Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 5, 2017 20:55:29 GMT -6
www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0304/623805/stevie-richards-on-crowds-hijacking-shows/
Stevie Richards On Crowds 'Hijacking Shows,' Vince McMahon Not Understanding Shinsuke Nakamura, More
Source: Memorabilia Guy
Stevie Richards spoke with Memorabilia Guy on a number of wrestling topics, both past and present. Here are some of the highlights:
Crowds "hijacking" shows:
"I think guys work harder than they ever have, unnecessarily. Crowds can hijack shows nowadays; they can take control with their own chants to get themselves over. It's counterproductive. I'm not saying people need to be spoon-fed and fall in line like the wrestlers do, but it's like these people go to the show to not have a good time. They tried to sabotage the shows. These guys work every bit, if not, harder than we did back in the day. But we were able to lead the people in to the story lines we wanted and they could sit back and enjoy the ride. Now these people are trying to drive the car. I wouldn't say there is a huge difference between the talent and the product. There is a difference between society and they way people react to this type of entertainment."
WWE not understanding something different:
"I heard somewhere that Hunter [HHH] said he wasn't ready for the main roster. I mean the guy had Tokyo Dome shows countless times. I think sometimes Vince [McMahon] doesn't understand something a bit different. There is a part of me that thinks Nakamura will be an emperor or something stupid like that when he goes to the main roster. Nakamura is so charismatic. Vince might say – I don't know why he saunters around like he has no bones in his body. Well the fans are paying attention. I think that's something that he just doesn't understand."
If Impact Wrestling is good enough to compete with WWE:
"Going back to the ECW thing before, you shouldn't want to compete. You should be doing your own thing or watching WWE and saying – lets do something completely different. That's why the Broken Hardy's were so over. It was so different. It got people outside of wrestling talking. When was the last time something like that happened? You know, you have The Rock showing up in WWE, but when was the last time you had mainstream media talking about TNA? I don't think that's happened. Vignettes are what are missing from wrestling. When was the last time you saw a really cool vignette in which you cared about the character? Probably the Wyatts. It was like wow, this is interesting. The vignettes are what made the Hardy's stuff really compelling and interesting to fans and people outside of wrestling. That's how you make money. Nowadays they just debut characters, put them out there, and give them a title run and they fall away after a year. One year in today's business was like 4 in my era. You would build up talent. Randy Savage didn't get the world title until three years in to the company, maybe more. I miss that stuff. I miss the six months to a year of really caring about a character."
Stevie Richards also discussed if ECW helped form today's wrestling crowd and what he's up to these days. You can read the full interview by clicking here.
memorabiliaguy.com/2017/03/04/stevie-richards-interview-crowds-can-hijack-shows-nowadays-they-can-take-control/
ECW original, and one third of the legendary BWO, Stevie Richards is a seasoned pro with an exciting style of wrestling. Having wrestled in the cult promotion of ECW and spending nine and half years with WWE Stevie has a rich history with the business. We spoke in detail about his time in the territories, where he feels wrestling is going wrong in the modern era and his flourishing fitness business.
What was ECW like at the time of its success?
stevie-richards-photoThe number one thing is we didn’t realize that what we were doing at the time was going to have this ‘urban legend’ status or a lasting legacy. We were just trying to work hard and do the best we can. I don’t think we were even competing with WCW and WWF, even though talent would leave and come back, and sometimes even leave again. That is a testament to what should be the attitude of companies outside of WWE today. We weren’t trying to compete; we were just trying to do our own thing to the best of our ability. It wasn’t about money; it wasn’t about anything other than trying to be the best we could. People like me, and my good friend Johnny Swinger, knew that ECW would bring about the opportunity to go to WCW or WWE and make life-changing money. I was smart enough to know that there was no way my body could hold up doing that style of wrestling. But we didn’t know we were changing wrestling forever. I really do believe ECW created the Attitude Era. People in WWF deny it, but it’s a fact.
I think that we were the beta testing to see what they could get away with on TV and push the envelope. Vince [McMahon] was almost out of business, there is no secret about that. He really had nothing to lose. I wouldn’t say ECW pushed him in to doing that. I think a large part of it was him thinking – I’m on the verge going out of business, why don’t I just take some risks. Obviously in the end ECW couldn’t exist anymore and he bought the tape library and WCW too, but everyone knows what happened there.
