Ricochet is about to tear it down.
This upcoming Saturday at the fourth consecutive installment of TakeOver inside of the Barclays Center, the "One And Only" Ricochet will be challenging for his first WWE title as he will challenge the leader of the Undisputed ERA Adam Cole for Cole's NXT North American Championship. Adam Cole is the first and only NXT North American Champion and Ricochet will be looking to become the second holder of the title.
Ahead of the bout, Ricochet spoke with TV Insider and discussed many of topics. The conversation then turned to Ricochet's health and over the weekend it was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Ricochet has been dealing with a minor injury for quite some time. This past June a video surfaced of Ricochet landing awkwardly after missing a "suicide-dive" to the outside and during the TakeOver: Chicago II conference call, Triple H addressed Ricochet's awkward landing as a "tweak" more-so than an injury. Ricochet will power through the same way he did at TakeOver: Chicago II as he has his sights set on becoming the next NXT North American Champion.
“I feel good,” Ricochet said, amid injury rumors. “I have been training pretty hard all week. I’m excited. I haven’t done a Brooklyn show before. This is kind of an anniversary for Adam. We are confident we will go in there and tear it down. That is what it’s all about.”
Ricochet also revealed during this interview that upon his arrival to the WWE that there were rumors that he was going to have his name changed. The rumors did not get under Ricochet's skin too much and he added that he had a few names lined up just in case there was a need for a change.
“It was cool because the last 15 years of my life has been about trying to build up a name,” he said. “When I got to WWE, there was some rumblings about changing it. I was okay with that because it has worked in the past, and I had a few choices lined up. But when they said I was able to keep it, it meant the world to me because it was definitely a name I put my blood, sweat and tears in building. I built my own name. All the hard work built up to this.”
On a related note, the NXT Championship match for TakeOver: Brooklyn IV underwent a major change as Aleister Black recently underwent surgery. The once Triple-Threat match has now been converted into a one-on-one bout. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa will do battle in a Last Man Standing match for their fourth match against one another but this tme around the NXT Championship will be on the line.
