Coffee Is For Closers
Richard Holliday prepares for his pay-per-view debut.
I first saw Richard Holliday at the 22nd annual Super 8 Tournament.
In a field with global stars like Chase Owens and Cheeseburger, as well as ECWA regulars like Mike Law and Ty Awesome, Holliday was a virtual unknown to the Delaware crowd. His entrance was met with silence as he sauntered into the Asbury United Methodist Church. At 6’3 and 237 pounds, the toned athlete certainly looked like a future WWE Superstar, drawing comparisons to a young Randy Orton.
He wasn’t a breathtaking high flyer or wild brawler, and he could care less about pleasing the crowd. Defeating Bolt Brady in the quarterfinals and Anthony Greene in the semifinals, Holliday was focused only on victory. As he met Owens in the finals, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Bullet Club member would take the trophy back to New Japan.
However, the “Most Marketable Man in Professional Wrestling” stunned the crowd with the biggest win in his career to that point.
“When you look at the lineage of Super 8 winners, it’s a laundry list of all-time greats,” Holliday told The Wrestling Estate. “Naturally, you can throw my name in there as well. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that each and every one of those consumers who saw me for the first time that night are following my career and seeing where I’m at now. I’m happy that they didn’t know who I was because they most certainly know who I am now.”
Eighteen months later, Holliday is a founding member of The Dynasty, the top group in MLW. One-half of the MLW World Tag Team Champions, along with Maxwell Jacob Friedman, he’s one of the hottest rising stars in the sport, appearing on beIN Sports every week and defending gold in independent promotions throughout the United States and around the world. “We are the first tag team in MLW to truly make it world champions because we defended the titles in Tijuana, Mexico,” Holliday says. “We should rightfully go down as the greatest team in MLW history just for that alone.”
After losing to Fred Yehi and Joey Ryan in 2018, along with a brief run in the inaugural Battle Riot, Holliday became a major player in MLW this past February. He joined forces with MJF, attacking World Middleweight Champion Teddy Hart backstage at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. A couple of entitled millennials, they come across as preppy childhood friends who played tennis together at the country club. “Max and I are extraordinarily like-minded, so the pairing was very organic and worked out extremely well for both of us,” Holliday says. “MJF is certainly somebody not a lot of people get along with. However, we have a great relationship and we’re a hell of a team.”
A month later, The Dynasty added some muscle. Relative newcomer Alexander Hammerstone interfered in their Tag Team Title match, blasting Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Hart with a steel chair. Since then, The Dynasty and Hart Foundation have waged war in a tables match, ladder match, two out of three falls, you name it. The final battle takes place on November 2 at MLW Saturday Night SuperFight, as Hammerstone defends the National Openweight Championship against Smith Jr. “Hammer is a really, really special talent,” Holliday says. “Talk about a guy that has it all: the look, the in-ring ability and the ability to talk. We’ve gotten extraordinarily close ever since The Dynasty started. If you hate us, that’s too bad. I don’t see why you’d hate us. If you love us, then great. Either way, we’re going to be the best thing on television today.”
Away from the camera, the Connecticut native remains a silver-tongued blue chipper fueled by caffeine and vainglory. A former offensive lineman, he played NCAA Division II football at the University of New Haven before transferring to Southern Connecticut State University. That’s where he got his degree in marketing. “I understand marketing, consumers and business and how all three of those correlate to professional wrestling,” Holliday says. “When you ask somebody what you look for in a professional wrestler, I believe I have all the intangible qualities that go along with that, as well as the tangible qualities. In my head, that’s the truth and that’s what resonates with the consumers as well.”
Trained by Paul Roma, Holliday broke into the business at Paradise Alley Professional Wrestling, just two blocks away from his home. He made his debut on August 1, 2015, and yes, he’s already accomplished more than most wrestlers could ever dream of. “There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be where I am right now,” Holliday says. “I had all the confidence in the world since the day I started training. I recommend to anybody looking to get involved in professional wrestling, if you have any doubt that you’re going to be a success and an attraction, then don’t do it. It’s far too dangerous to think anything less of yourself.”
Now, he’s just a week away from making his pay-per-view debut at MLW Saturday Night SuperFight in Chicago. He and MJF will defend the gold against Ross and Marshall Von Erich, the sons of WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Von Erich. (They also happened to compete in this year’s Super 8.) It will be a Texas Tornado match, in which no tags are needed and the action never stops.
“This is going to be an epic clash of personalities for sure,” Holliday says. “You’ll never catch the Von Erichs dressed to the nines at a Starbucks and you’ll certainly never catch me walking around barefoot. They come from possibly the greatest wrestling family ever, they know this business, they’re exceptional athletes and they’re a helluva get for MLW. But they’re not taking the titles off Max and I. No way, no how.”
Speaking of MJF, you have to wonder what his mindset is heading into MLW’s first pay-per-view. He’s currently pulling double duty by also competing in AEW, which has its Full Gear pay-per-view just one week later. “I just let Max be Max,” Holliday says. “He’s doing great in both MLW and AEW. Whatever he wants to do and wherever life takes him, I’m happy for him and I’m proud of him. I’m just happy that he’s still representing MLW as best he can with The Dynasty.”
If Holliday’s lawyer / father can change the match to a Dynasty tornado tag (“still ironing out the details”), and if The Dynasty can turn back the challenge of the Von Erichs, the nefarious group plans on taking MLW to new heights in 2020 and beyond.
“I think MLW is actually going to develop a hall of fame and we’ll be the first inductees, even though we’re all active wrestlers,” Holliday says.
MLW: Saturday Night SuperFight starts at 8 p.m. ET /5 p.m. PT and will be offered in HD for a suggested price of $19.95.
The PPV will be available to stream live worldwide and on demand at FITE TV. You can pre-order at: MLW.tv. The PPV will also be available on all major cable and satellite systems as well digital pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, Vubiquity DIRECTV and DISH.
Major League Wrestling: FUSION, airs Saturday nights 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on beIN SPORTS in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Wrestling fans in the United Kingdom and Ireland can watch FUSION on FreeSports Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. In Israel, FUSION airs at 6:10 p.m. on Ego Total. MLW FUSION also airs on StarTimes in Africa.
You can also watch MLW Fusion on YouTube on Saturdays at 10 p.m. EST.
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