to win four hundred thousand
dollars real quick, absolutely, because then within that match something
(41:53):
could happen someone could screw you out of the match,
and now your story goes towards that guy because he
screwed you out of four hundred thousand dollars, And now
I want to beat that guy up because he screwed
me out of four hundred thousand dollars. And then afterwards
I'll go back to Kyle and I'll take that championship.
So that's kind of I do like that about aew
is that again, we are prize fighters and we want
(42:15):
to fight for something, So but within that stories can
develop and you could go a whole different direction than
you were going because someone screwts you out of all
that money, you know what I'm saying. Or maybe you
want some money and someone's mad and they jump you
at or whatever, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
So that's I do. I do enjoy that aspect of it.
I really do.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Jeff, why don't you jump in there with your with
your final question?
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Well, I feel like we should do a three hour interview,
so it's not really there.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I know.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
Agreed, Right before the ops came into your vision, went
after them, you took out the Hurt Syndicate. What did
they do that made you take them out? Was because
they didn't let you into the hurt syndicate. What's what's
going on here?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
We'll see.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
If it was simply they didn't let me into the
hurt syndicate, that would be a whole different That would
make me seem crazy, right, that would make me seem
like a crazy person. If it was only they just
didn't let me into the hurt syndicket. But not only
did did they just not let me into the hurt syndicate?
But like when I was finally ready to show them
that I had that dark So when I was finally
(43:20):
ready to show them that I had a switch that
could be flipped, they decided to grab my face and
rip the card up and call me a kiss ass
and kicked me out the ring and like embarrass me
in front of all these people. For like, like I said,
for years, MVP has spit game MVP. For years, MVP
has put me on and has taught me and has
led me through like the wilder wilderness that is professional wrestling.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
And he's he's taught me a lot.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
So like it's funny that he would choose to go
this route with me specifically of all people, not thinking
that Yo, you taught me like, don't take don't take
nothing from nobody.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
You taught me that.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
You taught me, don't let nobody embarrassed me, don't let
nobody step on me. You taught me that, you know
what I'm saying. So it's not only that they didn't
just let me in. They literally embarrassed me in front
of the world to lead up to Swerve, thinking that
he can now embarrass me in front of the world
immediately after, you know what I mean. So for me, like,
that's kind of what it was. And then, like I
(44:19):
said before, as soon as I saw the match GA
versus the Hurt Syndicate, as soon as I saw that
tag match and I saw that the Hurt Syndicate barely
squeaked by, I said, I know that these guys can
take on these guys. I knew that for a fact.
And I know that Goa were hungry, and I know
they wanted opportunity, and I know that they just needed
something to get them to that next level. So as
(44:41):
soon as I saw that, I jumped on and they
I told them my plan. They saw that I had
their best interest at heart. I knew that they had
my best interest at heart and it's just been good
ever since. And so that's why we had to make
an example of them, a forbidden door, to let them
know that they not just here to They hurt people.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Both. We hurt people too.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
You know how I see? Uh, I see, And we
could edit this out as well. But the way, the
way I see it is m VP is like Bowser,
you know, and the Hurd Syndicate is like his little
goombas and and I see Ricochet as Marios Sanker Mario,
and I see Samantha as maybe Princess Pete. Yeah, who's
(45:24):
getting stole by Bowser over and over. I think we
could work something like that. I think that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
No, yeah, I just right.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Yeah, let's cut this and then you take that idea
and run with it and then nobody will.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Yeah, that'll be the next big storyline, Ricochet. If you
need someone that has a pretty consistent two to one
killed death ratio, if one of your guys is out,
call me. I'm your guy. I'm not great, but two.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
To one better than the one point one point two something.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I feel you.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
So, if you need a little if you guys drop
a player one night because it's why I phone let
them play that night. Take the kids to a birthday
or something. Hit me up, man, I like how that's.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Like that now that we're older, that's the that's the
Oh yeah, I said, Oh man, I gotta take the kids. Sorry,
that's that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Man, I'm taking my son go kart racing when we
finished this, when we finished this podcast, I'm so jealous.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
I am so jealous.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
Isn't this great that we're three grown man? It's the
fact that that is. Look at look at what when.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
We still play video games? But it's the time. What
a great time, What a great time to be just
a rich grown man. What a great time. You don't
ever have to grow up.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
No, don't always always stay young, man, You'll live longer
that way. Rick Ashe, thank you so much for being
a part of the show. Tell the people where they
can reach you on social media if they want to
get annihilated by your words.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
You can follow me at King Ricochet. That's on Instagram
and Twitter. Basically everything that I do is King Ricochet.
Uh yeah, follow me for a lot of video game
anime and sometimes some wrestling talk.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Did you say anime? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Bro, this is my favorite anime over my Shrubbers from
the eighties, that's Golgo thirteen. They used to make a
comment he was like the Japanese James Bond. Yeah, yeah,
and it's my favorite anime ever. And they didn't have
enough money to finish it, but they made it anyway.
So there's like one scene where it's just like an
animatic and it's like horrible animation.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Definitely is amazing. If you want to check it out,
check it out. Man, that's a lot of fourteen. Okay.
I've definitely seemed like the logo, but I've never watched
the show.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, he was famous in like the seventies over there
in Japan. I saw The New Demon Slayer with my son.
Did you see the New Demon Slayer?
Speaker 2 (47:45):
I did. It was awesome. Yeah, I loved it. We
saw it.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
We saw it in a four D theater and the
whole time, Bro, I had to tap out my son's
little he was getting launched out the seat. This Asian
dude to my right snatchos exploded all over.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
The place like it was. It was hard.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Like I get the concept behind it, but like, I
don't know what they were thinking with the four D.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
I don't know. I don't know, and.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
You get sprayed with water in your face for no reason,
like like I got moonimisted.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
Not.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
It was horrible, all right, Thanks for doing the show Man,
Thank you guys for listening. We appreciate y'all. We'll be
back next week. Rick Shay, You're the man. Thank you, peace,
Thank you guys so much
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