Can wrestlers stop with this toxicity on social media?

I really didn’t want to write a column on this, mostly because it’s going to give this guy more of a spotlight. But since this has been a big story for the past week, I thought it needed to be written about since it’s part of a bigger problem within the wrestling industry, especially the indies and AEW, and that’s using toxicity to get over on social media with the IWC.

This week Ricochet went on a podcast and started to talk about how he thought his legacy was tarnished in WWE, which I don’t see that way, as it helped him get that big AEW contract. He’s pretty much in the same position in AEW as he was in WWE, which he has the right to feel since it’s his experience. But then, for some reason, he decided to not only attack WWE directly by saying that they love to ruin legacies, but he also started to speak for guys still working for WWE who have said how much they love working there, including Finn Bálor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and Apollo Crews, and that’s where the problem lies.

Outside of Crews, who was a really decent wrestler in the indies but quite frankly didn’t light the world on fire and nobody really talked about what he was doing before WWE, everybody else has improved their legacy by being with WWE.

Bálor, a Grand Slam Champion, headlined multiple WWE PLEs, became a household name, and an upper-card guy in WWE.

Nakamura became a well-respected veteran and a multi-time U.S. Champion and Intercontinental Champion who deserved the lighter schedule he’s getting.

Zayn won pretty much every title outside the top championship, was always being pushed as a top guy, and main-evented WrestleMania.

So my point is that I doubt their legacies in the business are in danger of being ruined by WWE like Ricochet mentioned.

So why did Ricochet decide to go all out on trashing WWE and talking for people within a company he doesn’t work for? It’s simple: because he wanted fans to talk about him, and the easiest way to do that is to continue the toxic behavior of trashing his former employer. That’s all it was. He realized that nobody was talking about his work in AEW and understood that the only way to get fans talking was to go the toxic route again.

This is where the big problem is, because ever since AEW started, we’ve had this big problem of “us vs. them.” This was something started by indie wrestlers and those that cover it just to get themselves over with the IWC. Then for the past few years, a lot of wrestlers have pretty much started to go against this whole mentality and focused on plugging their own stuff instead of taking potshots at the competition, which was a great move in the right direction for the business. But then you have guys like Ricochet who sadly can’t get over the past and would rather use it as a way to get a few more minutes of fame instead of doing what’s best for business, which is hyping their own product.

In the end, I’d rather follow guys like MJF and Lashley who understand that taking shots at WWE isn’t helping AEW and focus on the present and their own company than guys like Ricochet who are using their past as a cheap way to get themselves over.

In the end, Ricochet loves to talk about his legacy in wrestling, which quite frankly is just to feed his own ego, as nobody else really cares about his legacy. But by going that route, he’s hurting his own legacy because he’s not going to be remembered for his in-ring ability and what he did inside the ring, but for how much of a crybaby and an egotistical guy he was outside of it. And when that reputation sticks to you, it never leaves — just ask Bret Hart.

So this industry and the performers within it need to lead by example and stop using toxicity to get themselves over because while it’s nice for them since it gets them over with the IWC, it also hurts them overall for the same reasons.