Davey Richards: Why I Turned Down WWE
The former ROH World Champion was scouted in 2013
After an absence of nearly four years, former ROH World Champion Davey Richards recently returned to the wrestling business, signing with MLW.
Once touted as possibly the best pure wrestler on the planet due to his solo work and run with Eddie Edwards as The American Wolves, it’s no surprise that every promotion on the planet has shown an interest in Richards at some point, including WWE.
The Wolves wrestled a try-out match at NXT back in 2013 under the name ‘The American Pitbulls’ but ultimately didn’t sign, choosing to go to TNA instead. Now speaking to the All Real Wrestling podcast, Richards reveals why they chose TNA over WWE:
“We had an offer from both WWE and TNA/Impact,” Richards recalled. “We went down to the WWE training facility in Orlando and they were very kind to us, they were very nice. I mean I didn’t have anything and Eddie’s very Boston and you just have to understand his family’s all from there. He was not digging moving to Florida to and I’m from Washington State; I can barely take St. Louis.
“So Florida’s like… ‘oh god I’m gonna die’ and just living down there, that would have been a little rough for us to commit to that at that point. I was also finishing up my paramedic school so I really wanted to work as a paramedic in addition to wrestling. And then TNA/Impact, they came along and they offered us a good deal. Their schedule was more conducive to both our desires at that time so that’s how the whole thing started.”
Wrestling for WWE was never much of a career goal for Richards anyway:
“…I’ve always said, and it was never meant with any disrespect to WWE, it just wasn’t a big goal of mine. I didn’t grow up watching it. I didn’t watch Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart unfortunately. Bret has subsequently become one of my favourite wrestlers but I just didn’t see that growing up. So absolutely no disrespect but that was just never a prime target of mine. That’s why it was just better for both parties that we didn’t work together in the future.”
H/T: Wrestling Inc.