Is Davey Richards the next Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit?

[king_dezeeuw06]

Sports Entertainer and Wrestler are pretty much 2 different sides of the same coin. Inevitably there is a happy medium of characteristics, but companies like NOAH / ROH and WWE are far apart in their priorities and total opposite ends of the spectrum, I can imagine your opinion on someone like Davey Richards is possibly influenced by how far you buy into either extreme.

 

Personally I don't enjoy WWE or TNA any more mostly because generally the in ring action is vastly inferior to the companies I do enjoy such as NOAH and ROH. I prefer good matches than good promos and I'm not really that bothered about how tall and how jacked up guys are if they can pull off good matches. With this in mind Davey Richards is one of my favourite wrestlers, simply because he has so many good matches that I enjoyed.

 

I can understand some of the criticisms labelled at Davey in this thread, but I am curious to know of those who said he is too stiff, takes too many risks and that he doesn't show enough of a personality; what do you think of people like Nakajima and Kenta and the strong style used in Japanese or ROH?

 

As for the original point; could Davey be a success in WWE and replicate or surpass Benoit? I think he could if used correctly (you could argue anyone good from the Indies could to a degree if booked correctly) but would current WWE consider taking him in the first place? Almost certainly not.

 

But I think the current WWE wouldn't consider taking on a young Chris Benoit if he was only making his name for himself now in the Indies and if they did take him I don't think he would be afforded the same chances to succeed as he did. People in the mould of Davey and Benoit would always of struggled to climb to the top in the WWE with their traditional big man approach, but the landscape of WWE has further shifted since the days Benoit was signed and someone like him would find it even tougher to climb to the top now.

[Carbomb]

I can understand some of the criticisms labelled at Davey in this thread, but I am curious to know of those who said he is too stiff, takes too many risks and that he doesn't show enough of a personality; what do you think of people like Nakajima and Kenta and the strong style used in Japanese or ROH?

 

Nakajima and KENTA are stiff, but, unlike Richards, they show fire. Proper, burning fucking fire. If I'm honest, not as well as Kobashi did in his prime, but then, how many do?

 

Also, not to jump down your throat, but two things:

 

1. Strong Style is not the NOAH style; that's King's/Ark Road. Strong Style is New Japan, and there is a MASSIVE difference.

 

2. ROH is about as close to Strong Style as WWE is. Less, even. The criticisms of Davey Richards come about because, like so many indy wrestlers, he attempts to wrestle what he thinks is a Japanese style, without actually understanding what it is.

 

As for the original point; could Davey be a success in WWE and replicate or surpass Benoit? I think he could if used correctly (you could argue anyone good from the Indies could to a degree if booked correctly) but would current WWE consider taking him in the first place? Almost certainly not.

 

But I think the current WWE wouldn't consider taking on a young Chris Benoit if he was only making his name for himself now in the Indies and if they did take him I don't think he would be afforded the same chances to succeed as he did. People in the mould of Davey and Benoit would always of struggled to climb to the top in the WWE with their traditional big man approach, but the landscape of WWE has further shifted since the days Benoit was signed and someone like him would find it even tougher to climb to the top now.

 

Richards, as he currently is, is Blue Square North League to Benoit's Premiership. There's just no comparison. Because, again, he mistakes stiffness for fire.

 

For all Benoit's faults (and they are many and grievous), in terms of wrestling, he knew what intensity was. Richards, from what I've seen of him, doesn't seem capable of reproducing that.

[Richie Freebird]

Richards, as he currently is, is Blue Square North League

 

I hope you

[Carbomb]

Richards, as he currently is, is Blue Square North League

 

I hope you

[Mr. Seven]

To me, Davey Richards is the current personification of the type of wrestling I hate. Everything is SERIOUS BUSINESS with him. Workrate City. It's not for me, and neither is watching a bunch of pleather-bound spotmonkeys break their necks in front of ten people because of RESPECT and such.

[Richie Freebird]

You're sort of backing up my point, Richie. A non-league team winning silverware at a (let's be honest) half-empty Wembley would be the equivalent of winning the RoH title at a local bingo hall during WrestleMania weekend.

 

I know man I was only joking .

 

I

[Carbomb]

You're sort of backing up my point, Richie. A non-league team winning silverware at a (let's be honest) half-empty Wembley would be the equivalent of winning the RoH title at a local bingo hall during WrestleMania weekend.

 

I know man I was only joking .

 

I

[Big Rob]

You're sort of backing up my point, Richie. A non-league team winning silverware at a (let's be honest) half-empty Wembley would be the equivalent of winning the RoH title at a local bingo hall during WrestleMania weekend.

 

I know man I was only joking .

 

I

[alanchiz]

With Davey Richards, I just cannot get past how tiny he looks.

I'm sure he has great matches etc, but Ive never got that far with him - he looks UP to Jim Cornette.

I just cant take that seriously.

