How Davey Richards Has Become The Indie Scene's Triple H

Triple H, the overrated superstar who got to where he is today by marrying the bosses daughter and burying everyone in sight. That's Triple H's image, in the 'Internet Wrestling Community' anyway.

The IWC (as I'll call it from now on) is filled with people who love to hate certain people. I don't know why it happens. Many wrestlers can go through their career doing bad things and still remain popular, while others get caught in and thus, a circle of hate stirs up in the IWC. And ironically enough, a lot of those people that get heat in the IWC, are generally unjustifiable.

Triple H, for all his 'backstage politics', has never come across as that bad a guy in the wrestling world. Yes, his stint with the 'Kliq' caused a lot of controversy backstage, but let's not forget that their were 3 other people in that group, who again ironically enough, are fairly popular in the IWC.

On top of that, those 'backstage politics' I mentioned above are just rumours at the end of the day. His case in the IWC has just been one of those where no matter what he does, he'll get shit on because it's 'cool' and make those people sound 'smart.'

This goes on to his wrestling ability as well. The people in the IWC who describe him as one of the most 'overrated wrestlers in history' never seem to look at his excellent run in 2000, where he was the MVP in the WWF at that time. Instead, they'll look at his work in 2003 and 2004 where he had to work with the likes of Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash, as well as look at some of his more recent stuff, ignoring the fact that he's now in his 40's.

All of this has created an opinion that The Game is both evil and useless. No matter how many times certain criticisms can get contradicted, he'll still remain a hated man in the IWC. And at the end of the day, that's just the way it is.

Over on the Independent circuit, the same kind of hate is brewing over that of Davey Richards. The highly talented wrestler known for his technically sound and hard hitting offence has grown to a lot of criticism over the past year or so.

While there's no denying that Davey Richard’s isn't the most polished wrestler in the world, I think it's fair to say that some of the criticism his wrestling ability gets is a bit much.

Right now, Davey Richards is known as the man who doesn't sell, and uses nothing but garbage MMA offence in his arsenal. And while that criticisms is justifiable at times, I still find it to be over-the-top.

Davey Richards may not be the most consistent seller in wresting, and may not pace a match that well at times (shh, I don't think the haters know that yet), there's no denying that he's a wrestler who works extremely hard. For me, the match that sums up Davey's selling ability the most is his match with Roderick Strong at Final Battle 2010.

Both men fought in a hard-hitting contest which was very even right up until a spot in the match where Davey went crashing through a table. The American Wolf however, continues to fight back, even after being thrown over the barricade and receiving numerous back breakers from his opponent. He kicked out a lot in the final moments of that match, until finally, he was beaten.

Now, while I agree that the ending was a bit an overkill, people go on about his selling as if he got straight back up after everything Roderick hit him with. In reality, Davey was actually helped up by the fans to make the 20 count at one point and also laid on the ground selling a concussion after the match as well.

The beating may have been too much near the end, but at least he sold it to an extent. And that's one of the main criticisms of Davey Richards which I find unjustifiable. People seem content on watching people like The Young Bucks exchange in Super Kick displays with their opponents, as well as watch Kevin Steen fight in numerous hardcore matches which has him standing up afterwards in relatively good condition, but oh, if Davey Richards takes a big beating from his opponent and fights back? Well then he's just a no-selling idiot who doesn't know ring psychology at all.

As much as I love the Indie scene, I find it ironic that there's only one person that gets criticism for wrestling beyond people's belief.

And much like Triple H, although Richards has put on many classic wrestling matches, they are all slowly getting overlooked. But, the fact remains that for the past 4 years Davey Richards has arguably competed in the best match of the year on the Indie circuit for each of them (2009 against KENTA, 2010 against Tyler Black, 2011 against Eddie Edwards and 2012 against Michael Elgin).

I also find it ironic that people who love stiff wrestling, hate Davey's hard-hitting exchanges with his opponents because they're 'too MMA'.

It seems that because Davey has expressed his true liking towards MMA, that everything he does is now influenced by it. In actual fact though, there's nothing that different from the highly popular Richards in 2010, to the Richards of today wrestling wise. It just seems to be people's perception that because he's shown his interest in MMA, he's a totally different man.

And much like Triple, the criticism has now turned to hate for Davey Richards, after news broke out a few months ago that Richards and his 'Team Ambition' crew basically came to a wrestling show, took their money and left.

It's hard to know what went on there that weekend, but for me I think some of those incidents seem to have been blown out of proportion. It's hard for me to imagine that the same Davey who up until then was considered very professional and soft spoken, could be such an arrogant and crooked wrestler who only cared about the money.

And while there's always two sides to a story, a lot of Richards' a lot of people seem to just stick to one story.

That one story, as well as the perception of his wrestling ability, has helped formed a Davey Richards hate group in the IWC. And like Triple H, it all started on rumours and ignorant point of views that were considered both 'smart' and 'cool' to make.

Both men however, will remain popular when they make their way to the ring (given they remain face). But over in the IWC, Davey Richards will be the next induction into the group of wrestlers people just like to hate.