Tony Khan: Ricochet is one of the most exciting stars in all of wrestling

  • Ian Carey
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Tony Khan is a big fan of Ricochet.

In last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, our Dave Meltzer reported that Ricochet, whose WWE contract expired at the start of the month, is expected to debut in AEW shortly.

The AEW president recently told Comicbook.com that Ricochet is a top-tier athlete and has a lot of respect for his history in New Japan Pro Wrestling as well.

“I’m a huge fan of Ricochet. I think he’s a great, great wrestler,” Khan said. “He’s been involved in matches against some of the top stars in AEW. He also has a great history in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as he’s been a champion there and a top star. We have great collaboration there and I love the history of New Japan and I think he’s a big part of it. During a great era when a lot of our top stars were wrestling there, he was a big part of it. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Ricochet and think he’s one of the top athletes and one of the most exciting stars in all of wrestling.”

“Oh wow, just phenomenal. Phenomenal matches. Phenomenal one-on-one matches,” Khan continued to say. “Ricochet was phenomenal in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a single star and as a tag team star. One of his greatest rivals was Will Ospreay and they had tremendous, tremendous matches. They have a lot of chemistry and friendship outside of the ring too.”

Will Ospreay was one of Ricochet’s biggest rivals before he left to join WWE in 2018. Their matches against each other in the Best of the Super Juniors in 2016 and 2017 were both given a four-and-three-quarter star rating from Meltzer. Ospreay and Ricochet also teamed with Matt Sydal in 2016 against Adam Cole and The Young Bucks for PWG in a match that was awarded five stars. 

Meltzer also addressed Ricochet’s move to AEW in Friday’s newsletter, writing:

“It will be interesting to see his early reaction. I think we’ve learned nobody that AEW can get is going to single-handedly move ratings at this point, but as far as crowd reactions after the first week, where obviously it’ll be big, will they see him as a WWE guy who was just a guy on the roster or will they see him as Ricochet from years ago when he was one of the hottest indie stars in the world? It’ll be an interesting look at the AEW live event fan base.”