10 Indy Wrestling Stars WWE Would Ruin

5. Ricochet

Ospreay Ricochet
njpw1972.com

Much as Jim Cornette is more genius than dinosaur, as some Twitter trolls would have you believe, even his staunchest defenders know he's dead wrong on Ricochet.

The Louisville Lip wrote Ricochet off as a living video game character - as if that's a bad thing. He is an athletic impossibility. The rotations he manages are borderline inhuman - and that fact in itself settles the debate. Ricochet's work is so intricate and so precise that it's apparently impossible to suspend disbelief - but what he achieves in the squared circle defies belief. Is that not the point of the magical art of professional wrestling?

Untethered, Ricochet can fly to stupendous heights at a stupendous speed. The problem with WWE is that the company tethers the high-fliers on the roster and maroons them on the desert island that is 205 Live. One of the revolutionaries of the Independent circuit would become just another faceless drone, because it would indict the show as a big nothing, if the Future of Flight flew away from it.

Ricochet is also freakishly strong. In PWG, he can hoist men twice his size and smash them with jaw-dropping power moves. Somehow, the sight of Jack Gallagher taking the Benadryller just won't be the same.

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!