Ricochet, War Machine: Everything You Need to Know About Rumored WWE Signees
The WWE talent pool is set to get significantly deeper with the addition of a top-tier athlete and two human wrecking balls. Ricochet and War Machine are reportedly on their way to the company's developmental brand.
There is reason to be excited in both cases.
Ricochet is armed with the kind of athleticism normally reserved for comic book characters. At New Japan Pro-Wrestling and beyond, Hanson and Raymond Rowe of War Machine have proved themselves to be compelling smashmouth soldiers. And in 2018, all three of those wrestlers will apparently be under the WWE umbrella.
PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported in December that WWE will reveal War Machine and Ricochet as its newest NXT additions sometime in January. More recently, Wrestling Observer Newsletter founder Dave Meltzer said to "consider it done" in regard to the signing.
Fans who follow NJPW, Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Dragon Gate USA and Defiant Wrestling (formerly What Culture Pro Wrestling) know full well what these men are all about. Those looking to bone up on their Ricochet and War Machine stats and history should read on for a look at WWE's newest signees.
Ricochet
5'9", 198 lbs.
Hometown: Paducah, Kentucky
Titles Won: Lucha Underground Championship, Dragon Gate USA Open the Freedom Gate Championship, PWG World Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Ricochet is often a blur in action.
He springboards off the ropes, leaps out of the ring and darts across the canvas at a roadrunner's pace. He is agile, graceful and hyper-athletic. Simply put, he's one of the premier high-flyers in the world.
He's wiry and smaller than WWE's ideal but is well-built with a chiseled torso. His magazine-cover looks won't hurt him, either.
Fans have seen him tear it up in a variety of places, from Evolve to DGUSA, Japan to the Lucha Underground temple.
On the independent scene and with NJPW, he is known as King Ricochet and has been known to strut down the entrance ramp with a cockeyed crown on his head. As part of Lucha Underground, he worked under a mask as Prince Puma.
The promotion largely built itself around him in the early going, making him its first champion and one of its key characters.
And although Ricochet is well-traveled, he's still only 29 years old. In the early 2010s, he battled stars such as Sami Zayn, Neville and Rich Swann before those men signed with WWE. His stock shot up after shining with New Japan where he delivered memorable performances at their famed junior heavyweight tournament.
There is no perfect WWE comparison with Ricochet, but he will remind fans of talents such as Cedric Alexander, guys who spring effortlessly around the ring.
War Machine
Rowe: 6'2", 257 lbs.
Hanson: 6'3", 293 lbs.
Hometown: Rowe - Cleveland, Ohio; Hanson - Lynn, Massachusetts
Titles won: IWGP Tag Team Championship, ROH Tag Team Championship, What Culture Pro Wrestling Championship
Hanson and Rowe are big, intimidating bullies. Donning war paint and Viking-inspired gear, they look like bearded warriors out of a fantasy film.
They have been terrorizing tag teams around the world since 2014. Much of that time has been spent with ROH where they feuded with The Kingdom. More recently, War Machine has been a common sight on NJPW shows, winning that promotion's tag team titles two times.
Hanson, the larger of the two 33-year-old men, moves better than one would expect at first sight. He cartwheels, dives and moonsaults in the ring. Rowe has the edge of the two of them in mat wrestling, but like his partner, his move set is largely comprised of hard strikes and power moves.
Had WWE waited to spring The Bludgeon Brothers gimmick on the SmackDown audience, War Machine would have been an even better fit for the act than Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. They would look right at home carrying oversized hammers to the ring before laying waste to their foes.
Of the new additions reportedly on their way, Rowe and Hanson are the safer bets to thrive in their new home.
That's no knock on Ricochet's talent. It will just be easier to book War Machine. The company simply has to follow the monster heel blueprint. WWE, though, has shown itself to be inconsistent in terms of maximizing cruiserweights' skills.
Ricochet could easily be a game-changer, but wearing the dreaded "underutilized" tag while spinning his wheels on 205 Live isn't hard to imagine.
Lead image courtesy of wearedefiant.com and The Ringside Perspective. Height and weight info courtesy of CageMatch.net.
