10 Totally Bizarre WWE Moments You'd Never Remember Without This Article!

3. NXT Literally DID Sign Everybody

American Pitbulls
WWE

Davey Richards isn't fond of TV wrestling.

As an excellent albeit fairly gratuitous and humourless pro wrestler, it makes sense; he doesn't like time cues, gimmicks, owt associated with the medium. He likes long, pure struggles with big dumb bombs. To Davey, it's a sport.

But Davey Richards has wrestled a WWE TV match in an era during which WWE planned to sign every kick pad-clad wrestler they used to think of as worse than sh*t. Richards was an acclaimed indie guy, which was enough back then, and worked the Ascension alongside fellow American Wolves ass-kicker Eddie Edwards. The match was a respectable enough spirited showcase loss. It was also a one-off. Despite alluding to leaving the indies behind, the enigmatic Richards didn't end up signing for WWE.

Nor was he called Davey Richards in Full Sail University; he was billed as 'Derek Billington'.

One can readily imagine Michael Hayes sizing up Richards and, thinking the most obvious comparison was insightful, saying "Hell boy, you remind me of a feller going by the name o' Dahnamat Keyd. You're a Billington!"

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!