In PWPonderings’ latest exclusive interview, Scott Mitchell (@Scott44Mitchell) sits down with Richard Holliday (@MostMarketable) to discuss his upcoming match at Fight Life Pro with Alec Price, Exodus Pro, his upcoming Steel Cage match with Charles Mason at GCW’s “The People vs. GCW” at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and so much more. Check it out in its entirety below.

On Thursday, you’ll defend your Fight Life World Championship against Alec Price. What’s your mindset heading into that match and working with Price?

“I’ve been in the ring with Alec Price on numerous occasions, and he’s a worthy opponent, but none worthy to me. I’m the King of Fight Life, ever since I beat Masha Slamovich for that championship, nobody has been able to beat me. Some people think I’ve had some questionable outcomes, taken some devious turns in my matches, and maybe taken the easy way out, but they’re just jealous. I just keep winning. I’m the champion for a reason, and someone who is the standard bearer for that company. People are stepping up to try and beat me and dethrone me, but I just don’t see it happening. There’s a lot of talk about who’s the best wrestler from New England, and I think my name gets lost in the shuffle so much because I’m worldwide, I’m not just a New England-based wrestler. Now that I’m champion of a New England-based company, I think more people should be saying Richard Holliday is the top guy and I prove it every time I step into a ring.”

What was it like working with Masha Slamovich and winning that championship from her?

“She’s an absolute ass-kicker. That goes without saying. She’s as tough as they come. Male or female, it does not matter. She will hit you and she will hit you hard. The key to beating her is hitting her harder than she hits you, and that’s what I did. Also, I’m a very smart and tactical wrestler. I’m very tactical in my approach. It’s a lot of tape study. I’m like a quarterback getting ready for a defense. I look for weaknesses and try to exploit them, what are my strengths in comparison to them, and what is my game plan heading into the match. I had an excellent game plan with Masha, it also helps that I’m like 200lbs heavier than her. She was the champion for well over a year and had some of the best matches in Fight Life history. I’d say the best match she had was her losing effort to me, I think that was the match of the year for Fight Life.”

So far, you’ve retained your Fight Life World Championship over Anthony Greene, Ricky Smokes, and JT Dunn, a who’s who if you will of New England stars. What’s next for you in Fight Life, and who’s left?

“I love teaching people a lesson in humility and understanding that not everyone is going to be the same as Richard Holliday. I have God-given ability. I’m a supreme athlete, extremely smart, and extremely tactical. For someone to get in the ring with me it’s a challenge. It’s got to be a very daunting task of needing to stand across the ring from Richard Holliday. I don’t envy any opponent that I have. Anthony Greene, Ricky Smokes, and JT Dunn are all very credible opponents, all championship-caliber opponents, but when they get in the ring with me they’re breathing rarefied air. It’s just a different feel. The mood changes when I’m in the ring. When I make my entrance the tone changes, and the fans understand that. It’s just a different feeling.”

On Saturday, you’ll be wrestling on Exodus Pro in a six-man tag team match. What’s your mindset heading into this?

“I should be the NWA Worlds Champion. My first encounter for the belt with EC3, which was the match of the year for Exodus Pro didn’t end up going my way. I believe that was because of a referee who wasn’t fit to be in that position. He screwed me, plain and simple. I don’t know if he got a tip from Billy or whatever the case may be, but I didn’t leave that evening as Worlds Champion. Then came the triple threat match with EC3 and Thom Latimer. Again, I had an approach that I took and the referee threw the match out. Why would he do that? Why would he take away that moment from the fans? We all knew I was going to become the NWA Worlds Champion that night. That was taken away from us. The NWA keeps leaching off of my buzz. We’re going live on YouTube. It seems like every time I’m in a marquee match, they decide to broadcast Exodus Pro live on YouTube. I don’t see a lot of their other shows going live on YouTube. NWA, why don’t you give me my flowers once and for all? I just go about my business. If other businesses want to leach onto that, it’s fine.”

Sunday night, GCW heads to the Hammerstein Ballroom once again for one of its biggest shows of the year, “The People vs. GCW.” You will be going one-on-one with Charles Mason inside of a Steel Cage. What’s your mindset heading into this match?

“There’s a lot of emotions heading into that match. The first thing, I’m having a Steel Cage match in the Hammerstein Ballroom. A lot of wrestlers in the industry are envious of this position. I think that within itself is an accomplishment. I’m having a marquee match in such a historic arena, cool. But, it’s against Charles Mason. I don’t like him. I really don’t. The whole thing with ‘Rich and Powerful’ was he tried to get in my head when I first got into GCW, and I didn’t like that very much. I don’t like when people try and manipulate me. I’m the manipulator. I knew I had to infiltrate from within. I had to make him believe we are one in the same. We’re not the same. His whole thing was Richard, I know who you are, and I know what you’ve done and what you’ve done in the past, referencing me stabbing my friends in the back for women, championships or money. He was correct in that investigation of my past. But the difference between us is he’s obsessed with the poor in the sense of he wants to eradicate the poor. He cares so much about them that he bases his whole life and persona around that. Me? I hardly even know they exist. If someone asks me for change on the street I just walk right by them and don’t even acknowledge them. If that were to happen to Charles, he would make this whole ordeal. Dude, we are not the same. Our priorities are totally different. I’m in this industry to be the best, be number one, to win championships, headline Hammerstein Ballroom, make money, leave a mark as one of the best to ever do this. I don’t know what his intentions are. Get into politics if that’s really what you want to do. He is very talented in the ring. He could be someone who takes wrestling by storm and someone who goes all over the place because he’s extremely talented. For some reason or another he’s obsessed with these certain things. I think it’s a psychological disorder and he should probably be on some sort of medication or better yet in prison. He really shouldn’t be out on the streets. How he’s even in this match-up is still beyond me. Me and Charles aren’t the same. For him to even think that we were is an insult to me.”

