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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Davey Richards – The American Wolf – Disc 2
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Aries vs. Richards
November 13, 2009
Novi, Michigan
Austin Aries(c) vs. Davey Richards [ROH World Championship]
They took their time getting going. This one goes on for a while in case you didn’t know. They battled on the floor for a bit, and Davey got control of the match there. Aries quickly came back and got control after a diving ax handle. He applied the stump puller~! Aries methodically yet purposelessly worked Davey over for a while. Davey fought back. He got the cross armbreaker, but AA escaped. Aries got control again by going targeting Davey’s left knee. He didn’t really stick with it though, and Aries struggled to maintain control. Davey came back with the Tombstone Styles Clash. Davey went for the SSP, but he missed. He re-injured his knee, and Aries then tore after it again. He was much more focused in his attack this time. Davey was struggling to come back until he got Aries to the floor. Davey then did his tope con HELLO into the crowd. He made his comeback in the ring. Did Davey sell the leg that Aries worked over? Nope. I’m a Davey apologist (if there is such a thing), but this is bad. Aries came back by going after the knee, but Davey no-sold that. DR Driver got Davey a nearfall. Aries hit a brainbuster on the apron. I lost interest in this match by the way. Poor work by Davey here. Davey almost got counted out. Davey hit Kawada kicks in the ring. Aries kept fighting back with knee strikes to the head. Cloverleaf from Davey. They traded a lot of strikes. Crucifix bomb from Aries. Punt to the head. Corner IED kick. Aries used brainbusters, knee strikes, and the Last Chancery to finish Davey.
This was Davey at his absolute worst. Everything that would make him a terrible babyface for the next four years was on display here. The match featured Aries working over Davey’s leg for a long period of time, and the commentators were trying to put over that even more than the work deserved (Aries was too sporadic about it early on). Davey came back with a running dive and proceeded to not even pretend to sell the leg. Like, even shitty leg-sellers like BxB Hulk and Kota Ibushi try to sell the leg between their ridiculous movez. Davey didn’t do even do that! That would be merely be bad. This was an exceptionally horrific performance on his part. All plans to make Davey a babyface singles, main event wrestler should have been completely scrapped after this one.
Match Rating: *
Anniversary Show
New York City, New York
February 13, 2010
Davey Richards vs. El Generico
Shane Hagadorn came out with Davey. Generico was in the very beginning of his feud with Kevin Steen. Colt Cabana came out to the ring with Generico. Davey was a god to the crowd at the time.
Davey was not willing to follow the Code of Honor. Generico was a little hesitant at the start. Davey was in control at the start. Cabana pumped Generico up, and Generico was then able to get some offense in. Davey and Generico traded some strikes. Davey managed to send a Generico arm into the ring apron and a ringpost. Davey then hit a Yakuza that sent Generico into the crowd. Davey brought Generico back in the ring to work over Generico’s injured arm. Generico was eventually able to dump Davey to the floor, and he then took him out with a tope con hello. Back in the ring, Generico got a nearfalls with a diving crossbody and a michinoku driver. Generico went for a DDT, but Davey reversed it into a armbar. Generico escaped, but Davey got another armbar. Generico escaped again. Generico went for a Yakuza, but Davey caught him with an exploder into the corner. Davey then got a nearfall with a lariat. Generico blocked an Alarm Kick. Generico then hit a Yakuza and a half-nelson suplex, but Davey came back with a brainbuster. Davey went for a shooting star, but Generico avoided it and came back with a Yakuza. Generico called for the turnbuckle brainbuster, but Davey fought back with head buts. Generico got Davey caught him in the Tree of Joey Lawrence. Generico then hit the coast-to-coast somersault dropkick: 1…2…NO! Davey came back with a middle rope German and a bridging German: 1…2…NO! Davey then hit a Buzzsaw Kick: 1…2…NO! Davey got a kimura, but Generico reversed into a pin for a nearfall. Davey then got a cross armbreaker! Generico taps out!
Old Review: I love this match to death. The crowd wasn’t as molten as I expected given their response to Davey’s entrance, but these two put on an excellent match to honor (see what I did there!?!?!?) ROH’s spirit on their anniversary show. At the time, these were two of the best wrestlers in the world, and they showed why here. With that in mind, it’s really unfortunate to see how much Davey’s stock has fallen since this show. A lot of that was self-inflicted, but ROH really blew it with him in a lot of ways.
(Wow, I sound like a complete dunderhead in that review.)
New Review: This was a really solid match. Davey was so obviously much more comfortable working heel, and Generico was in an even-more sympathetic position than usual due to the recent Kevin Steen betrayal. That’s a long way of saying that the dynamic was rock-solid. I would have liked for Davey to be more focused on targeting the arm, but that’s a relatively minor nitpick.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Watch this match here.