I was in the era of wrestling where you weren’t really over-produced. You were just told to go out there, have a three-minute promo and get this point across. That’s really all we had. We had no script and we didn’t have someone going over a match step for step. It was really under produced and that’s why it relied on the talent to get within their comfort zone and was really over. They were just amplified versions of themselves.
The talent worked hard. We never planned what was going to happen seven months from now, we didn’t know. Like the BWO wasn’t even supposed to happen. All this stuff just organically grew. Paul Heyman was smart enough to get out the way and let things happen.
What was it like going from ECW to a bigger more professional corporation like WWE?
It was still an era where I was told to go out and do a promo. I saw the change in my nine and a half years in the WWE. It was hard to go from ad-libbing to scripted wrestling. I slowly started to see a time when guys would have to say a promo word for word. It was a very handcuffed time. I left in August 2008. So I was witness to the way it used to be, and what I suppose people now long for, to the sitcom based writing of today’s wrestling business. TNA does the same thing and it doesn’t sound natural. They are cookie cutter wrestlers nowadays.
What do you think of the modern product?
I think guys work harder than they ever have, unnecessarily. Crowds can hijack shows nowadays; they can take control with their own chants to get themselves over. It’s counterproductive. I’m not saying people need to be spoon-fed and fall in line like the wrestlers do, but it’s like these people go to the show to not have a good time. They tried to sabotage the shows. These guys work every bit, if not, harder than we did back in the day. But we were able to lead the people in to the story lines we wanted and they could sit back and enjoy the ride. Now these people are trying to drive the car. I wouldn’t say there is a huge difference between the talent and the product. There is a difference between society and they way people react to this type of entertainment.
I’d argue that ECW helped create that type of fan?
Absolutely. The ECW fans thought they were smart but they were actually casual wrestling fans at the same time. I had so much heat when I held the ECW tag belts with Raven, that’s why I was always getting the pin. The smart marks felt that I didn’t deserve to have the championship. To me that just sounds like a mark, doesn’t sound like a smart fan to me. That sounds like a fan that thinks wrestling is real. Also, you’re right and Al Snow has made this point 100 times and he is absolutely right too. If I go through a flaming table, get hit by a chair, take a huge bump or something crazy happens, they don’t chant Stevie and they don’t chant my opponent’s name, they chant ECW. They aren’t going to buy my shirt or doll. That’s not the goal of a wrestler. You want them to care about you. So ECW fans and the culture are responsible for that shift, I’ll admit that.
What was it like being involved in a promotion that first started using burning table and barbed wire, or generally promoting an extreme brand of wrestling?
People think that about ECW. I mean those things happened, but they didn’t happen at every single show. You had Axl and Ian Rotten doing their thing and you had Sabu sometimes. But when you think about it you had some really great wrestling in ECW. My act was in the complete opposite direction to the hardcore stuff. I was sports entertainment before there was sports entertainment. Meanie, Nova and I doing our skits involving Raven and whoever else, that was entertainment. That is probably why it lasted so long. I couldn’t do the hardcore style every single weekend. I’m good friends with Abyss from TNA, one of the best big men in the history of the business. He would do that every single TV, every single pay-per-view, all the time to the point where if he didn’t do it fans felt like they were ripped off. They didn’t care anyway as it was every month and nothing special about it.
Why was the quality of wrestling so good in ECW?
We had territories, which most fans are probably too young to remember. When ECW wasn’t running I’d be wrestling in other territories and independents, this meant I was wrestling three times a week. There were guys coming from NWA and WWF throughout the nineties that I would work with. They were veterans. When you’re in the ring with a veteran for 10-15 minutes you will become a better wrestler. I had that opportunity all the time and in territories wrestling people who were going all over the world. That’s why I think the Ring of Honor guys are really good. They go to Japan all the time, they work in the US and they work the indies. The WWE and NXT guys are so encapsulated in that farm system that they aren’t exposed to other wrestlers unless someone comes in. However, when they do come in, they have to learn the WWE style of wrestling.
What about someone a bit different like Shinsuke Nakamura?
I heard somewhere that Hunter [HHH] said he wasn’t ready for the main roster. I mean the guy had Tokyo Dome shows countless times. I think sometimes Vince [McMahon] doesn’t understand something a bit different. There is a part of me that thinks Nakamura will be an emperor or something stupid like that when he goes to the main roster. Nakamura is so charismatic. Vince might say – I don’t know why he saunters around like he has no bones in his body. Well the fans are paying attention. I think that’s something that he just doesn’t understand.
So where do you think wrestling will go from here?
I think TNA might be in a decent spot but also a scary spot too. They have a tremendous sense of urgency to turn it around. This might be the last chance TNA or Impact wrestling has. They can keep trucking along with 250,000 fans. WWE is a really profitable business, but is there any urgency to make it better, or to make more money?
So you think TNA is good enough to compete with WWE?
Going back to the ECW thing before, you shouldn’t want to compete. You should be doing your own thing or watching WWE and saying – lets do something completely different. That’s why the Broken Hardy’s were so over. It was so different. It got people outside of wrestling talking. When was the last time something like that happened? You know, you have The Rock showing up in WWE, but when was the last time you had mainstream media talking about TNA? I don’t think that’s happened. Vignettes are what are missing from wrestling. When was the last time you saw a really cool vignette in which you cared about the character? Probably the Wyatts. It was like wow, this is interesting. The vignettes are what made the Hardy’s stuff really compelling and interesting to fans and people outside of wrestling. That’s how you make money. Nowadays they just debut characters, put them out there, and give them a title run and they fall away after a year. One year in today’s business was like 4 in my era. You would build up talent. Randy Savage didn’t get the world title until three years in to the company, maybe more. I miss that stuff. I miss the six months to a year of really caring about a character.
Do you think that was the case with the BWO?
No NWO took care of that. Sometimes you have that thing where it just happens. We did so many parodies for so long and BWO was just another one off. We didn’t think it was going to still be talked about 20 years later. I have tried to get a photo opportunity at conventions with the three of us and the NWO, Hogan, Nash and Hall. Even for us just to get the picture together would be kind of cool.
So what are you up to these days?
Wrestling is still a passion and I still wrestle. I have the Stevie Richards Fitness business. We just moved over to a Patreon model from a membership model. This makes it a lot more affordable for people to get the workouts, workout plans and videos. You get early access and a workout calendar every month.
You can follow Stevie on Twitter and Instagram. We fully recommend checking out his fitness business as it caters for all types people on the fitness journey and is very effective and affordable.
Stevie Richards On Crowds 'Hijacking Shows,' Vince McMahon Not Understanding Shinsuke Nakamura, More
Source: Memorabilia Guy
Stevie Richards spoke with Memorabilia Guy on a number of wrestling topics, both past and present. Here are some of the highlights:
Crowds "hijacking" shows:
"I think guys work harder than they ever have, unnecessarily. Crowds can hijack shows nowadays; they can take control with their own chants to get themselves over. It's counterproductive. I'm not saying people need to be spoon-fed and fall in line like the wrestlers do, but it's like these people go to the show to not have a good time. They tried to sabotage the shows. These guys work every bit, if not, harder than we did back in the day. But we were able to lead the people in to the story lines we wanted and they could sit back and enjoy the ride. Now these people are trying to drive the car. I wouldn't say there is a huge difference between the talent and the product. There is a difference between society and they way people react to this type of entertainment."
WWE not understanding something different:
"I heard somewhere that Hunter [HHH] said he wasn't ready for the main roster. I mean the guy had Tokyo Dome shows countless times. I think sometimes Vince [McMahon] doesn't understand something a bit different. There is a part of me that thinks Nakamura will be an emperor or something stupid like that when he goes to the main roster. Nakamura is so charismatic. Vince might say – I don't know why he saunters around like he has no bones in his body. Well the fans are paying attention. I think that's something that he just doesn't understand."
If Impact Wrestling is good enough to compete with WWE:
"Going back to the ECW thing before, you shouldn't want to compete. You should be doing your own thing or watching WWE and saying – lets do something completely different. That's why the Broken Hardy's were so over. It was so different. It got people outside of wrestling talking. When was the last time something like that happened? You know, you have The Rock showing up in WWE, but when was the last time you had mainstream media talking about TNA? I don't think that's happened. Vignettes are what are missing from wrestling. When was the last time you saw a really cool vignette in which you cared about the character? Probably the Wyatts. It was like wow, this is interesting. The vignettes are what made the Hardy's stuff really compelling and interesting to fans and people outside of wrestling. That's how you make money. Nowadays they just debut characters, put them out there, and give them a title run and they fall away after a year. One year in today's business was like 4 in my era. You would build up talent. Randy Savage didn't get the world title until three years in to the company, maybe more. I miss that stuff. I miss the six months to a year of really caring about a character."
Stevie Richards also discussed if ECW helped form today's wrestling crowd and what he's up to these days. You can read the full interview by clicking here.
memorabiliaguy.com/2017/03/04/stevie-richards-interview-crowds-can-hijack-shows-nowadays-they-can-take-control/
ECW original, and one third of the legendary BWO, Stevie Richards is a seasoned pro with an exciting style of wrestling. Having wrestled in the cult promotion of ECW and spending nine and half years with WWE Stevie has a rich history with the business. We spoke in detail about his time in the territories, where he feels wrestling is going wrong in the modern era and his flourishing fitness business.
What was ECW like at the time of its success?
stevie-richards-photoThe number one thing is we didn’t realize that what we were doing at the time was going to have this ‘urban legend’ status or a lasting legacy. We were just trying to work hard and do the best we can. I don’t think we were even competing with WCW and WWF, even though talent would leave and come back, and sometimes even leave again. That is a testament to what should be the attitude of companies outside of WWE today. We weren’t trying to compete; we were just trying to do our own thing to the best of our ability. It wasn’t about money; it wasn’t about anything other than trying to be the best we could. People like me, and my good friend Johnny Swinger, knew that ECW would bring about the opportunity to go to WCW or WWE and make life-changing money. I was smart enough to know that there was no way my body could hold up doing that style of wrestling. But we didn’t know we were changing wrestling forever. I really do believe ECW created the Attitude Era. People in WWF deny it, but it’s a fact.
I think that we were the beta testing to see what they could get away with on TV and push the envelope. Vince [McMahon] was almost out of business, there is no secret about that. He really had nothing to lose. I wouldn’t say ECW pushed him in to doing that. I think a large part of it was him thinking – I’m on the verge going out of business, why don’t I just take some risks. Obviously in the end ECW couldn’t exist anymore and he bought the tape library and WCW too, but everyone knows what happened there.
I was in the era of wrestling where you weren’t really over-produced. You were just told to go out there, have a three-minute promo and get this point across. That’s really all we had. We had no script and we didn’t have someone going over a match step for step. It was really under produced and that’s why it relied on the talent to get within their comfort zone and was really over. They were just amplified versions of themselves.
The talent worked hard. We never planned what was going to happen seven months from now, we didn’t know. Like the BWO wasn’t even supposed to happen. All this stuff just organically grew. Paul Heyman was smart enough to get out the way and let things happen.
What was it like going from ECW to a bigger more professional corporation like WWE?
It was still an era where I was told to go out and do a promo. I saw the change in my nine and a half years in the WWE. It was hard to go from ad-libbing to scripted wrestling. I slowly started to see a time when guys would have to say a promo word for word. It was a very handcuffed time. I left in August 2008. So I was witness to the way it used to be, and what I suppose people now long for, to the sitcom based writing of today’s wrestling business. TNA does the same thing and it doesn’t sound natural. They are cookie cutter wrestlers nowadays.
What do you think of the modern product?
I think guys work harder than they ever have, unnecessarily. Crowds can hijack shows nowadays; they can take control with their own chants to get themselves over. It’s counterproductive. I’m not saying people need to be spoon-fed and fall in line like the wrestlers do, but it’s like these people go to the show to not have a good time. They tried to sabotage the shows. These guys work every bit, if not, harder than we did back in the day. But we were able to lead the people in to the story lines we wanted and they could sit back and enjoy the ride. Now these people are trying to drive the car. I wouldn’t say there is a huge difference between the talent and the product. There is a difference between society and they way people react to this type of entertainment.
I’d argue that ECW helped create that type of fan?
Absolutely. The ECW fans thought they were smart but they were actually casual wrestling fans at the same time. I had so much heat when I held the ECW tag belts with Raven, that’s why I was always getting the pin. The smart marks felt that I didn’t deserve to have the championship. To me that just sounds like a mark, doesn’t sound like a smart fan to me. That sounds like a fan that thinks wrestling is real. Also, you’re right and Al Snow has made this point 100 times and he is absolutely right too. If I go through a flaming table, get hit by a chair, take a huge bump or something crazy happens, they don’t chant Stevie and they don’t chant my opponent’s name, they chant ECW. They aren’t going to buy my shirt or doll. That’s not the goal of a wrestler. You want them to care about you. So ECW fans and the culture are responsible for that shift, I’ll admit that.
