Sean Rueter has been thinking too much about pro wrestling since at least WrestleMania I, and blogging about it for SBNation & Cageside Seats since around WrestleMania 28.
Not long after Montell Vontavious Porter debuted with AEW, he offered Ricochet one of his business cards. Ric soon said he was focused on handling his own business in his new home... but he held onto MVP's card. Ricochet's flashed it on occasion as if he's still considering placing a call to join the Hurt Syndicate, all while dressing sharper and sharper.
With a big match against Will Ospreay coming up on Christmas Collision this weekend, on the Dec. 19 episode of Dynamite Ric was out to talk about his Continental Classic run. It wasn't long before he was interrupted by the Syndicate, who were also out for Shelton Benjamin's C2 match.
Ricochet talked up how good they all looked, and asked MVP if they'd seen his recent matches. He was promising to show Ospreay "a different side of Ricochet" when Porter cut him off and asked about his business card. Ric pulled it out of his pocket, and MVP snatched it while Bobby Lashley snatched Ricochet by the beard. The Hurt Syndicate front man ripped up the card while telling Ric that "nobody likes a kiss ass", and Lashley straightened his tie and dismissed him. Ricochet tried to play it off as he backed up the ramp, and the announcers talked up how he was doing the smart thing. But he looked like a dork.
On commentary during Benjamin's match, MVP said the Hurt Syndicate didn't want to hear about Ricochet's accomplishments -- they want to see him hurt someone. I thought they'd be more upset that he's been waving that card around without committing to the team, but that doesn't seem to be the way they're going here.
Later, Renee Paquette interviewed Ricochet backstage. He more or less dismissed her question about his interaction with The Hurt Syndicate before again trying to talk about the Ospreay match. This time he was cut off by Swerve Strickland.
The early portion of their segment was hard to hear over the "Who's House?" chants from the Washington, D.C. crowd, but in a nutshell Strickland told Ricochet that he's still the follower he's been the whole time they've known each other. Ric responded with some C2 trash talk and his Jadakiss laugh (for the second time in the interview). Swerve got the last word, cracking Prince Nana up with a bald joke before glaring in Ricochet's direction.
They seem to be making some sort of angle out of Ricochet's occasional verbal awkwardness, and I won't judge the story until I see where it's going. I respect the attempt to do something different, but it's hard to see how Ric comes out of this looking stronger as a babyface or a heel. They probably figure his strong matches in the tournament, and in general, will cancel out getting sonned repeatedly. Not sure if that will do it, though. In fact, revealing that he and the Syndicate have been in cahoots all along is probably the best (only?) way for Ricochet's character to quickly recover from... whatever it is they were trying tonight.
But that's just my opinion. Let us know yours in the comments below, and get complete results from tonight's Holiday Bash edition of Dynamite here.