Epic Encounter
Mississauga, Ontario
March 20, 2010
Davey Richards vs. Kenny Omega
Davey hit the tope con hello into the crowd with thirty seconds. Omega fought back quickly, but Davey cut him off soon after. Davey worked him over for a while. Omega made his comeback after blocking the handspring enzuigiri. Davey came back by going after the left arm. Kenny came back with a running Asai Moonsault into the crowd. Omega then did his FameAsser variation on a table that did not break. They started going back and forth in the ring as if they were completely fresh. Things slowed down after that burst of offense. Omega avoided the Angle super German and hit a flurry of offense. Davey then got his flurry of offense. Omega tried for Croyt’s Wrath, but Davey avoided it several times and kept going for the kimura. Kenny finally hit, but Davey kicked out and applied the kimura. Kenny tapped out.
I don’t inherently hate the concept of how these guys work (or worked during this time period). They worked fast and put an emphasis on movez rather than selling. There’s a way to do that very well. This was not it. There was no sense of pacing or timing; there would be random periods of “dead air” so to speak. Instead of incorporating the HUGE dives in a manner that could contribute to a story, they were basically thrown in just to do them. This wasn’t terrible, but I did not enjoy it.
Match Rating: **1/4
The Big Bang!
Charlotte, North Carolina
April 3, 2010
Davey Richards vs. Kenny King (w/ Rhett Titus) [Pick Six]
I have very fond memories of this one. Hope they’re not about to be tarnished.
Davey had control early on. He was very over. Titus had to interfere to get Kenny the advantage. Kenny worked him over for a while. Davey came back after hitting a diving headbutt. Davey started going after the left leg. Kenny stayed competitive though. Davey kicked Titus after he tried to interfere again. Kenny blocked Davey’s dive into the crowd and then hit a springboard blockbuster for a nearfall. Davey came back with an ankle lock. Pinning combo trade. Davey avoided the Coronation (Street!?!?!?) and got the ankle lock again. He transitioned to the Cloverleaf, and Kenny had to tap.
This was some mindless fun. If they had cut out a few gratuitous minutes towards the end, it would have been even better. Davey’s style was always much better-suited for shorter matches.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies
Chicago Ridge, Illinois
April 24, 2010
Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong [Pick Six]
There were a sea of Davey/Roddy matches from 2008 through 2011. This one stands out for Davey doing a dive into a guardrail.
They battled for control early on. Roddy got control first. Davey fought back, but Roddy appeared to cut him off again. Davey fought back again and eventually applied a cloverleaf. Roddy survived, but Davey now had momentum. Davey went for the dive and did in fact crash into the barricade. So dumb! They teased a double countout, but that obviously did not come to pass. They traded strikes and just generally went back and forth. The bell rang. Time limit draw? Yes, time limit draw. Davey had just seemed to get the advantage after a buzzsaw kick.
Davey wanted to continue. Roddy did not.
This was fine and inoffensive. It just was not particularly interesting nor memorable (besides the crazy dive from Davey).
Match Rating: **1/2
Death Before Dishonor
Toronto, Ontario
June 19, 2010
Tyler Black(c) vs. Davey Richards [ROH World Championship]
Davey was mostly a step ahead of Tyler early on. Tyler fought back and hit a tope con hello. Tyler then worked him over. RUBIK’S CUBE~! Davey fought back and his tope con HELLO into the crowd. They got back into the ring and traded strikes. Davey got control. Tyler tried to go for the Phoenix Splash, but Davey avoided it. Davey got an ankle lock twice. They did the Dynamite Suplex. Davey gave him a yakuza and then tried to recover in the ring. Shane Hagadorn came to the ringside area to hit Tyler with a chair. Tyler superkicked the chair into Davey’s face. They then battled on the apron. Tyler hit the Paroxysm to the floor. Davey struggled into the ring. Tyler hit God’s Last Gift: 1…2…NO! Buckle bomb! Tyler went for the kneeling superkick, but Davey reversed it into a cloverleaf. Tyler reversed it into a small package for a nearfall. They traded a bunch of strikes. Davey hit a buckle bomb and then a buzzsaw. DR Driver: 1…2…NO! Tyler hit a double stomp on the ring apron. Buckle bomb. Kneeling superkick. Davey still survived. He finally finished him with a wrist-clutch God’s Last Gift.
This is a weird match. Unlike the Aries vs. Richards match, I actually didn’t think Davey did a bad job here as the de facto babyface. He didn’t have to sell a limb, and he sold the exhaustion of the battle just well enough at times. The structure of the match was weird though, and they lost me in the final ten to fifteen minutes of the match. I think the idea was that Tyler, being the better athlete, just outlasted Davey based on being better all around. They didn’t use the action of the match tell the story. It was a part of the match around the margins, but so much of the action just felt random and done for the sake of it.
I do not think I’ve done an adequate job of explaining why I this match didn’t click with me much. I apologize for that. To put it simply: it went for a very long time, and I was bored throughout the second half of the match.
Match Rating: **1/2
Watch Davey matches for free!
Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi
Davey Richards vs. Jushin Liger
Davey Richards vs. El Generico
Davey Richards vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
Davey Richards vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Davey Richards, Chris Hero, & Eddie Edwards vs. KENTA, El Generico, & Kevin Steen
Davey Richards vs. Sami Callihan
Davey Richards vs. Jonathan Gresham
Davey Richards vs. Kyle Matthews
Davey Richards & No Limit vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt, & Ryusuke Taguchi
