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Richard Holliday is one of the best wrestlers on the independent scene and has won several championships in several promotions since he began his professional wrestling career.
Holliday was most recently the Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) heavyweight champion before losing the title to Killer Kross last month. He was also ranked #112 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Top 500 Singles Wrestlers of 2021.
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The Connecticut native opened up about his career in a recent interview with PK Press Club Digital.
“Richard Holliday is the best 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 of 2014, Paul Roma and Mario Mancini legitimately opened a professional wrestling school two blocks from my house and at the time I was playing college football, D-II football for the University of New Haven.
Richard Holliday gives the crowd a hard time at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event. (Jay Vogel)
“I always knew I wanted to be a professional wrestler, but at that time I was in the process of stopping playing football. I didn’t want to play football anymore. I wanted to get in 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 was kind of like the universe was saying, ‘Here you go, kid, this is your time.’ ” “
Holliday said the allure of professional wrestling is what drew him to the sport. He said it gave him the opportunity to showcase all of his abilities, in addition to his athleticism.
“To me, professional wrestling is the greatest thing in the world,” he said. “Obviously I think it’s the best form of live entertainment, but I just think it’s above everything else. I couldn’t think of any other career path that I could really sink my teeth into and see all of my skills really be represented in 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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“Professional wrestling has taught me a lot about myself. Not in terms of what you see on screen but off screen – running 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 to be successful in this industry. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. So from a very young age, that’s always what I wanted to do.”
Holiday is now billed as “the most marketable man” in professional wrestling.
He has thousands of followers across multiple 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 Yorkers, so we’ve been sharing locker rooms back and forth for several years,” he told PK Press Club Digital. “When they started this, I was one of the first people they approached. They said, ‘Hey man, what you’re doing is awesome right now, and we want you to be a part of Awesome Championship Wrestling.’ It was very timely.”
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Holliday is scheduled to appear at ACW Reckoning next week in Poughkeepsie, New York, against Andrade El Idolo, an All Elite Wrestling star and the New Japan Pro-Wrestling IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. He said this fight was just the latest in a series of notable matches he has participated in.
“Actually, over the last 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 every day. Showing up every day and having really entertaining things on platforms like Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and TikTok — things of that nature,” Holliday said. “And it’s not lost on me that I’m gaining new fans through social media and a lot of them may have never seen me wrestle in person, which is cool because now it allows them to say, hey, I saw this guy online and I want to go see him wrestle. So, I think the purpose of social media is to attract new fans, which is great. But, ultimately, we want to get them to see the action live.
“Now I wrestle every weekend, but every time I wrestle for ACW, it really feels like really big matches. I’ve faced opponents like Matt Cardona, Matt Riddle, Killer Kross, Mike Santana. The matches get bigger and bigger and now I’m wrestling Andrade. So what I would really like, and I know it’s going to happen, is if anyone tunes in to my previous ACW matches, go watch the catalog, they’ve uploaded a lot of the library to YouTube or you can go to Triller and watch these matches, I’m proving what an exceptional professional wrestler I am How I truly 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 type of wrestler you want to consider me, I never qualify myself, I just get in the ring and do what I do at a very high level.
Richard Holliday performs for the crowd at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event. (Smoothlenz Photography)
“So, Andrade and I, is it a clash of styles? I don’t know. Is it a dream match? I’m sure it is for some people, absolutely. It’s a huge match that will take place at the MJN Center, like all of the Richard Holliday matches that take place at the MJN Center. It will be a match to watch. It will be a spectacle.”
Ben Bishop, Steph De Lander, Indi Hartwell, Mance Warner and The Righteous are among those who will feature on the ACW Reckoning card.
ACW’s professionalism is what sets the promotion apart from everyone else, according to Holliday.
“This is by far the most professional independent professional wrestling promotion I’ve ever wrestled for and I mean it. It’s a TV quality production,” he said. “Behind the scenes, everyone is taken care of. The catering is so great, the dressing room is spacious and comfortable and it’s the most professional environment I’ve been a part of in the independent scene. I almost don’t want to put them in the independent category because that’s how far above everyone else they are.”
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ACW Reckoning will take place at the MJN Center on May 16.
