Ricochet Recalls Being Removed From D-Generation X Segment On WWE RAW

In an appearance on the With Authority! podcast, WWE star Ricochet was asked about getting to work with Triple H, one of the many top stars Ricochet grew up watching. He had nothing but praise for The Game, as well as Triple H's right hand man, Shawn Michaels.

"It was great, actually him and Shawn Michaels both," Ricochet said. "When I was in the Performance Center, Shawn Michaels had a small little class that he would teach. It was me, Undisputed (Era), Johnny Gargano, just a couple of us were in this group, Tommaso Ciampa was in there. So learning from Shawn, and then every week we're at TV seeing Hunter, getting to learn from him. A lot of the stuff that we performed back there for everyone was partially their ideas. They're handing it to us. My whole life, when I was older I understood, but when I was growing up, I hated Triple H. I hated him, hated him. But now I appreciate that feeling because that's what he wanted me to feel at that moment. So I'm like, 'man, he's so good', going back and watching everything.

"All the little things, him and Shawn both, all the little things when they're talking, you're like, 'oh yeah, that's totally obvious. Why didn't I think of that?' You ask them a question, 'hey, I was thinking about this. What do you think?' And they'll say something and you're like, 'oh yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking about.' It's so crazy to go from watching them every Monday to just being there and being able to listen and grow. It's hard to even not ask questions, we're always asking questions. But for me, Eric Thomas is a hip hop creature. He always says, 'when you're in there with a guru, you better listen. There's a reason he's a guru and you're not a guru. It's time to listen.' And that's what I'm always doing, just listening. Both of those guys, they have so much knowledge to give, so much knowledge."

Ricochet delved even deeper to how Triple H would make suggestions for him. He even revealed that one of his most memorable moments, him flipping onto the ramp right in front of Velveteen Dream, was something Triple H had conceived.

"That was Triple H's idea," Ricochet said. "We were all going over that segment and trying to figure out an exclamation mark, something that would grab the fans. 'What can I say, what can I do?' We had a bunch of scenarios and some of them were good, but none of them just like (popped). And then Triple H, we're just sitting there and he's looking and he's like, 'it be really cool if you just ran and flipped out of the ring, right in front of him. Could you do that?' In my head I'm thinking, 'I don't know.' I know the mechanics of it but I've never done it.

"So he asks me, 'can you do that?' I'm like, 'yeah.' I'm not going to say no. He says, 'you want to try it?' I'm like, 'no, because what if I messed up and I get hurt? I don't want to try it.' It was one take. I don't want a trial, there's nothing you can really try. I guess you can have a crash pad and I can like, jump onto the pad, but we didn't really have time. And you still had other people trying to use everything, so I was like, 'yeah, I'll just do it when I'm out there.'"

One thing that Ricochet did not get to do with Triple H was a segment on RAW with D-Generation X, due to an injury that led to an infection. While he was disappointed to miss the segment, Ricochet sees it as an example of WWE medical taking care of him.

"One time I had a bursa sac in my elbow had busted and it was pretty swollen," Ricochet said. "Well then, I guess that got infected so they had to cut it open to get the infection out. It was the day of the RAW and I was supposed to do something with D-Generation X, and I was supposed to do the cross chops and say 'we've got two words for you.' It was going to be a childhood dream. And they were like, 'no, you can't go out.' I'm like, 'I'm not even wrestling. ' They're like, 'yeah, but we don't want you to get infected more.' I'm like, 'no guys, please. Let me go out, please.' They're like 'no, we can't let you go out.' It was for my own good because obviously, I could've gotten more infected or could've infected someone else. I was just like 'no, no no!' I was so defeated, but the WWE medical staff is A+. Everybody is there for you."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit With Authority! and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription