Jump to content

Is Davey Richards the next Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit?


The Great Muta

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 118
  • Created
  • Last Reply

When the Benoit tragedy happened it wasn't only sickening but also gutting. I really liked Benoit and sometimes would watch WWE solely for his matches. That all changed the instant the facts were revealed because in a way i felt like I had been cheering Charles Manson.

 

I really want another pre-psycho Benoit and at the minute Davey Richards is a better fit in my mind than Brian Danielson.

 

This is unrealistic though as the days of the great technical wrestlers in WWE are over. It's now about who they can push into their next feature film. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's not why people say "pfffft, that's not Japanese". They say it because the fans and wrestlers of that scene try to make out that it is, when it blatantly isn't. I've got more respect for people who call it "US indy style", "American Strong Style" (even though that makes me laugh because the initials read as ASS), or even "US Strong Style", because at least they're acknowledging the difference and attempting to take pride in something.

 

For sure. I

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
That's not why people say "pfffft, that's not Japanese". They say it because the fans and wrestlers of that scene try to make out that it is, when it blatantly isn't. I've got more respect for people who call it "US indy style", "American Strong Style" (even though that makes me laugh because the initials read as ASS), or even "US Strong Style", because at least they're acknowledging the difference and attempting to take pride in something.

 

For sure. I

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem when people say that is the possibility that Benoit's faults were a direct result of him giving us his all and putting on great matches.

 

The faults of Benoit I was originally refer in the original post to were more to do with his faults as a performer during his life rather than the tragic end of it. In the sense that he wasn't necessarily as good in other areas of the business as the matches he was capable of putting on.

 

Which is why I don't think Benoit is a great choice to aspire to be. Sayign you see comparisons between Richards and Benoit is pretty damning. You think of all the wrestlers who were more over than Benoit and didn't make a living out of leaping off the top rope with a diving headbutt or any other of Benoit's dangerous moves, Benoit in the end proved that he wasn't actually a great worker. When it looked like Benoit was seriously putting his health on the line, he genuinely was. He wasn't working it. I was a big Benoit fan, his intensity was gripping and was, more than his suplexes, a big part of why I enjoyed him, but ultimately the results speak for themselves. You can't disconnect Benoit's tragic finish from the style he worked in the ring.

 

What's concernign in this thread is the idea that people would want another benoit or Dynamite Kid. That and there's probably workers out there who genuinely do want to follow in their footsteps. They're idiots being worked by the fans.

 

There are obviously 2 parts of the Benoit legacy, I don't think anyone is looking to follow Benoits footsteps as a brain damaged man who killed his family, but I'm sure every wrestler would aspire to achieve the level of admiration and respect he achieved as a performer prior to this.

 

The first part is almost certainly a by product of the second, and I'm certain no worker or fans wants to see this happen again. But I don't think the style Benoit wrestled was the main issue, the massive elevated levels of testosterone from years of steroid abuse, mental and physical exhaustion from such a busy travel schedule, the reported personal problems with his wife, struggling to cope with the loss of his best friend and countless unprotected chair shots played a huge part, not to mention any factors of personailty.

 

The rough physical style of wrestling and diving headbutts mentioned probably didn't help in the end but ultimately does anyone think that Benoit would of ended up going to such extremes without the cocktail of personal issues, steroid abuse and steel chair induced head trauma added to the mix?

 

Things have changed since the Benoit tragedy, chair shots to the head are becoming less and less common and the use of steroids doesn't seem to be as wide spread or essential to success as it has in the past. There also isn't the same pressure on performers to push the envelope and shock people like there was in the attitude days, and the level of competition during the Monday night wars means I don't think anyone now goes out there and pushes themselves to the limits Benoit did. Benoit gave his heart, soul and body to the business to an extreme level at an extreme time in the business, I think a modern day Chris Benoit could still put on great matches but could get by taking a lot less steroids and all together avoiding risking so many weapon induced concussions. So hopefully the likelihood of us seeing the combination of factors that went into making Benoit a murderer have decreased.

 

Wrestling is a hard profession and virtually everyone who steps inside the ring is risking their health, but I think that people like Davey Richards and other indie guys can wrestle an aggressive in ring style without automatically putting themselves in direct danger of ending up falling to the same fate as Benoit. Ultimately you can't look past what Benoit did at the end of his life but he was certainly one of the best inside the ring, so I don't think wrestlers who aspire to hit the heights of some of his work are idiots, as long as they learn from his mistakes. And I don't think the fans who enjoy the work of such wrestlers are working them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrestling is a hard profession and virtually everyone who steps inside the ring is risking their health, but I think that people like Davey Richards and other indie guys can wrestle an aggressive in ring style without automatically putting themselves in direct danger of ending up falling to the same fate as Benoit.

 

Maybe they can on the Indys, but could they do it every night? No. That's the issue. If you really think that Benoit's incredibly physical intense wrestling style, which was more dangerous than what a lot of workers in the WWE do, wasn't a contributing factor in his demise than you're ignoring how often he was doing it. If Benoit wasn't doing it nearly every night then there's a chance he wouldn't have been doing the level of drugs he was doing. That's the issue really, I don't think the WWE would let someone do the same intense style on their schedule anymore.

 

And of course every wrestler takes risk, at no point did I dispute that, but it also stands to easy reason that some wrestlers take more risks than others. The WWE's regular schedule multiplies those risks tenfold.

 

Your discussion about less weapon shots being used seems like you're ignoring Benoit's more risky moveset. Its not like Benoit was often competing in weapon filled brawls, it was the suplexes where he landed on the back of his head and the diving headbuts that were frequently performed by him and almost definately didn't do him any favours. Both Dynamite Kid and Benoit did that, both fucked up their lives.

 

Like I say, I enjoyed Benoit before the tragedy, but after the tragedy it became obvious to me that wrestlign such a style doesn't make you a great wrestler. Fuck doing what Benoit did. Nash hurt his leg a couple of times but earned more money and fame than Benoit ever did. Probably got more blow jobs too. I'd rather be the next Nash. Injuries are a part of the business, its physcially intense, especially the WWE's schedule, but the wrestler I'd want to be is the one with the least amount of injuries, who can still walk, didn't kill his family, made a hell of a lot of money, shagged a lot of rats and can wipe their own arse. I wouldn't wanna be the one who had to take frequent headbumps or had to exchange genuinely bloody painful strikes with someone to get a reaction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread made me remember another guy who some people at the time nicknamed "the next Kid/Benoit" - Max Boyer.

Anybody else remember this kid? He certainly had the same look and a pretty much the same move set.

 

How long ago was this guy on the scene and who did he work for Stevie lad? I don

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrestling is a hard profession and virtually everyone who steps inside the ring is risking their health, but I think that people like Davey Richards and other indie guys can wrestle an aggressive in ring style without automatically putting themselves in direct danger of ending up falling to the same fate as Benoit.

 

Maybe they can on the Indys, but could they do it every night? No. That's the issue. If you really think that Benoit's incredibly physical intense wrestling style, which was more dangerous than what a lot of workers in the WWE do, wasn't a contributing factor in his demise than you're ignoring how often he was doing it. If Benoit wasn't doing it nearly every night then there's a chance he wouldn't have been doing the level of drugs he was doing. That's the issue really, I don't think the WWE would let someone do the same intense style on their schedule anymore.

 

And of course every wrestler takes risk, at no point did I dispute that, but it also stands to easy reason that some wrestlers take more risks than others. The WWE's regular schedule multiplies those risks tenfold.

 

Your discussion about less weapon shots being used seems like you're ignoring Benoit's more risky moveset. Its not like Benoit was often competing in weapon filled brawls, it was the suplexes where he landed on the back of his head and the diving headbuts that were frequently performed by him and almost definately didn't do him any favours. Both Dynamite Kid and Benoit did that, both fucked up their lives.

I think what you seem to be overlooking a bit is that whilst you're right in saying that his diving headbutt and suplexes (in particularly, that disgusting way he used to hit superplexes) were the spots that probably damaged him the most, they were only a small part of what made up his 'incredibly physical intense style'. Apart from those spots, he didn't actually have a much more dangerous repertoire than the next guy, albeit he required a greater level of fitness than most to maintain that level of effort & intensity for 10 minutes, night after night.

 

To me, the appeal of Benoit was as much about the intensity and aggression he showed carrying out safe spots whilst making them look so devastating (for example a simple kick, knife edge chop, hooking clothesline or knee to the gut) as it was about the legit dangerous stuff. As well as being technically sound in terms of logic & storytelling, what he had going for him was a physical ability to make whatever he did look like it hurt his opponent, whether it was worked strikes, or making throws & suplexes more 'snappy' and spectacular.

 

If he bumped a bit more safely and limited the diving headbutt to PPV matches only instead of every night as he probably done, it wouldn't have taken away what his appeal was in the first place was, he'd still have been a great worker. I've never even saw this Richards guy who the debate's about, so I can't comment on specifics, but I think it's fair enough for Indy workers to be influenced by Benoit (the wrestler, obviously).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...