AEW’s Ricochet revealed that he knew he was finished with WWE even before meeting his partner, Samantha Irvin. He explained that during the final years of his WWE contract, he felt stuck creatively. “I’m just gonna do whatever they want me to do, they want to give me a promo that’s in highlighter, like this is what you have to say, then okay I’m gonna say it. I’m gonna go out there, make this guy look good, boom boom boom, and then at the end of the contract, I’m gonna be done.”
Ricochet recalled a moment when he confronted WWE management about his dissatisfaction. “One night, I went into John Laurinatis’ office and I said, I would rather go to the independent scene and get however much money I would make doing that than to come back here next week.” Despite being offered a major opportunity as Intercontinental Champion, he politely declined, emphasizing that his decision to leave was firm. “I was like, no, you can still tell them that I want to leave. Thank you though, I appreciate it.”
(Source: The Ariel Helwani Show)
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle shares his advice for younger wrestlers:
“Work ethic is everything. That’s what got me all of my championships, outworking people, working hard.
“That’s the most important thing that I always preach to people, what I say in my speeches, believe in yourself and have an incredible work ethic.
“If you have the incredible work ethic, you’re always going to be successful. It doesn’t mean you’re always going to win, but you will have a lot of success if you can do that.”
(Source: Sports Illustrated)