 

Not even sure why, as Ive seen and enjoyed the work of plenty other wrestlers probably just as small - it just seems more emphasized with him, probably partly because of the way he carries himself, and partly because of his character, which comes across as a big tough guy, and ultimately ends up bringing him across as Ronnie Corbett's little cousin with a chip on his shoulder

[IANdrewDiceClay]

He's like a person who's won a contest to be the next Chris Benoit/Dynamite Kid. Like when Peter Criss got chucked out of Kiss and they dressed some other bloke to look like him. There's a void of a personality-free serious wrestler that needs to be filled in the independent community. I cant say I get him personally. He's decent, and I wont pretend he isnt, but he's nothing special. Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson and the like I can at least go "I get why this guy is over with that crowd", but not Richards. He's the 1993 Lex Luger to Chris Benoit's Hulk Hogan. Hogan left, Luger came in and he fit the the image but he didnt have what the people wanted, which is what Hogan had. They didnt buy him as the next Man. Richards has the short hair, he's got the stocky physique, he does all the movez yet he hasnt got what Benoit or Dynamite Kid had. It was a sight to behold for me as a young wrestling fan who didnt read the internet to see Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit for the first time. They were intense, took the attention away from their height with the exciting ring style they had and were fast as lightening. You didnt watch this pair and move onto another topic of discussion to quickly. You see a Davey Richards match, it doesnt hold up to what AJ Styles does on TNA or what CM Punk is currently doing in WWE per month, let alone makes you shake your head in disbelief. Richards isn't even in Benoit or Dynamite's world. Where as they could hide the fact they had the personality of a clay pigeon with their ring work, Richards cant. He's a little personality free wrestler. There's plenty of them about.

[king_dezeeuw06]

1. Strong Style is not the NOAH style; that's King's/Ark Road. Strong Style is New Japan, and there is a MASSIVE difference.

 

Strong style was a poor choice of words / terminology to describe what I meant, should of said the more aggressive / stiffer style.

 

2. ROH is about as close to Strong Style as WWE is. Less, even. The criticisms of Davey Richards come about because, like so many indy wrestlers, he attempts to wrestle what he thinks is a Japanese style, without actually understanding what it is.

 

Maybe it started out as a tribute to the Japanese style, but over the years has it not morphed to the point where so many indie wrestlers work it that it is now a style in itself? It could be said that it is a poor replica of the Japanese style it descended from or you could also argue that it is taking that style and modifying it in an attempt to try and improve it (Although I'm sure many people would disagree that it is an improvement).

 

For me ROH and NOAH is the stuff I enjoy watching and like Richie Freebird said I've seen a lot of exciting and entertaining Davey Richards matches and that's why I like him. Benoit was one of the names that I always looked forward to seeing because regardless of his faults he had you knew he would give you his all and would put on a great match, I think exactly the same about Davey now. Granted that isn't a universally shared view but that's why I would stick up for him in an argument about being the modern day equivalent of Benoit.

 

Anyway each to their own, we all look for different things in our wrestling, if we all liked the same thing life would be boring.

[Carbomb]

1. Strong Style is not the NOAH style; that's King's/Ark Road. Strong Style is New Japan, and there is a MASSIVE difference.

 

Strong style was a poor choice of words / terminology to describe what I meant, should of said the more aggressive / stiffer style.

 

2. ROH is about as close to Strong Style as WWE is. Less, even. The criticisms of Davey Richards come about because, like so many indy wrestlers, he attempts to wrestle what he thinks is a Japanese style, without actually understanding what it is.

 

Maybe it started out as a tribute to the Japanese style, but over the years has it not morphed to the point where so many indie wrestlers work it that it is now a style in itself? It could be said that it is a poor replica of the Japanese style it descended from or you could also argue that it is taking that style and modifying it in an attempt to try and improve it (Although I'm sure many people would disagree that it is an improvement).

 

Like I said, I'm not having a go. You like what you like, and that's fine - makes no difference to me if you like Necro Butcher or Zainab Badawi.

 

As long as you don't claim, like a lot of stereotypical fappers do, that what's practiced on the indies is "Strong Style" and is thus the basis for being employed by NOAH, and, more importantly, that you're somehow some yardstick of what qualifies as good wrestling (as many RoHbots are wont to do), I have no problem. Some dick tried to do that a month ago in his defence of Super Dragon, and he just came across as the worst kind of Workrate Pervert.

[The Great Muta]

Could you explain the difference in the NOAH and NJPW styles at all? (genuine question)

[Carbomb]

To avoid making it an essay, will do it like this (though keep in mind, I'm not an expert on Strong Style, best to ask $tew):

 

King's/Ark Road:

 

- long, epic battles of endurance and attrition

- "stoic" endurance and "fire" are important aspects

- a clear winner, usually with the eventual victor dominating the last couple of minutes; not many flash pins

 

Strong Style:

 

- matches not quite as long, though are still long enough

- emphasis on "fighting spirit" and fighting back through pain

- sudden reversals of fortune ("ippatsu-gyakuten"), which includes nearfalls

 

There's a lot more to both, but those are the core values. The whole thing about head-drops and no-selling (which isn't really no-selling in the match context when you properly look at it) is actually a by-product of such styles; they're not the basis of them.

[Twatters]

For anyone that watches PWG. Davey Richards showed he had some personality when doing commentary on one of their events. I forget his character name but he was an old school wrestler and was very entertaining. Shame he can't show something similar at any other time.