Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ricochet On Logan Paul Royal Rumble Spot, Will Ospreay Match, Samantha Irvin, Gratitude

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

Ricochet (@kingricochet) is a WWE Superstar and is also known for his time in Lucha Underground where he worked under the name Prince Puma. He joins Chris Van Vliet during WrestleMania 39 week in Los Angeles and talks about his favorite matches in Lucha Underground, the reaction to his infamous match with Will Ospreay, reaching a wider audience when he signed with WWE, his fiancée Samantha Irvin, what he is grateful for, his favorite Adam Sandler movie and more. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! Yes, sir. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Fanfleet, and man, what a weekend. What a weekend. I mean, if you're a wrestling fan, this is like the Super Bowl as a wrestling fan. WrestleMania was solid from start to finish both nights.

and I know there's a lot of people that are upset that they didn't get their way, that it didn't go the way they thought it was going to go. Everyone expected Cody Rhodes to be the WWE champion, myself included. I was predicting that with anybody that asked. I was like, oh, yeah, of course Cody's going to finish the story as they told us so many times this weekend. But this is what WWE does. I feel like they love to throw a swerve and go, oh, you were expecting that? well, we're going to give you this instead.

And this might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually thought that night one of WrestleMania was better than night two. Just my opinion. It's just my opinion there, but I just thought that night one flowed better. Every single match was super solid on night one. But it's interesting that there's going to be a lot of people that have this bad taste in their mouth.

I mean, come on. Cody Rhodes versus Roman Raines was in a. amazing match, but there's going to be a lot of people who don't enjoy that finish. And as a result, they're going to be like, man, I didn't like WrestleMania 39. WrestleMania 39. It's just okay. Three out of five stars or whatever they happen to say. I'd give it like a C plus.

But take the finish out of that match, the match as a whole, the event as a whole, both nights, Saturday and Sunday, very solid WrestleMania. and I was so grateful to be able to be there, so grateful to be able to spend this whole week. We went to work this week in Los Angeles, and it was so cool and I'm so grateful that Los Angeles was the host of WrestleMania this year, so selfishly I was able to sleep in my own bed.

That never happens at WrestleMania. I was able to go home, sleep in my own bed, wake up in my own house, and then get off to work. And that is exactly. what we did. We recorded 14 interviews this week. This one with

Rick O'Shea is one of them. And we're going to be posting a lot of these on the podcast. A lot of them are already up on the YouTube channel. And there's some really good, long, in-depth interviews. We did them with Dolph Ziegler, Sean Spears, and

WWE ring announcer, Austin Romero, aka Microme, just to name a few. But it's just so cool like what an amazing week of shows and events and everything not just wwee everything that was going on this week including russellcon i spent saturday and sunday at russell con so cool to meet so many of you guys who listen to the show or who watched the interviews on youtube but it was just awesome to be able to share some stories with each other to be able to snap a photo and also

to be able to chat with so many people at sofi stadium i was there for night one to WrestleMania. And man, just the experience there, just the atmosphere there was really, really cool. So that's my, like, quick 90-second take on WrestleMania and WrestleMania Week. And I just, whether you watched it at SoFi Stadium, whether you watched it at home, wherever you happen to be in the world, I just hope that you enjoyed your weekend, that you enjoyed it with whoever you happened to watch it with, whether you were physically watching it with someone in your house or whether you were watching it along with friends as you

were texting them or as you were tweeting with them or sharing stuff on Twitch or TikTok. I just hope that you had an amazing weekend. Whether you enjoyed the show or not, that is beside the point. It was, in my opinion, very entertaining show. But we've got a lot of content that we got this week. And I have loved Rickishay's style of wrestling. I've just loved him as a worker for so, so long. You'll hear it in this interview,

but it goes back to when I first saw him as Prince Puma in Lucha Underground, that I was so stoked when that match that he did with Will Osprey, like got on everybody's radar, and it was, I mean, that's a super polarizing match, right? Like, people either love that match and love that style of wrestling, or they're on the complete other end of the spectrum. So cool to kind of hear his thoughts about that. So let's dive into this. the longest intro I've done in a while.

But let's dive into this. It's me and Rick O'Shea on Insight. Look at the drip here. Wow. Drip O'Shea, baby. Drip O'Shea with the Louis Vuitton belt? You know, I had to pull it out. My goodness.

WrestleMania. Wow. It's like the only time I wear it. Really? I feel like you could be doing this all the time. I don't do much media. I do some early morning, like, radio shows. Yeah.

Yeah. I want to talk to you for like an hour. I know where I know. I know we're not going to be able to do that here today, but I've been such a big fan of your work. Thank you. Dating back to Lucha Underground. Oh, yes.

Prince Puma. Take me back to that time. What are some big moments to stand out from Lucha? Me versus Ray Mysterio. Yeah. That was a big one for me. And actually, just the whole thing, really, because it was like, it was different.

