It doesn’t appear there will be any sort of bounceback for Ricochet in WWE, at least not at any point in the near future. The 35-year-old native of Illinois has reportedly notified the company of his intentions to enter wrestling free agency once his contract expires, per multiple reports, which is expected to occur at some point this summer.
Recent events hint largely at the truth of the matter, especially those of this past Friday, once SmackDown went off-air.
Fans who were in attendance for that show in Louisville, Kentucky were treated to two additional matches after six-way tag team match headlined by The Bloodline, Kevin Owens and the Street Profits — when WWE decided to pre-record its next two WWE Speed matches in preparation for the promotion’s departure for Clash of the Castle on June 15 in Scotland.
Spoilers are coming up next, so avert your gaze if you want to avoid them.
You were warned.
The first off-air match featured Andrade versus Tommaso Ciampa of DIY in the semifinal with the chance to face Ricochet for the WWE Speed Championship. Andrade took the victory in an episode that is expected to air this week.
The subsequent pre-recorded match was Andrade then taking on Ricochet, with Ricochet dropping the belt to the legendary luchador.
This marks the latest black eye to the arc of Ricochet in WWE who, at one point following his return from injury, was pushed to a blazing hot win streak in traditional singles competition before then going on to become the inaugural WWE Speed Champion.
He’s struggled to keep the oven on as of late, however, and also recently suffered a loss against rookie sensation Bron Breakker — who desperately needed to have a match against a worthy opponent — adding more ice to Ricochet’s storyline, not that he has a clear one as of late, anyway.
He’s recently been recruited heavily by Will Ospreay of AEW.
"I keep up with him all the time and sometimes I get a little bit sad about it,” said Ospreay, via ComicBook.com. “I hope he's not sad and I hope he's real happy. I keep up with him as much as I can, but I feel like people are forgetting who Ricochet was once upon a time.
“All of these high-flyers that you see, and myself included, we all took inspiration from Pac and Ricochet."
Will Ricochet end up at AEW? It certainly seems he has a path to that destination, and let’s not pretend Tony Khan wouldn’t lick his chops for the shot at landing such an elite talent, and especially considering which promo he’d be poaching it away from.
But expect far more than AEW to be the only one in hot pursuit.
