Ricochet recently etched his name into pro wrestling history by defeating Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural WWE Speed Champion, a title created for X.com that is based around 3/5-minute matches. However, during a candid conversation with ComicBook.com, Will Ospreay revealed that he gets sad when he sees how WWE utilizes his former New Japan rival. Feeling that using him in such short matches shows they don’t value him highly enough.
“I keep up with him all the time, and sometimes I get a little bit sad about it. 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 …The fact that they only value his time for under five minutes is appalling to me.”
Will Ospreay35-year-old Ricochet, real name Trevor Mann, broke into the business in 2003 and, after establishing himself on the indies, received his big break with New Japan in 2013. There, he would grab fans’ attention thanks to his high-flying moves and matches with Ospreay, which received so much praise online that he became well-known to fans worldwide. Therefore, nobody was surprised when WWE decided to capitalize on his popularity and hired him in 2018.
Yet despite winning the NXT North American Championship, Intercontinental Championship, and United States Championship during his time with the company, many fans feel he is underutilized. With his 90-second defeat to Brock Lesnar at Super ShowDown in 2020 considered by many to be a career low point.