It was a different thing. It was, you know, like, I feel like the WWE is a, is a wrestling show, is wrestling on television, you know what I mean? But like with Lucha Underground, they wanted to do like a TV drama about a wrestling company. Yeah. It was a TV drama about a wrestling company. And so they still wanted to add the wrestling aspect. But so like the way they did the backstages and the way they did everything was like you shoot in the movie scenes and cut scenes and stuff.

So that was an experience for me. That was something that I had never really been, you know, introduced to. until Lucha Underground. And so that was a big eye-opening experience. But then obviously, like, meeting Ray and Conan and a couple of those guys was really, really cool for me. That match with Will Osprey is mind-blowing.

And I show it often to people who aren't wrestling fans, and I go, this is wrestling. And as you know, that match is very divisive, right? Very, yeah, yeah. There's people like me. Very divisive. Who go, I love this. It's amazing.

And there's people on the other side who go, this is not wrestling. Absolutely. Were you surprised when you saw that reaction? No, it's funny because going into it, like, we obviously wanted to put on a good match. I think it was the main event that night. We obviously wanted to put on a good match and just, you know, give the people something to enjoy. We weren't, we were just going to go out, do ricochet all-spray stuff. That's we were just going to be us.

We weren't expecting, like, the, what, I guess, either backlash or praise it got. Like, we weren't expecting like that. We were just kind of having a good match. you weren't planning to have the match of all matches. No, we were just playing, like, literally you can ask, like, some of our friends who knew us before, like, and we've had matches before, you know, in England and other places. Like, they were like, yeah, that was just a ricochet Osprey match.

Like, that was just the normal, you know what I mean? Because we've had kind of, we just took stuff from other matches that we've done and put them into this match. Yeah. So we just weren't expecting literally like, oh, we're going to break the internet, well, we're going to like go crazy viral with this. We were literally just trying to play in a match. Yeah.

And so literally, like, the next. couple days, it was like an influx of just everything. Again, good, bad, like it was just everything. But I get it. I get it like because wrestling can be anything. Wrestling is comedy. Wrestling is hardcore. Wrestling is strong style. Wrestling is high-flank. Wrestling is a lot of different aspects. And some people, although they don't just like a certain style, rather than saying, I don't like this style, they just say, that's not wrestling. And it's like, well, you're an idiot because wrestling can be literally anything you wanted to be like from the

Santino Marales to Stone Cold Steve Austin to you know Rico and Chuck to Undertaker you know to Raymondster like it's just wrestling is so versed and like you can do whatever you want with it and as long as people are talking hey that's good.

When you guys signed a WWE I felt like it was like my favorite band started getting played on the radio because I was like you're going to be able to see what he can do and It was cool because it opened you up to a whole new audience. Yeah, which is great. And not only that, but it opened me up to a lot of new things to learn. Because on the independent scene and in Japan and overseas, you do learn a lot.

You learn different styles. You learn different techniques and different things that people go through and do. But like coming here and learning from Triple H and learning from Sean Michaels and learning from, you know, all these guys was crazy. for me and you have the William Regals and you have, you know, all these guys in the back that I get to pick the brains and talk to. So that was amazing for me to come here and then use all of that, plus all the stuff that I've learned from Japan and my travels. And like you said, really get to show who Rickettsay is to a huge audience, which was amazing.

It still is amazing. The United States Soccer Federation Present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim,

and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. That spot at the Royal Rumble this year with Logan Paul was amazing. And I feel like everybody's talking about Logan Paul here,

and they're not talking enough about your role in this. Yeah, I mean, it's, it kind of, I guess it goes. I think, again, it's, I don't want to compare myself. but it's when I sit here and think about it, it's kind of funny because I'm a fan. I think of like LeBron James, who's since high school, came into the league as the chosen.

Like literally the pressure was put on him, right? You know what I mean? And he's kind of delivered for 20 plus years in basketball. I feel like LeBron has delivered a pretty good resume, right? So much so to now he's almost 40 years old, and people are like, oh, LeBron's not winning, he's not good. It's like he's still averaging 30 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds a game. So it's like, I think once you go so long and, like, you do like good stuff,

like you do good things for so long. Like I've had good matches for so long. People just expect me to have good matches or expect me to like. Yeah. So like when you're in Royal Rumble and you're doing a crazy spot and ricochet, that's something crazy. It's just like, oh. that guy did something crazy because

because he could say just doing something normal yeah yeah it's like but the way I saw the way that you timed that it was Logan got up and jumped and you're like oh you're jumping okay I got you well I told him it's the guy I don't suppose like secrets whatever who cares going into it I told him listen I want you to be as comfortable as possible so I don't want you to wait on me I don't you to think about me I don't want you to even worry about me at all so whenever you're comfortable

you just go and I'll go I'll time it off of your jump I'll time it off of you I'll go with you to make sure that we're good I was like but don't worry about if I'm going to jump or if I'm going to go don't worry about me you just go and then I'll follow you I'll follow suit you know what I mean so good how proud are you of Samantha she is crushing

I mean there's no words to even explain it there's no words she's literally the best person I have ever met and not only that but we all here because because we love wrestling, right? I don't think there's anyone here who loves it more than her. Wow.

