Matt's Classics - PWPonderings

This week we’re taking a look at Davey Richard’s 2008 in Ring of Honor. From tag titles to becoming a Wolf, we’re going to hit a lot of stuff this week. So sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s edition of Matt’s Classics!

Let me start off by saying I didn’t become a huge fan of Davey’s until about mid-2008 when he aligned himself with Larry Sweeney and later went to for The American Wolves, but we’ll get in to that later. It’s not that I wasn’t a fan, because I respected what he did in the ring to be sure. I just wasn’t a fan of his character and I wasn’t high on the NRC. That being said, the NRC came out of the box hot in 2008. At ROH’s No Remorse event on 1/26/08 Davey Richards and Rocky Romero won the tag titles in an Ultimate Endurance match that included the Age of the Fall, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson as well as Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer.

Davey and Romero would hold the titles for about 3 months as they would eventually lose them to The Briscoe Brothers at Ring of Honor’s Injustice event. After losing the titles there began to be a bit of friction amongst the NRC, especially when Larry Sweeney began to try and buy out Roddy Strong and his group as a way to add them to Sweet & Sour Inc. Early in the summer after a victory by Roddy over Erick Stevens, Davey came out and attacked Roderick aligning himself with Larry Sweeney and Sweet & Sour Inc. Davey took a hiatus from ROH after this to go compete in Pro Wrestling NOAH.

When Richards returned to ROH competition in September he resumed his feud with Roderick Strong and the rest of the locker room as S&S Inc was the top heel faction at the time. It was around this time that Larry Sweeney announced on a ROH video wire that Davey Richards would begin partnering with Eddie Edwards in a team that would go on to be known as The American Wolves. In my opinion, when Davey started partnering with Eddie he really hit his stride. His intensity began to hit an all time high and he began to put on great match after great match. The Wolves would go on to engage in feud with both Kevin Steen & El Generico as well as The Briscoes. The Wolves would close out 2008 at Final Battle in a New York Streetfight teaming with Go Shiozaki to take on Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens and Brent Albright. The Wolves and Shiozaki would lose the match when Go tapped out. Throughout the night Davey and Eddie attacked both Mark Briscoe and Kevin Steen going after the knees of both men. The Wolves ended 2008 on a very high note and set up a great 2009.

Here are some matches/events you should take a look at from Davey Richards in ROH in 2008: