Ricochet

[Timbo Slice]

Aesthetically pleasing, but I will say that in the last couple of years, he's honed a lot of things that made him someone I'd pass over. I think his stuff as Puma has been compelling to an extent, and he's incredibly charismatic live. At the WWN shows at WM weekend, he had a star quality about him that few others had (or wanted to have - Hi, Johnny Wrestling). I don't think I'd have him on the list, but there's a part of me that thinks the LU exposure is going to help him become a better overall worker. Then I see him do some of the same old stuff and I think differently. He's definitely impressive to watch, though. Not sure how much that's going to go in something like this, but he's not the worst selection on this list.

[GOTNW]

You know I was ready to say Ricochet had become great at wrestling after the end of Lucha Underground's first season (even if he did occasionally do stupid shit like no selling a Crucifix Powerbomb on the apron he still got a super good match out of Hernandez where that spot is just preventing me from calling it great rather than an example used to display why I think the match sucked) but then I watched him vs Zack Sabre Jr. which I expected to be great but he dragged the match down a lot and I just gave up on him. I think he's very good, especially at what he does, but he won't sniff my list.

[InYourCase]

Someone who is coming increasingly close to my list, but won't find his way on there. One of the most athletically gifted wrestlers ever, arguably the best foreigner in DG history, and someone who constantly puts out great work wherever he goes. In 10 years I'm sure he'll crack my list, but he just doesn't have the volume yet. I love the guy.

[GOTNW]

I will say I absolutely loved the 10 minute Pac match they had in Dragon Gate and I do not love a lot of Dragon Gate.

[InYourCase]

I will say I absolutely loved the 10 minute Pac match they had in Dragon Gate and I do not love a lot of Dragon Gate.

I credit PAC with making Ricochet watchable. They worked together for all of 2011 - in DGUSA and DG proper, both in singles and tags, and there's a clear difference between December 2010 Ricochet and December 2011 Ricochet. They had that 10 minute sprint in Korakuen, a fun match in Hakata, and then an insane, all-out spotfest in Osaka where Ricochet finally went over. In terms of athletic ability, that match can't be touched. There's also a tag match from Kobe World that year - PAC & Dragon Kid vs. CIMA & Ricochet that is one of the few DG matches I've given five stars.

[WingedEagle]

While I can't justify placing him as of 2/6/2016, I fully expect him to merit greater consideration 2 or 4 years from now.

[HeadCheese]

Ricochet feels like a wrestler who might make my list. Ricochet has a lot of great matches, some of them I would consider for a GME project (Ricochet and El Generico vs. Kevin Steen and Akira Tozawa, Ricochet and Matt Sydal vs. Lucha Brothers vs. The Young Bucks, and Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo from Lucha Underground, All Night Long). He has some decent character work but, feels like a wrestler who a lot of the stuff I really liked from was the people surrounding him with him. His WWE run is interesting because he has some good stuff there too.

I think he has having resurgence and a noticeable confidence boost this year (feels like its been since the Will Ospreay Continental Classic match or the Zack Sabre Jr Tokyo Dome match). He seems to really be clicking as maybe one of the best wrestlers/acts in the world this year. He has been able to keep on being more athletic than the people he wrestling but, also as vulnerable/stooging bad guy. I am not sure if he will make my list but, I am considering it.

[Tetsujin]

His AEW run is the first time I'm seeing him putting everything together. He finally seems to get how to balance his style with great and consistent character work. All he needed to be was spotmonkey Andrew Tate, and it rules. You hate to see him jumping and flying and flipping, he believes he's so godly, and he alwas gets his comeuppance.

 

That said, I really enjoyed his Prince Puma run (yeah, the All Night Long is fucking amazing) and some of his pre-WWE stuff, including the infamous Ospreay BOSJ bout. In NXT, he was great in the midcard against Adam Cole, but I don't remember anything else memorable. But now in AEW, he's becoming so integral to the product that I'm honestly fascinated.

 

Not a chance at my list, for now at least. Too inconsitent, his style too polarizing for me. But he's definitely peaking now, and it's great to see it.