When “Rich and Powerful” was first born, what was your guys goal?

“That’s the thing, he didn’t have a goal, I did. We go to Limitless Wrestling and I wanted to be the top tag team there. He was worried about the bum outside of the building. GCW, there are Tag Team Championships in GCW. Why didn’t we ever wrestle for them? It’s because he wasn’t focused. He didn’t care. Gold around his waist? That didn’t matter to him. It matters to me though. Right after I’m done with him, my goal is to be the GCW World Champion. I’m done playing around with him. I’m going to teach him a lesson. I challenged him to a regular match. I wanted to just have a regular match. Do you want to get in the cage with me? I’ll show you what I can do. He thinks he’s the only sick one? I have a screw loose too. I just know how to tighten the bolt when I get into the ring. He’s in for a rude awakening.”

Why did you and Parrow maintain that relationship when Mason drifted out?

“Because Parrow was manipulated by Charles. Charles would never allow Parrow to spread his wings and show what he could do. As you saw in Rochester, I gave Parrow the opportunity to get Charles Mason. Now he didn’t finish the job, I had to finish the job. Charles didn’t do that. Charles used him. I’m allowing Parrow to show his true colors and show his true potential. Parrow likes me better. I’m funnier than Charles, better to hang out with, I’m cooler, we do more fun things. Charles was just lame and spoke about poor people all the time.”

What goes through your head when you hear about how Mason and the GCW commentary team say that you “snitched” on him and you’re “ducking” him?

“That’s the misinterpretation here. Charles is a sneak. That’s the worst kind of person you could be is to sneak up on another man. If you noticed in Los Angeles or New Jersey, he snuck up on me. Now, in Rochester, I called him out. I’m not afraid of him. I don’t like to be snuck up on. I’m a professional wrestler. I know who my opponent is. I don’t get snuck up in the ring. If Charles wants to meet me in the ring face-to-face or man-to-man, I’ll do that seven days a week. I’ll handle that business easily. When you sneak up on me and show me you’re a little sneak and a little B-I-T-C-H, that’s the worst kind of person.”

Charles Mason is certainly no stranger to mind games. He tricked you and Parrow on New Year’s Eve when he sent out Parrow’s husband in a mask to trick you both. What happened?

“Charles actually snuck into a mans home and kidnapped Parrow’s husband. Fans are cheering for this guy and booing me, it just makes no sense to me. I don’t blame Parrow for what he did, it was like a bull seeing red, or in this case orange and I did tell him to go after him. But, I don’t blame him for what he did. He needed to get at Charles, we both thought that was Charles. It ended up being in husband who was probably coerced or drugged or manipulated by Charles to doing that. It just shows you the low-life that Charles is. The real putrid human being that he is. When we enter Hammerstein there will probably be close to 1,500 people there, and if I hear even one person cheering for Charles I’m going to think they’re just as low-life as Charles and just as bad of a person. It should be 1,500 people giving me a standing ovation for what I did and booing Charles. Then honestly the police should show up. But if they don’t and it’s just me teaching him a lesson, there should be 1500 people beside me cheering me on.”

What are you hoping to accomplish at Hammerstein with Charles Mason?

“I want to end this. I want this to be over. I want this chapter of my life to close. No better way to do that then at the Hammerstein Ballroom inside of a Steel Cage. I’m not a sick individual, but I’m telling you this I’m walking out in one piece, feeling just as good as I did when I walked in, looking just as good as I did when I walked in, and I’m going to leave a victor. It’s going to say in the history books that Richard Holliday defeated Charles Mason. Then that idiot can go back to whatever the hell he wants to do with some poor individual outside of Hammerstein Ballroom. Go do that, and let me accomplish all the great things I’m going to in this industry, and you go back to beating up somebody in the subway.”

What are your future goals for this year and do you have any future opponents you’d like to face?

“There’s tons of potential first-time matches that haven’t happened with a lot of great individuals. But, I tend to just think that it’s not so much about the first-time matches that could happen, it’s just getting Richard Holliday in the building. When that happens, it’s a show for the people. You can tell by the ovations I get wherever I go all over the world. Like I said before, it’s just different when Richard Holliday is in the building. The goals are what they always are. Continue the growth of what I do, and continue to make history. I’m going back over to the UK, I hope to go to more countries. I had 107 matches in 2024, let’s see if I could top that this year, and let’s win championships. I just won the ACW Championship in their inaugural show, so now I have two belts. Let’s add more to the collection. Whoever wants to book me in a championship match I’m probably going to walk out as your champion. Those are the goals.”