Davey Richards Reveals Why He Turned Down WWE & AEW
All the big promotions wanted to work with Richards
Dec 21, 2021
While Davey Richards had been away from professional wrestling since 2017, the former ROH World Champion made a shocking return to the ring earlier this year.
The 38-year-old has since split his time between working for independent wrestling promotions like PWG, PPW and Warrior Wrestling, as well as dates for MLW.
That doesn't mean Richards didn't receive interest from big promotions, though, and The American Wolf revealed to Vickie Guerrero why he turned down offers from WWE and All Elite Wrestling.
"I've been offered a WWE contract three times now. AEW reached out too. I'm a father, so being on the road that much is difficult for me. Plus, for me, I find out in my time in IMPACT, which was great, they treated me very well... I hate TV wrestling. What I mean by that is I hate wrestling five minutes. I don't like wrestling less than 15 minutes. It's just not me, it's not my style. It's nothing wrong with people who do it and do it very well, obviously that's where the money is," Richards said.
"All the respect in the world, that's just not me. I like to get in there and tell stories and things like that. To do that, you can't really go to a big company and be like, 'I'm here to wrestle 15 minutes every night.' 'Sounds good, see you later,'" he continued.
"Now more than ever, there is not that line between the big time and the indies. GCW just sold out the Hammerstein in record time. The independents are recognised prominently by the bigger promotions and that line is blurred. It's not surprising anymore to see your favourite independent wrestler just show up on television. It's more my style and enjoyment. With MLW, I'm given a lot of creative control to just go out there and wrestle for 15 to 20 minutes."
Richards also revealed IMPACT Wrestling reached out to him after he announced his return and while he hasn't appeared inside the IMPACT Zone, his Wolves reunion match with Eddie Edwards in Wrestling Revolver was recently added to IMPACT Plus.
H/T to Fightful
