Post by neurosis on Sept 3, 2012 22:36:51 GMT -5
I’ve been visiting this board for almost a year now (mostly to get news and results), but I never felt the need to post until now. I realize having this as my first post probably raises suspicion as some might think I’m affiliated with Mr. Richards, or that I’m Richards himself. I assure you, such is not the case. I’m just a longtime fan of Indie/Puro wrestling and I feel Richards has been unfairly maligned as the go-to whipping boy for detractors of Independent wrestling. I don’t know what I expect to get out of this since I realize internet debates pretty much never change anyone’s mind, but I just felt like some stuff needed to be said. So anyway, I will list a number of common gripes people have with his work and respond with how I disagree.
- “He has no charisma or personality”. Well, neither did Chris Benoit, the Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, Dean Malenko, Samoa Joe, Bob Backlund (pre-crazy years), Johnny Saint, and pretty much every Puro wrestler ever. You would never hear someone say, “I like Koji Kanemoto and Naomichi Marufuji, but man, their promos are terrible”, so why say it about Richards? It seems unfair to crucify one wrestler for lacking a certain skill, while at the same time giving other wrestlers a free pass. You could make the argument that those are Puro wrestlers and Puro is in a completely different ballpark from North American wrestling, but couldn’t Richards technically be considered a Puro wrestler? Considering he’s wrestled extensively in three major Japanese promotions and seems to spend just as much time in Japan as he does the U.S., I think that more than qualifies him as a Puro wrestler. If Prince Devitt can get a pass in this category, why not Richards?
Furthermore, I think he does have a personality, but it’s a subtle one that most wrestling fans either don’t see or don’t like. His persona is that of an intense fighter and I think he plays it well. I’ve read comparisons to Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards, but I personally don’t see it. Richards has a certain unbridled intensity about him that places him in a completely different category from those two. I first started noticing it in 2009. Watch his mannerisms and facial expressions in a lot of those American Wolves matches. He genuinely comes off as being some sort of psychopath, almost like a rabid animal. He doesn’t do this as much these days, but he still pulls it out occasionally. For instance, there’s a spot in his recent match with Kevin Steen at Best in the World where Davey does the Kawada kicks with a chain wrapped around his boot, kicks the referee (to the delight of the crowd), and then gives this hypnotic stare to the crowd as he antagonizes them. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was a subtle thing that left an impression.
In his match against Tyler Black at Death Before Dishonor, there’s a spot where both guys are trading blows. Richards starts wailing on Black and yells out, “Come on Mother f***er, fight! Fight!” It was another small action that most wouldn’t notice, but I thought it really raised the intensity level of the match and made Richards come across as a fighting challenger. Although I do like Strong and Edwards, I’ve never seen them do anything like that where they interact with the opponent or use facial expressions to convey extreme emotion in a match.
Even if he didn’t have these qualities, it’s a moot point anyway because ROH has always been about the quality of the matches, not the promos. Whenever anyone purchases a Ring of Honor DVD, it’s almost always because they want a match that’s on it. Unless they’re buying a CM Punk-related DVD, I’ve never heard anyone utter the phrase, “I bought an ROH DVD because it had some awesome promos on it!” When people talk about Samoa Joe’s run in ROH, they talk about his matches, not his promos. If Richards were in WWE, I’d say it’s a great argument because the main task of a WWE wrestler is to deliver promos, but the main task of an ROH wrestler isn’t to have great promos, it’s to have great matches.
Come to think of it, personality-wise, what did Samoa Joe ever do that Davey Richards hasn’t? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t Joe’s persona that of an intense fighter who got over by being dominant in the ring and using stiff strikes? Who does that remind you of? So why is it that Richards is considered bland whereas Joe was practically treated like a God?
- “He no-sells big moves and his matches have too many near falls”. This seems like another case of “crucify one guy for doing something, but let others get away with it”. Like it or not, this kind of thing has been happening in Independent wrestling for years. Off the top of my head, I recall the McGuinness-Morishima match from Fighting Spirit where Nigel takes the Backdrop Driver (Morishima’s finishing move) and quickly gets right back up. If I go through my ROH DVD collection, I’m sure I’ll find examples of this on almost every show. Heck, I just watched PWG’s Threemendous III and there’s a match with B-Boy vs. Drake Younger that’s full of stuff like this. In one part of the match, B-Boy hits Drake with two big moves and a Shining Wizard (his finisher I believe) all within the span of about 8 seconds. B-Boy doesn’t even go for the pin because Drake immediately gets up and starts wailing on him. So B-Boy does the same sequence again, but he only gets a 2 count.
