Evolve 75: Ricochet vs. Riddle – The Future is Now

I went to my first live Evolve show on Sunday. It was a groovy card, featuring Jeff Cobb (AKA the Monster Matanza Cueto), Chris Hero, and Drew Gulak’s farewell to Evolve match. Yet the most compelling attraction was a special challenge contest between Ricochet and Matt Riddle. It marked the first time the two of the most preternaturally talented wrestlers in the business had been in the ring together and it did not disappoint.

Ricochet has been the effective King of the Indies for a few years now. He’s not booked as invincible, but he wrestles like he’s straight out of a video game. His aerial moves are effortless and he’s got freakish power for a smaller guy. Many now know him better as Prince Puma in Lucha Underground. Whatever name he’s working under at a given show, he’s one of the must-see grapplers in the business. Ricochet really is an excellent name choice for him since he’s like watching a human made of vulcanized rubber bounce around the ring.

Meanwhile Matt Riddle is a former MMA fighter who has adapted to the wrestling business in absurdly quick fashion. The man made his official pro wrestling debut in early 2015 and he’s already one of the hottest properties in the industry. As my friend Bryan pointed out, Riddle’s figured out the hard stuff. He’s managed to translate shootfighting to a wrestling ring. Not many guys can do it.

So that’s the bout Evolve 75 was serving up on a platter: Ricochet’s shock and awe vs. Riddle’s technique and striking. As they say, styles make fights. They wasted no time once the bell rang, lunging at each other with matching thrust kicks that looked liked they’d cave-in a mortal man’s ribcage. Two seconds is all it took for the crowd to get confirmation that these two operate at another level.

I’m not going to do a blow-by-blow of the entire fight. Ricochet attempted to hit the People’s Moonsault at one point only for Riddle to turn it into a triangle choke. Riddle treated us to rolling gut-wrench suplexes. Ricochet later hit a picture perfect shooting star press. Bryan noted how Billy Kidman used to almost kill himself or the other guy every time he tried that move. Not a problem for Ricochet. It wasn’t a long match (less than 10 minutes), but they crammed in a pile of monster sequences. The moves they hit and the crispness with which they hit them made it clear just how much ability was on display in the ring.

Two smaller details that deserve mention are Riddle’s ability to use MMA skills as a transition and Ricochet’s ability to sell a move. Many MMA-style wrestlers try to make their fighting moves the end point of a sequence. Riddle does that too. He ended the fight with his Bromission, where he pythons around his opponent and twist the guy like a pretzel. Yet when he needs a rest hold, he uses a guillotine choke or he works a sequence where he’s trying to gain wrist control. He’s always making it look like he’s attempting to end the fight, even when what he’s really doing is making sure both guys catch their wind for the next sequence. As for Ricochet, his body control allows him to emphasize the other guy’s moves. When he takes a suplex, it’s the best suplex you saw all night. When you combine that with Riddle’s ability to maneuver rapidly into a move, you get something special.

Oh, and they also hit some vicious chops. Thought someone was going to lose a nipple.

It looked like these two had worked together dozens of times even though they’d never faced off before the event. I rated the match ****¼. They didn’t go for an epic. It was a mid-distance match with a furious pace. Yet rest assured, they’ll do an epic in the future, maybe multiple epics. Over the next five years, they’re going to be two of the best in the wrestling business. Evolve 75 was a preliminary, a tease for what’s coming some day in the future. It’s just a question of which promotion is going to stage those bouts.

Obviously Evolve has them both working its events and it’s about to debut its NWA-style WWN title that’s designed to be defended all over the world in multiple promotions. Ricochet and Riddle would be an excellent choice as the final combatants for that crown. However, they also could steal a New Japan Wrestle Kingdom show fighting for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title. I’m not sure there’s a better match in that weight division. Lucha Underground would be all kinds of smart to sign Riddle for its 4th season and have him face off against Prince Puma. They’re exactly the kind of next generation skill TNA needs to feature if it wants to keep its lights on. And then there’s this promotion called the WWE. I know the temptation would be to label these two as cruiserweight/NXT wrestlers, but their skills dwarf their size. Ricochet vs. Riddle could have a match that goes down in WrestleMania history. No stakes a too big given what they can do.

There’s no “if” about these two. It’s just a matter of when and where they have their epics. All you had to do was watch Evolve 75 to see the potential their down-the-road clashes hold. Ricochet and Riddle had instant chemistry. They were every bit as good as the fanboys (like me) hoped they would be. The future is theirs for the taking.