I don't, I know you right now are like, no way, yeah. I promise you, when she was a little girl, bro, she was watching Royal Rumble. She was watching all this stuff. She was writing down the names of the entrance. She was writing down who eliminated who. She was writing down the times. She was making Sean Michael's storyboards. She was literally, like, do it as a kid.

Like, this is what she loved. Like, her dad got her into it at a young age, and she just, is she's so talented. Her talents got her here, not because of wrestling, but because of her singing, because of her acting, because of her other talents got her here.

And then now she's able to sing and she's able to show exactly what she can do. Because honestly, she's probably the most talented person in the company. She probably is the most talented person in the company.

More talented than you? She is the most talented person. She can play the flute. She's a master flute floutist. She's probably the best of a voice I've ever heard. She can act. She can dance. She's funny. How much time do we got? I can go all day. I'm so proud of her. Really wrapping us up here. Yeah, it looks like it's wrapping up. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important part of my life.

What are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for, honestly, professional wrestling. I am very grateful because since 14, it's kind of, I mean, I've been watching it since I can remember watching TV. But since 14, since I've started doing it. It's literally all I've dedicated my life to. And it's gotten me here. And it's gotten me at a place in my life to be able to support my family and do things. So professional wrestling will kind of always be my number one love.

And even Sam, we talk about it all the time. She understands. I am grateful for my fiance. I am grateful for Samantha Johnson because without her, I don't know really where I would do. be her like as a human being right now these past two years with her she's really helped me get to a place of gratitude of just being one with awareness and being aware of what's going on right now and like right now this is all crazy and like pretty amazing i've gone a lot of my life just

not being aware of the present yeah but you got to be aware of the present she's taught me a lot so pro wrestling and Samantha. And then the third thing that I am grateful for would be God, baby. He's the one that got us here. He's the one that got me here. He's the one, you know, he's led me here. He's kept me safe. He's kept me healthy.

He's kept me comfortable. He's kept my friends safe. He's kept my friends healthy. He's got all my friends here. I mean, without him, I don't think any of this is possible. And that's something else that Sam and I have talked about a lot recently is that part. And I think, man, like, without, you know, one up above, I don't think, you know, any of this would be possible, especially at least for me. I've given a lot of things to him and he's the reason why I'm here.

Congratulations. The one and only- Drip a shake. You've been killing it. I've been watching all your video. Like, and not just in wrestling, not just in wrestling, but just in pop culture, in the industry in general. You've been killing it. I've been watching.

Thanks, man. It's really cool to see. It was really cool. So cool when you followed me on Instagram. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's funny because I see, like, whether it's in my feed or in my explore page, I watch your stuff all the time and I actually clicked on.

I'm like, oh, crap, I'm not even following it. Because I literally watched it all the time, and I'm sure I like it all the time. But it's like, well, I thought I was already following you, so I apologize. Well, this is going to be all over the explore page. Well, there you go. This is going to be all. There we go. Yeah.

When you commented on my Adam Sandler video, I was like, oh, man. I'm like Loki, one of the hugiest Adam Sandler. fans. I've been Adam Sender fan. Even like all the movies that everyone like makes fine eye off for like I love all those What's your favorite Adam Sampler movie? It would have to be either

Big Daddy or probably Big Daddy. Okay. Big Daddy. I'm going to go Waterboy I was going to say Waterboy. But honestly, click is a real low key banger click is if you want to laugh, if you want to cry

if you want to do every click is the way to go. It's a good movie. bro. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Drip a Shea. Thank you so much for having. Well, there we go. That is one of the 14 interviews that we did this past week in Los Angeles during WrestleMania week. You can check out some of those interviews right now on my YouTube channel. It's just my name at Chris Van Vleet. And you can see a lot of the clips from that as well on my Clips channel, which is CVV clips on YouTube. You can also check some of those clips out on Instagram and on Facebook and of course on TikTok as well. I'm at Chris dot Van Vleet on TikTok.

If you enjoyed this, please snap a screenshot and tag us so we can share it out. He is at King Rikoshae. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And man, I just think that the future is so bright for someone who is as talented as Rikoshae and some of the stuff that he did with Braun Strowman at Russellmania. Yeah, I was like, I was jumping out of my seat, blown away by it. So I can't wait to see what's next for him. In these next 12 months, as we head into WrestleMania 40, Philadelphia next year. You're going to be there?

You're going to be there? Because I'm going to be there. It'd be great to see you there. I will leave you with this from Oscar Wild. I think it's very fitting for someone like Ricochet. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist. That's all.

Be great. grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of

them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.