Why does this sort of thing happen all the time? For the simple fact that it gets over. That PWG match is a shining example. At the start of the match, the crowd couldn’t care less about Drake Younger. The majority didn’t seem to know who he was and most of his early offense got no reaction. By the end of the match, every single person in the building was chanting his name and cheering.
Getting back to Richards, his match with Michael Elgin at Showdown in the Sun is a case of both guys getting over based on the style. When Richards came into that match, the crowd was noticeably quiet. In fact, I definitely noticed people booing him at first. As anyone who saw the match would tell you, things quickly turned around and the crowd was absolutely explosive by the end. It looked like every single person in that building was standing on their feet going nuts for this match. Say what you will about Davey, but he went into a building filled with jaded super-smarks who were ready to hate anything he did and somehow got them to completely change their mind and come out of the show loving him. It takes a special kind of talent to do that.
Fans accustomed to WWE’s style of wrestling might see it as wrong, but it’s not wrong, it’s just a different style. If it gets over, why wouldn’t a wrestler do it? People who go to the shows love his matches and feel like they’ve gotten their money’s worth. It’s hard to fault a wrestler for giving the fans exactly what they want to see. Many within the industry, including the likes of Bryan Danielson and Dave Meltzer, have praised his work, so can anyone give a valid reason for why he should change just to accommodate some internet fans, especially when a lot of them begrudgingly enjoy his work anyway? I frequently read online reviews for ROH shows and there’s one guy who goes out of his way to bash Davey every chance he gets, yet he always gives his matches good ratings in spite of his hatred for the man. I’ve seen internet reviewers write the phrase, “I hate Richards, but this was a great match” more times than I can count.
As for the selling aspect, it can go either way. Sometimes the selling is horrible, like the match with Eddie Edwards at Final Battle (which I didn’t enjoy at all.) Other times, his selling is very underrated, like the match he had against Shingo in Dragon Gate USA where he effectively sold a leg injury for most of it. There’s an old PWG match from 2006 where Richards and Super Dragon took on Arrogance. In the match, there’ a spot where Richards clutches his ankle and rolls to the outside in pain. His opponent, Scott Lost, stands around awkwardly for a few seconds before going after Davey’s ankle. Richards gets angry, hits Lost really hard, and yells something to the effect of, “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you an idiot or something? I’m hurt!” As I was watching this, I honestly thought he had a legit injury. As it turns out, he wasn’t really injured, but the way it played out and his effective selling made me believe it was real.
I guess what I’m trying to figure out here is why Richards gets bashed for the no-selling/too many kickouts/too many head drops style, yet nobody else does despite the fact that it’s so prevalent in ROH and PWG?
- “He has no charisma or personality”. Well, neither did Chris Benoit, the Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, Dean Malenko, Samoa Joe, Bob Backlund (pre-crazy years), Johnny Saint, and pretty much every Puro wrestler ever. You would never hear someone say, “I like Koji Kanemoto and Naomichi Marufuji, but man, their promos are terrible”, so why say it about Richards? It seems unfair to crucify one wrestler for lacking a certain skill, while at the same time giving other wrestlers a free pass. You could make the argument that those are Puro wrestlers and Puro is in a completely different ballpark from North American wrestling, but couldn’t Richards technically be considered a Puro wrestler? Considering he’s wrestled extensively in three major Japanese promotions and seems to spend just as much time in Japan as he does the U.S., I think that more than qualifies him as a Puro wrestler. If Prince Devitt can get a pass in this category, why not Richards?
Furthermore, I think he does have a personality, but it’s a subtle one that most wrestling fans either don’t see or don’t like. His persona is that of an intense fighter and I think he plays it well. I’ve read comparisons to Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards, but I personally don’t see it. Richards has a certain unbridled intensity about him that places him in a completely different category from those two. I first started noticing it in 2009. Watch his mannerisms and facial expressions in a lot of those American Wolves matches. He genuinely comes off as being some sort of psychopath, almost like a rabid animal. He doesn’t do this as much these days, but he still pulls it out occasionally. For instance, there’s a spot in his recent match with Kevin Steen at Best in the World where Davey does the Kawada kicks with a chain wrapped around his boot, kicks the referee (to the delight of the crowd), and then gives this hypnotic stare to the crowd as he antagonizes them. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was a subtle thing that left an impression.
In his match against Tyler Black at Death Before Dishonor, there’s a spot where both guys are trading blows. Richards starts wailing on Black and yells out, “Come on Mother f***er, fight! Fight!” It was another small action that most wouldn’t notice, but I thought it really raised the intensity level of the match and made Richards come across as a fighting challenger. Although I do like Strong and Edwards, I’ve never seen them do anything like that where they interact with the opponent or use facial expressions to convey extreme emotion in a match.