What was it like being involved in a promotion that first started using burning table and barbed wire, or generally promoting an extreme brand of wrestling?
People think that about ECW. I mean those things happened, but they didn’t happen at every single show. You had Axl and Ian Rotten doing their thing and you had Sabu sometimes. But when you think about it you had some really great wrestling in ECW. My act was in the complete opposite direction to the hardcore stuff. I was sports entertainment before there was sports entertainment. Meanie, Nova and I doing our skits involving Raven and whoever else, that was entertainment. That is probably why it lasted so long. I couldn’t do the hardcore style every single weekend. I’m good friends with Abyss from TNA, one of the best big men in the history of the business. He would do that every single TV, every single pay-per-view, all the time to the point where if he didn’t do it fans felt like they were ripped off. They didn’t care anyway as it was every month and nothing special about it.
Why was the quality of wrestling so good in ECW?
We had territories, which most fans are probably too young to remember. When ECW wasn’t running I’d be wrestling in other territories and independents, this meant I was wrestling three times a week. There were guys coming from NWA and WWF throughout the nineties that I would work with. They were veterans. When you’re in the ring with a veteran for 10-15 minutes you will become a better wrestler. I had that opportunity all the time and in territories wrestling people who were going all over the world. That’s why I think the Ring of Honor guys are really good. They go to Japan all the time, they work in the US and they work the indies. The WWE and NXT guys are so encapsulated in that farm system that they aren’t exposed to other wrestlers unless someone comes in. However, when they do come in, they have to learn the WWE style of wrestling.
What about someone a bit different like Shinsuke Nakamura?
I heard somewhere that Hunter [HHH] said he wasn’t ready for the main roster. I mean the guy had Tokyo Dome shows countless times. I think sometimes Vince [McMahon] doesn’t understand something a bit different. There is a part of me that thinks Nakamura will be an emperor or something stupid like that when he goes to the main roster. Nakamura is so charismatic. Vince might say – I don’t know why he saunters around like he has no bones in his body. Well the fans are paying attention. I think that’s something that he just doesn’t understand.
So where do you think wrestling will go from here?
I think TNA might be in a decent spot but also a scary spot too. They have a tremendous sense of urgency to turn it around. This might be the last chance TNA or Impact wrestling has. They can keep trucking along with 250,000 fans. WWE is a really profitable business, but is there any urgency to make it better, or to make more money?
So you think TNA is good enough to compete with WWE?
Going back to the ECW thing before, you shouldn’t want to compete. You should be doing your own thing or watching WWE and saying – lets do something completely different. That’s why the Broken Hardy’s were so over. It was so different. It got people outside of wrestling talking. When was the last time something like that happened? You know, you have The Rock showing up in WWE, but when was the last time you had mainstream media talking about TNA? I don’t think that’s happened. Vignettes are what are missing from wrestling. When was the last time you saw a really cool vignette in which you cared about the character? Probably the Wyatts. It was like wow, this is interesting. The vignettes are what made the Hardy’s stuff really compelling and interesting to fans and people outside of wrestling. That’s how you make money. Nowadays they just debut characters, put them out there, and give them a title run and they fall away after a year. One year in today’s business was like 4 in my era. You would build up talent. Randy Savage didn’t get the world title until three years in to the company, maybe more. I miss that stuff. I miss the six months to a year of really caring about a character.
Do you think that was the case with the BWO?
No NWO took care of that. Sometimes you have that thing where it just happens. We did so many parodies for so long and BWO was just another one off. We didn’t think it was going to still be talked about 20 years later. I have tried to get a photo opportunity at conventions with the three of us and the NWO, Hogan, Nash and Hall. Even for us just to get the picture together would be kind of cool.
So what are you up to these days?
Wrestling is still a passion and I still wrestle. I have the Stevie Richards Fitness business. We just moved over to a Patreon model from a membership model. This makes it a lot more affordable for people to get the workouts, workout plans and videos. You get early access and a workout calendar every month.
You can follow Stevie on Twitter and Instagram. We fully recommend checking out his fitness business as it caters for all types people on the fitness journey and is very effective and affordable.