Ricochet was recently interviewed by Yahoo! Sports. During the interview, he talked about the wrestlers that inspired him, as well as how the WWE wasn’t always his end goal. Here are the highlights:

On When He Realized That He Wanted To Be A Wrestler:

I remember being maybe 5 or 6 and attempting to do things on the trampoline. My brother would double bounce me on the trampoline to help me flip and teach me.

I remember starting really young in my front yard trying to do the most crooked handspring in the world and slowly it got straighter and straighter and that’s all I did when I was younger. We all say and joke ‘I’m going to be WWE champion,’ but I personally didn’t really think it would happen.

On How The WWE Wasn’t His End Goal When He Started Out:

For me WWE was not always the goal. I’ve always been a fan of it, but when I started I was 14, my first match was when I was 15, I was just a skinny kid back in 2003, 2004 … I never thought I was going to be in WWE. I was just doing it because it was fun and something that I liked to do.

It wasn’t until later that I really realized that it was a possibility because everything started changing and then they changed even more and it was actually within grasp.

On Which Wrestlers Inspired Him:

I watched guys like Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and The Rock obviously, those were my favorites. I didn’t use them as influences until later on when I got much more in depth in my craft and my profession.

I was opened up to the world of independent wrestling and I saw guys like A.J. Styles, Matt Sydal, and Jack Evans and all of these different guys who were amazing and I tried to take bits and pieces and incorporate it within my character. In a way it helped me before I got here because it honed my actual in-ring abilities and allowed me to perfect my ways.

You can read the full interview HERE

Credit: Yahoo! Sports.