Even if he didn’t have these qualities, it’s a moot point anyway because ROH has always been about the quality of the matches, not the promos. Whenever anyone purchases a Ring of Honor DVD, it’s almost always because they want a match that’s on it. Unless they’re buying a CM Punk-related DVD, I’ve never heard anyone utter the phrase, “I bought an ROH DVD because it had some awesome promos on it!” When people talk about Samoa Joe’s run in ROH, they talk about his matches, not his promos. If Richards were in WWE, I’d say it’s a great argument because the main task of a WWE wrestler is to deliver promos, but the main task of an ROH wrestler isn’t to have great promos, it’s to have great matches.
Come to think of it, personality-wise, what did Samoa Joe ever do that Davey Richards hasn’t? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t Joe’s persona that of an intense fighter who got over by being dominant in the ring and using stiff strikes? Who does that remind you of? So why is it that Richards is considered bland whereas Joe was practically treated like a God?
- “He no-sells big moves and his matches have too many near falls”. This seems like another case of “crucify one guy for doing something, but let others get away with it”. Like it or not, this kind of thing has been happening in Independent wrestling for years. Off the top of my head, I recall the McGuinness-Morishima match from Fighting Spirit where Nigel takes the Backdrop Driver (Morishima’s finishing move) and quickly gets right back up. If I go through my ROH DVD collection, I’m sure I’ll find examples of this on almost every show. Heck, I just watched PWG’s Threemendous III and there’s a match with B-Boy vs. Drake Younger that’s full of stuff like this. In one part of the match, B-Boy hits Drake with two big moves and a Shining Wizard (his finisher I believe) all within the span of about 8 seconds. B-Boy doesn’t even go for the pin because Drake immediately gets up and starts wailing on him. So B-Boy does the same sequence again, but he only gets a 2 count.
Why does this sort of thing happen all the time? For the simple fact that it gets over. That PWG match is a shining example. At the start of the match, the crowd couldn’t care less about Drake Younger. The majority didn’t seem to know who he was and most of his early offense got no reaction. By the end of the match, every single person in the building was chanting his name and cheering.
Getting back to Richards, his match with Michael Elgin at Showdown in the Sun is a case of both guys getting over based on the style. When Richards came into that match, the crowd was noticeably quiet. In fact, I definitely noticed people booing him at first. As anyone who saw the match would tell you, things quickly turned around and the crowd was absolutely explosive by the end. It looked like every single person in that building was standing on their feet going nuts for this match. Say what you will about Davey, but he went into a building filled with jaded super-smarks who were ready to hate anything he did and somehow got them to completely change their mind and come out of the show loving him. It takes a special kind of talent to do that.
Fans accustomed to WWE’s style of wrestling might see it as wrong, but it’s not wrong, it’s just a different style. If it gets over, why wouldn’t a wrestler do it? People who go to the shows love his matches and feel like they’ve gotten their money’s worth. It’s hard to fault a wrestler for giving the fans exactly what they want to see. Many within the industry, including the likes of Bryan Danielson and Dave Meltzer, have praised his work, so can anyone give a valid reason for why he should change just to accommodate some internet fans, especially when a lot of them begrudgingly enjoy his work anyway? I frequently read online reviews for ROH shows and there’s one guy who goes out of his way to bash Davey every chance he gets, yet he always gives his matches good ratings in spite of his hatred for the man. I’ve seen internet reviewers write the phrase, “I hate Richards, but this was a great match” more times than I can count.
As for the selling aspect, it can go either way. Sometimes the selling is horrible, like the match with Eddie Edwards at Final Battle (which I didn’t enjoy at all.) Other times, his selling is very underrated, like the match he had against Shingo in Dragon Gate USA where he effectively sold a leg injury for most of it. There’s an old PWG match from 2006 where Richards and Super Dragon took on Arrogance. In the match, there’ a spot where Richards clutches his ankle and rolls to the outside in pain. His opponent, Scott Lost, stands around awkwardly for a few seconds before going after Davey’s ankle. Richards gets angry, hits Lost really hard, and yells something to the effect of, “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you an idiot or something? I’m hurt!” As I was watching this, I honestly thought he had a legit injury. As it turns out, he wasn’t really injured, but the way it played out and his effective selling made me believe it was real.
I guess what I’m trying to figure out here is why Richards gets bashed for the no-selling/too many kickouts/too many head drops style, yet nobody else does despite the fact that it’s so prevalent in ROH and PWG?
helped $lim jinx NXT. Woops
