{"id":5365,"date":"2017-06-08T23:30:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T03:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=5365"},"modified":"2017-06-08T23:45:03","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T03:45:03","slug":"wrestling-art-tao-king-ricochet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/06\/08\/wrestling-art-tao-king-ricochet\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrestling Is An Art: The Tao of King Ricochet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: prowrestlingtees.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the world of professional wrestling, there is a huge battle in the internet forums – and in some cases, real life – where there is a\u00a0sports entertainment\u00a0<\/em>side versus a\u00a0pro wrestling\u00a0<\/em>side. If you like WWE<\/strong> and\/or Impact Wrestling<\/strong>, you’re not a very smart fan<\/em>; if you watch ROH<\/strong> or NJPW<\/strong> or PWG<\/strong>, you watch crappy bingo wrestling<\/em>. It’s a tale as old as time (or at least since about 2003), and both sides are wrong. Wrestling is so brutally overthought, overanalyzed and over-expected by the majority of it’s most die-hard of fans, that they’re beginning to find more joy in the negativity that the wrestling world could offer than relishing in its beauty. It’s become cliquey, where you’ll find factions that are Just WWE<\/strong><\/em>, you’ve got your Basic Indie Starter Pack<\/strong><\/em>, w\/ ROH, EVOLVE<\/strong> and PWG, your Puroresu Elitist<\/strong><\/em> (Japan or nothing!), your staunch Impact Defender<\/strong><\/em>, your CZW Lunatic<\/strong><\/em> who still thinks. Like any religion – yes, being a wrestling fan is like being part of a religion – you have your extremists.<\/p>\n

In the past year, these stand-offs and battles between the fans has been escalated by two very significant instances. The first was last summer, when WWE, WCW and Japan Legend Vader<\/strong> bashed the BOSJ ’16 match between Will Ospreay<\/strong> and Ricochet<\/strong> on Twitter. It resulted in a summer long feud, as one of the innovators of modern wrestling (Ospreay) butted heads with one of the greatest big men in wrestling (Vader), over what constituted professional wrestling.<\/p>\n

The second was the Rip Rogers<\/strong>–Randy Orton Incident<\/strong><\/em>, also lovingly remembered as #dive<\/strong> – where Orton shared a post Rip Rogers posted, again mocking the blueprint of many indie matches. This launched into a huge Twitter war where indie fans and wrestlers began to attack Orton, while Randy just trolled people without a care in the world. But in both instances, there was one man who was the voice of reason in both debates.<\/p>\n

WRESTLING IS AN ART: THE TAO OF KING RICOCHET<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Photo: Twitter.com\/KingRicochet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You may know him as Prince Puma<\/strong>. But to most, he’s King Ricochet<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

During the Vader\/Ospreay Twitter war, Ricochet released a statement on his own Twitter, called “Wrestling Is An Art”:<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 People don’t understand that “professional wrestling” is an art. And much like ANY art, there are endless ways to express it. It can LITERALLY be anything the performers in the ring want it to be. If two guys wants to go out there and use light tubes and light each other on fire, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If they want to go out there and go hold for hold and keep it mat based, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and clothesline each other real hard and chop each other for 5 minutes straight, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and use comedy and make the people happy and laugh, then that is their way of expressing their style of wrestling. If two guys want to go out there and use aerial maneuvers and acrobatics to “wow” the crowd…then guess what??? That is THEIR way of expressing their style of wrestling. Although you may not agree or like a certain style, does not mean that it isn’t wrestling. Did it used to be a certain way?? Yeah. But just like anything it changed, it evolved.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The statement was so powerfully received, it is now a T-shirt on his Pro Wrestling Tees store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the second incident – the Orton\/Rogers one – Ricochet was tagged to join in and instead once again played the role of the peacemaker.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingRicochet\/status\/863975249955737600<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingRicochet\/status\/863975394076217344<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingRicochet\/status\/863976382543646722<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingRicochet\/status\/864012861831389184<\/p>\n

While the division lines were going up again, Ricochet took the higher road, declaring it all pretty awesome. Because, let’s face it. It really is.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Amino Apps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WRESTLING IS AN\u00a0ART<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let’s break down it down to one key sentence Ricochet said. “…not everyone is going to like every style of wrestling. Same in any sport or music, (or) movies…”\u00a0<\/strong>With this sentence, Ricochet encapsulated his entire initial soliloquy into one sentence. And it couldn’t have been a more poignant statement. And it’s the key to being a more content wrestling fan.<\/p>\n