Richard Holliday Is Pro Wrestling's Most Marketable Folk Hero
The former MLW star makes his memorable return to the ring this weekend after pinning his biggest opponent.
Back in the 1990s , American folk heroes had a resurgence in popularity. Names like John Henry and his hammer, Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox and Pecos Bill corralling tornadoes at least were popular with the kids of my age and sure made those monthly Scholastic book flyers all the more desirable every month. There even was a movie with Patrick Swayze to substantiate my claim and makes one still crave a stack of flapjacks. All larger than life characters accomplishing major feats. Kind of Americana’s version of a greek god if you will, but there’s a reason those folk tales stood that test of time - defeating the major menace in our life is something we all want to do.
We all have an industrial locomotive we all want to outrun, chop down a bunch of trees crowding our way in an effort to prove our worth, our value and our purpose. Richard Holliday did that in several ways as he defeated life’s greatest adversary this past year. Now he gets to sit down once more for his own stack of flapjacks (with a cup of coffee).
Even though he’s never wrestled under their banner, Richard Holliday epitomizes “WWE Superstar” in so many ways. Charismatic, good looking, great athlete. Hell, the dude is even from Connecticut. However, it was Major League Wrestling who saw that talent early on and paired him with two other stars cut from the same cloth in Alex Hammerstone and MJF. The trio would be known as The Dynasty. They were a pure heel faction, but one that embraced the elements of a bromance comedy.
“Dynasty bro” became the three’s mantra as all eventually held gold in the company, but MJF took off like a rocket and soon left the promotion solely to work with AEW. It was a bittersweet exit as the chemistry was off the charts with the trio, but it also gave Holliday and Hammerstone a chance to shine even greater. And they did.
Hammerstone is currently the face of MLW as he’s been the MLW World Champion since 2021 and Holliday initially played the supporting friend dismissing any notion that he’d play into the modern wrestling convention of backstabbing his bud. Holliday and MLW pushed it to the point where Richard turning on “his boy Hammer” wouldn’t even seem fathomable, which made it all the more meaningful when it did. Holliday aligned with former interviewer Alicia Atout following an on-air love/hate relationship and he became a bloodthirsty, jealous madman with his eyes only on the gold and the woman at his side.
The feud was set to culminate at the Melrose Ballroom in New York City in a falls count anywhere match. Holliday ended up completing the 20 minute battle, but behind the scenes there was something clearly wrong with him.
What initially thought to be a bad stomach, turned to the belief that he was anemic turned to a chilling diagnosis of stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
“I needed to change my mindset. The mind powers the body, so I needed to stay positive,” Holliday told Sports Illustrated back in December. At the time he was halfway through his chemotherapy. “I was reassured by my doctor that I could beat this, and I believe I am going to beat this.”
“I think about my return every single day,” Holliday added. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But this is a process. I know there are more steps after chemotherapy. Mentally, right now, I am ready. Physically, I know it’s going to take some time. But I will be back.”
Sure enough, he is. As of May, Richard Holliday was in remission. And Saturday, June 10, will be his return to in-ring action as he faces Brad Hollister at “Rarefied Air” (aptly named after his catchphrase) in his backyard of Woodbridge, CT.
Very much sounds like a folk hero’s tale. You can catch Holliday outrun that locomotive all on FITE TV.