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Richard Holliday is one of the top wrestlers on the independent scene and has garnered several championships across several promotions since he started his pro wrestling career.
Holliday was most recently the Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) heavyweight champion before he lost the title to Killer Kross last month. He was also ranked No. 112 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s top 500 singles wrestlers in 2021.
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The Connecticut native opened up about his career in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
“Richard Holliday is the top independent professional wrestler in the world today,” he said. “It goes without saying but I have no problem saying it because it’s true. … In November 2014, Paul Roma and Mario Mancini opened a professional wrestling school legitimately two blocks from my house and at the time I was playing football in college, D-II football for the University of New Haven.
Richard Holliday gives the crowd the business at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event. (Jay Vogel)
“I always knew I wanted to be a professional wrestler, but at that time I was transitioning out of playing football. I didn’t want to play football anymore. I wanted to get into the ring. And I don’t know, by divine intervention or just by chance, a school opened up two blocks from my house and it kinda felt like the universe was saying, ‘Here you go kid, now’s your time.’”
Holliday said the allure of pro wrestling is what drew him into the sport. He said it gave him the opportunity to showcase all of his abilities, aside from just his athleticism.
“To me, professional wrestling is the greatest thing in the world,” he said. “Obviously, I think it’s the greatest form of live entertainment but I just think it’s above everything else. I couldn’t think of any other career path where I could really sink my teeth into and have all my skill sets really be portrayed the way that I can in professional wrestling – from my creative prowess, to my athleticism, to being in front of a live audience to my marketing, my management, everything.
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“Pro wrestling has taught me so much about myself. Not in terms of what you see on screen but off screen – managing my own business, being an independent wrestler, being my own boss. So, I manage everything and it takes a lot of skill and a lot of self-discipline in order to do so to make it in this industry. I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. So, just from a young age, it’s always what I wanted to do.”
Holiday is now billed as the “most marketable man” in pro wrestling.
He boasts thousands of followers across several social media platforms and his natural ability in front of the camera gave him the opportunity to perform in ACW.
Richard Holliday nails his opponent in Awesome Championship Wrestling. (Smoothlenz photography)
“I’m from Connecticut, and then The Now – Vik (Dalishus) and Hale (Collins) – they’re both New York guys so we’ve shared locker rooms up and down the road for several years,” he told Fox News Digital. “When they started this venture, I was one of the first people they reach out to. They’re like, ‘Hey man, what you’re doing is awesome, right now, and we want you to be part of Awesome Championship Wrestling.’ It was very apropos.”
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Holliday is set to appear at ACW Reckoning next week in Poughkeepsie, New York, against Andrade El Idolo, a star with All Elite Wrestling and the New Japan Pro-Wrestling IWGP global heavyweight champion. He said the bout is just the latest in the string of marquee matches he’s been involved in.
“Really over the past year I’ve had this rise on social media where a lot of my popularity has been gained through what I post on social media each and every day. Showing up everyday and having really entertaining things on the platform such as Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and TikTok – things of that nature,” Holliday said. “And, it’s not lost on me that I gain new fans from social media and a lot of them may not have ever seen me wrestle in person, which is cool because now it allows them to be like, hey, I saw this guy online and I want to go see him wrestle. So, I think that’s kind of the point of social media is to attract new fans, which is great. But, ultimately, we want to get them in the door to see the live action.
“Now, I wrestle every weekend, but every time I wrestle for ACW, it really seems like these really big, marquee matches. I’ve wrestled the likes of Matt Cardona, Matt Riddle, Killer Kross, Mike Santana. The matches get bigger and bigger and now I’m wrestling Andrade. So, what I really would love, and I know is going to happen, is if anyone were to tune into my previous ACW matches, go watch the catalog, they’ve uploaded a lot of the library on YouTube or you can go on Triller and watch these matches, is me proving how exceptional of a professional wrestler I am. How truly I am one of the best at my craft. If you want to consider me a technical wrestler, a tactical wrestler, I don’t really care what kind of wrestler you want to consider me. I don’t ever label myself, I just get in the ring and do what I do at a very high level.
Richard Holliday plays to the crowd at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event. (Smoothlenz photography)
“So, me and Andrade, is it a clash of styles? I don’t know. Is it a dream match? I’m sure to some people, absolutely. This is a massive match to go down at the MJN Center, just like every Richard Holliday match that ever happens at the MJN Center. It is going to be one to watch. It is going to be a spectacle.”
Ben Bishop, Steph De Lander, Indi Hartwell, Mance Warner and The Righteous are among those who will be on the ACW Reckoning card.
The professionalism of ACW is what separates the promotion from everyone else, according to Holliday.
“It is up and away the most professional independent professional wrestling promotion that I’ve ever wrestled for and I truly mean that. It is TV quality production,” he said. “Backstage, everybody gets taken care of. It’s so great from the catering, the locker room is spacious and comfortable and it’s the most professional environment I’ve been a part of on the independent scene. I almost don’t want to put them in the independent category because that’s how much they stand above everybody else.”
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ACW Reckoning will take place the MJN Center on May 16.