Davey Richards is starting from scratch and ready to start the next chapter of his wrestling career.
Davey Richards recently spoke with WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo ahead of his return to wrestling with MLW on July 10 in Philadelphia. Richards commented on a number of topics, including why he just needed to take some time away and recharge (and why he was never “retired”), how Cobra Kai (and the film Iron Eagle) inspired his comeback, finding balance in his life, working as a first responder and much more.
During the conversation, Richards talked about some of his favorite memories in the 2300 Arena, site of the MLW Battle Riot III tapings on July 10. He said that he has plenty from his career with Ring Of Honor, but he got a chance to have some unique matches with other promotions too.
“Definitely my 30-minute Iron Man match with Tyler Black [Seth Rollins], that was a big one for me. Me and Eddie [Edwards] had so many good tag matches there, even with other promotions that ran there, like New Japan USA where I wrestled [Hiroshi] Tanahashi. There’s been a lot of cool experiences there. A lot of them with Ring Of Honor, of course,” Richards explained, “but a lot of other promotions too. Dragon Gate USA, I had a really cool match with Yamato, so there’s a lot of good memories there.”
When asked about what sparked his return to wrestling, Richards’ answer featured an unusual source. While he previously explained that knee issues were the reason he’d left the business, he said Netflix’s Cobra Kai and a key scene linking to the 1986 film Iron Eagle helped him put things in perspective.
“I never—the rumor was going around that I retired, but I never retired from anything, I just had to go do something else for a little bit. And I was so inundated with what I was doing as far as school that I hadn’t really thought about wrestling in a couple years,” Richards explained, “but this last year it was just really, really creeping up on me. I was watching my favorite show, Cobra Kai, and the scene where Johnny [Lawrence, Billy Zabka’s character] is watching Iron Eagle, which I’ve seen that movie a million times and never picked up on it—[the line] ‘God doesn’t give people things that He doesn’t want people to use.’ That right there, I just told my wife, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go back.’ And she’s been so supportive, wrestling’s always been a very big part of my life since I was 10, so it feels like coming home.”
Richards also said he didn’t watch any wrestling for about two years during his absence, explaining that not only was he so busy with work and family, but he knew that if he did it’d be like a drug that pulled him right back in. The benefit of that, however, was that it gave him something to catch up on once he made the decision to return and said it’s like starting from scratch again.
Richards will make his MLW debut and return to wrestling at Battle Riot III in Philadelphia; check out our full interview with Davey at the top of this page.
Read More: MLW Battle Riot III To Air For Free On beIN Sports On July 24
