One of pro wrestling's most underrated talents returns to action in a big-time match on MLW Fusion, Wednesday night on DAZN, as IWA Caribbean Champion Richard Holliday puts the belt on the line against former Dynasty member Gino Medina.
Holiday won the belt from Savio Vega in January in a hard-hitting and controversial strap match that featured former NBA referee Tim Donaghy.
In lieu of his title defense, Holliday discusses the strengths and weakenesses of Medina, being the MLW version of Ric Flair and factions in wrestling.
(Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
DAZN: How did you get started in the business?
Richard Holliday: It was just like anything else. If you want to be a doctor, you go to medical school. You want to be a lawyer, you go to law school. You want to be a professional wrestler, you go to wrestling school. So that's what I did. I went to professional wrestling school and was trained by Paul Roma in Connecticut. For me, he was the perfect trainer. He was somebody that taught me the business inside and out. I had a lot of one on one attention with him. I'm very grateful for my time and my tutelage under Paul Roma.
DAZN: The Chicago White Sox have been the redheaded stepchild for the Chicago Cubs just like the New York Mets have been for your New York Yankees. Would MJF have been the redheaded stepchild to you when he was part of The Dynasty?
RH: The cool thing about The Dynasty, the original Dynasty was when it was myself, (Alex) Hammerstone, and MJF was that we all shared the spotlight equally, and it's something that I don't think that people really thought that we were going to be able to do that. But when we did, and we proved everybody wrong, we became quite possibly the hottest faction in all professional wrestling. In a world where factions are dominating pro wrestling right now. Right? It feels like every time you turn on the television, you're watching another faction form. But when The Dynasty was going, we were the talk of the town.
DAZN: You miss MJF at all?
RH: Of course. Maxwell was such an integral part of The Dynasty and in our development in Major League Wrestling. But as a businessman and a forward thinker, maybe misses isn’t the word. But I do appreciate everything that Max did, and I'll always remember that. But it's onwards and upwards from here.
DAZN: You said something earlier that I thought was quite intriguing. Like you said, every time you turn around, you see another faction. Do you feel like there are too many factions in wrestling, or do you think right now that's kind of where the industry is leaning towards?
RH: I don’t really know if it’s necessarily an industry decision. I do know that factions are plentiful, per se. Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? I don't know. I don't know if there's a right or wrong answer there. I will say that guys like Hammerstone, guys like myself, we wake up every single day wanting to be the best for ourselves. We do coincide quite well as The Dynasty. But the factions of seven, eight people, I guess there are strengths in numbers, but if you need that many people, how strong are you? I think factions are a big part of wrestling. They always have been, but when they're done over and over again, a lot of the luster is taken away from it.
DAZN: You are regarded as one of the best promos in wrestling. It's like you are the modern-day Ric Flair of MLW, because you dress very well and you know how to come into the room and control it with your words on the mic. Where did you draw your inspirations from when you got into wrestling?
RH: That is an interesting question. I think that from a very young age, I've always been able to control a room. I've always been able to articulate well, speak well and have very intellectual conversations with people. Something that's gone in wrestling today is you don't see a lot of people who actually have college degrees walking into a professional wrestling environment. It's evident when you speak to somebody like me that it is just front and center, that I'm an educated individual. I know that I speak well, actually speak better than well. From a presentation standpoint and speaking, I just don't think that anybody in Major League Wrestling can do it the way that I could do it. I do appreciate the comparison to Ric Flair. He's obviously one of the greatest. So that is appreciated. But inspiration, I think I just kind of do it the way that I envisioned it. That's how I've always approached it.
DAZN: I love your background photo on Twitter, as it’s the match with Savio Vega that you won the Caribbean title. I remember once talking to Steve Austin, and he said Savio put him on the map in WWE. How much did it help you being in the ring with someone like Savio Vega?
RH: I think it helps Savio more because he gets in the ring with me and puts his name back in relevancy. I took that IWA Caribbean Championship, and it was a hunk of metal before I had it. I took it and made it probably the most talked-about championship in all of professional wrestling, not just Major League Wrestling. Think about the notoriety that championship has now because of me. I take 100 percent credit for that. People from the outside might say, ‘Oh, Richard got to get in there with Savio’. No, Savio got to rejuvenate his career by getting in the ring with me.
DAZN: That match was widely viewed. It was getting a ton of praise because the match was really good. Do you feel like that was the best match of your career up to this point?
RH: I don't know if I look at it as the best match of my career. I definitely look at it as the match that finally allowed me to shut everybody up. I couldn't stand hearing that I wasn't the rightful Caribbean Champion. I couldn't stand hearing that. I was a real champion the entire time. I had to go out there and prove it. I won that match fair and square. It was the talk of the town. It got picked up by CBS, NBC, ESPN, Sports Illustrated. Everybody wanted to know about this match, and it was such a national headline-making match. How many pro wrestling matches go mainstream the way that we did? That's because of me. IWA can thank me. MLW can thank me. Savio can thank me.
DAZN: You look at the match with Gino coming up on April 14 on MLW Fusion that can be seen on DAZN, and what do you make of Gino Medina’s style of wrestling?
RH: I think that he doesn't breathe rarefied air. I think that he's on dynastic. I think that I used him for the Spanish demographic. I think that I fired him from The Dynasty. I think a lot of things about Gino. His biggest weakness is the fact that he's so on dynastic that it almost makes me throw up when I have to even think about him. His biggest strength? I don't know. Is Gino a good athlete? Yeah. Is he a great wrestler? Yes, or I wouldn't have recruited him to The Dynasty. If he wasn't, I wouldn't have allowed him to breathe that rarefied air for the moments that he did. He's not on my level. He doesn't breathe the rarified air the way that I do. He doesn't have the dynastic qualities that I have.