Buying or Selling Ricochet as a Long-Term Success on WWE Raw

As one of the greatest aerial artists in pro wrestling, Ricochet has a bright future ahead of him on Raw, assuming WWE sees him for the star that he is.

Then again, it would be almost impossible for the company not to, considering how exciting his matches are and how he oozes charisma. His mic skills could use some work, but as an overall package, there is no reason for him to be anything less than a top talent long-term.

In order for him to remain on the rise, the company must continue to build him up the right way by developing his character and giving him important victories. His slow and steady ascent will make him a staple of Raw's main event scene before long.

Ricochet was given a grand main roster debut when he teamed with Finn Balor to beat Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush on the Feb. 18 edition of Raw. From there, he scored wins over the likes of Eric Young and Jinder Mahal before forming an alliance with Aleister Black, with whom he had history from NXT.

The two brought the best out of each other and injected excitement into the dull tag team ranks on Raw and SmackDown. Over WrestleMania 35 weekend, they vied for three sets of tag team titles and were unsuccessful on every occasion, spelling the end of their days as a duo.

Sure enough, the makeshift tandem was forced to go their separate ways when Black was sent to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-up and Ricochet stayed put on Raw. This move was definitely for the best, as it allowed both men to branch off on their own and become the breakout singles stars they are destined to be.

Although Ricochet's Raw run got off to a shaky start when he suffered his first one-on-one loss in WWE to Robert Roode last week, it took him all of one week to rebound when he was announced as a participant in this year's Money in the Bank Ladder men's match.

Not only that, he pinned Baron Corbin in an impromptu tag team match shortly thereafter, therefore establishing himself as one to watch in the upcoming contest.

Of course, that was likely done to make viewers believe he has a chance of coming out on top when in reality he won't. However, Ricochet as Mr. Money in the Bank isn't as far-fetched as some may think, especially since there'd be no rush in having him cash in right away if he were to win.

More likely, he will be positioned as human highlight reel in the ladder match and have his time to shine before falling short of victory.

It's difficult to not think of how many other promising prospects called up from NXT were also expected to thrive in WWE. Superstars such as Shinsuke Nakamura and Robert Roode debuted with plenty of fanfare and while they achieved some success, they ultimately settled into midcard roles.

Ricochet should be the exception to this unfortunate trend. He's had a solid stint on Raw thus far, but there's no telling if WWE will eventually lose interest in pushing him and cause him to fall by the wayside like everyone else.

Credit: WWE.com

The minor tweaks WWE has made to his entrance in the short time he's been on the main roster are slightly alarming, if only because they tend to take things that fans enjoy and ruin any "cool" factor they have by putting their own unnecessary twist on it.

Aside from that, though, they have done right by Ricochet up to this point, and his recent booking should bode well for the remainder of his run on Raw. In addition to a strong showing at Money in the Bank, Ricochet should be given a high-profile program during the summer season with a competitor the caliber of Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre or even AJ Styles so he can maintain momentum.

As star-studded as the Raw roster is at the moment, there's still room for Ricochet to be prominently featured and not be relegated to serving as a stepping stone like so many other NXT alumni before him.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.