Stevie Richards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 12.41.14.138 (talk) at 17:31, 22 February 2007 (→‎Extreme Championship Wrestling). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For similar names see the disambiguation page Stephen Richards
Michael Manna
File:StevieRichardsECW.jpg
BornOctober 9, 1971
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Steve Richards
Stevie Richards
Big Stevie Cool
Steven Richards
Billed height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Trained byMike Sharpe
DebutFebruary 25, 1992

Michael Manna (born October 9, 1971) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand. Best known by his ring name, Steven "Stevie" Richards, Manna has previously worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and, briefly, World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Career

Extreme Championship Wrestling

On February 25, 1992, Steven Richards had the honor of being one of the participants in the first ever ECW match, in a 20-minute time limit draw with Jimmy Jannetty.

Stevie Richards was discovered at Iron Mike Sharps wrestling school in Brick NJ by the Dan Haney of the World Wide Wrestling Alliance based out of Colmar/Hatfield PA. Stevie, had honed his skills in the WWWA, and then he was discovered by ECW and got his shot with them.

Before the arrival of Raven in ECW, "Dancin'" Stevie Richards had a 'meta-gimmick' of mockingly adopting the persona of other wrestlers.

ECW announcer/color commentator Joey Styles frequently described the Richards character as a "clueless putz".

When it was announced that Scott Levy, then known by relatively lightweight gimmicks (ie, Scotty 'the Body' Anthony, Scotty Flamingo, and Johnny Polo), was coming to ECW, Richards began adopting and mocking those gimmicks. One of the first things Levy did in ECW in his new gimmick as Raven was thrash "Stevie Flamingo" soundly.

From that point out, Steven Richards acted as a flunkie for Raven in ECW, calling him "Boss".

After a dog collar match against The Pitbulls, which Richards lost, Stevie was thought of as a major superstar. Raven was in the locker room for most of that match.

Richards was also part of the bWo, a parody of the nWo. At one point, he hinted that he was bringing the band KISS [1] to perform. It ended up being the bWo in KISS regalia, lip-synching. This was quickly 'cleaned up' by The Sandman.

The highlight of his ECW career was perhaps participating in the main event of the first ECW pay-per-view, Barely Legal. He wrestled Terry Funk and The Sandman in a Three Way Dance to determine the number one contender to the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Richards would also do a telephone line for ECW under the name, Lloyd Van Buren. However, he would not wrestle under that name.

World Championship Wrestling

In May of 1997, Stevie suffered a neck injury so severe that he announced his retirement, before miraculously recovering and signing with WCW. Many people, especially Paul Heyman, debate the legitimacy of the injury to this day. Stevie wrestled briefly as a member of Raven's Flock but failed his physical exams and left WCW in October of the same year.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Stevie Richards, with the bWo, was one of the first ECW performers to perform on WWF programming, during a cross-promotional appearance.

In 1999, Richards went to the WWF in a full-time capacity. He would make his WWF debut on the August 15, 1999 episode of Sunday Night HEAT. After briefly using the Dude Love persona (he asked Mick Foley if he could use it and Foley agreed), being associated with the Dudley Boyz, bringing back the mocking gimmick, and teaming up with his old partner Blue Meanie, Richards got a haircut and formed a heel stable called Right to Censor (based on the WWF's then problems with the Parents Television Council organization). He changed his name to Steven Richards and became a manager for the many wrestlers that he recruited. When Chyna was featured in Playboy magazine, Richards demanded a match between Chyna's associate Eddie Guerrero and Val Venis. After Chyna had pantsed Richards leaving him in his white socks and blue briefs, costing Venis the match, Richards and his stable feuded against her.

Soon after the Right to Censor stable broke up, Richards joined The Alliance as the manager of KroniK briefly before Kronik was released. Richards remained on the brand's "B" shows until Team Alliance lost at Survivor Series 2001. Richards was fired along with the rest of the alliance roster (kayfabe) by Vince McMahon until Ric Flair was able to save his job and get him drafted over to the RAW brand. There Steven Richards began using the gimmick of a psychotic jobber and became a 22-time Hardcore Champion trading it several times with Bubba Ray Dudley, Booker T, Crash Holly, Shawn Stasiak, Justin Credible, Bradshaw, Terri, and Tommy Dreamer.

Richards eventually formed an alliance with Victoria in late 2002 as a psychotic couple helping each other win their matches. Richards also helped Victoria retain her WWE Women's Championship.

As Victoria started to turn face, the duo quietly separated. Richards made a name for himself as one of the mainstays of Sunday Night HEAT and became the self-proclaimed "General Manager" of "Stevie Night HEAT". After the death of Richard's friend Crash Holly, Richards would wear tights with a similar design to the ones worn by Crash, as a tribute.

Richards's role as a jobber has been at times physically tasking and he was legitimately injured during the RAW debut match of Chris Masters in February 2005. After returning from injury, Richards faced Masters in a rematch but lost to Masters for a second time.

Richards made an appearance at the ECW reunion event ECW One Night Stand 2005, reuniting with his bWo comrades and proclaiming "We have only three words for you. We're – taking – over!"

Richards was traded to SmackDown! on June 30, 2005 and reprised the bWo group with Nova and The Blue Meanie. At the 2005 Great American Bash, the bWo lost to the Mexicools (Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis and Super Crazy) in a six-man tag team match.

Richards went on to become the main eventer of WWE Velocity (much like his time on HEAT) and began slowly dropping the bWo gimmick. After a while Steven Richards would not be used on WWE SmackDown! or even WWE Velocity, disappearing for over half a year. Richards made his return to the ring during an 18-Man pre-show Battle Royal before WrestleMania 22.

With the redevelopement of the ECW brand in 2006, Richards would soon leave the Smackdown! brand to join the other members of the ECW brand; making his first appearance as part of the new brand during the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head show on June 7, 2006. Richards would go on to appear on ECW's weekly show under his old ring name of Stevie Richards, though his Titantron video and the on-screen display would still refer to him as Steven.

Richards would soon fit back into his heel persona acting as a sell out to the other ECW originals and siding with the newer stars. Stevie Richards picked up his first win on ECW's weekly show on September 5, 2006 against Balls Mahoney after interference from Kevin Thorn, who was feuding with Mahoney at the time.

Richards was part of the new ECW brand's first pay-per-view December to Dismember; participating in the pre-PPV dark match. He defeated Rene Dupree in what many in attendance felt was one of the best matches of the night[citation needed].


Wrestling facts

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Managers
  • Nicknames
  • The Original King of Swing
  • Big Stevie Cool
  • Parody characters
  • Quotes
  • "We're - taking - over!"
  • "All Stevie, all night, nothin' but HEAT!"
  • "I'll show you. You'll see."
  • "That is wrong."
  • "This is fucked up, (Blue) Meanie!"
  • "I don't want to be here. It smells like old cheese."
  • Wrestlers managed

Championships and accomplishments

  • Allied Powers Wrestling Federation
  • 1-time APWF Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time HWA Heavyweight Champion
  • Liberty All-Star Wrestling
  • 1-time LAW Heavyweight Champion
  • Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation
  • 1-time MEWF Heavyweight Champion
  • Steel City Wrestling
  • 2-time SCW Tag Team Champion (1-time with Frank Stalletto, 1-time with The Blue Meanie)
  • Ultimate Championship Wrestling
  • 1-time UCW Heavyweight Champion

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stevie_Richards&oldid=110105472"