One of the originals of ECW has revealed that he has been suffering from health issues in recent weeks.
In a post on Instagram, Stevie Richards explained that he has had a rough four weeks but is hopeful he will soon begin his road to recovery.
“The last 4 weeks, especially the last one, have really been something else. We aren’t quite at the finish line yet, but hopefully the road to recovery starts asap.
“I will be explaining what has happened and documenting my road to recovery on the YouTube channel as well as here.
“Speaking of the YouTube channel, we have plenty of videos to edit/publish- so there will still be new content as we work through this. Please subscribe to stay updated and for the normal fitness reviews.”
PWInsider noted that Richards has been dealing with “a number of back/spine issues” that have been getting worse in recent weeks.
Stevie Richards was an ECW Original
Stevie Richards began his wrestling career in 1992, making his debut for Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, the promotion which soon became Eastern Championship Wrestling and finally, in 1994, Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Richards signed to the company full-time the year it went Extreme and feuded with Tommy Dreamer. After constantly losing to the star, Richards brought in Raven who went on to have a legendary rivalry with Dreamer himself.
Richards was a member of Raven’s ‘Flock’ for several years as well as forming his group, a parody of the NWO called the Blue World Order which also included the Blue Meanie and Nova. The comedic BWO proved to be popular with fans and is remembered to this day.
Richards moved up the ladder in the promotion, eventually reaching main event status. Unfortunately, during a title match in 1997, Richard suffered a neck injury when Terry Funk slammed him into a guard rail. This led to him announcing his retirement from pro wrestling.
However, this didn’t last long as he signed for WCW later the same year, although he only stayed for a few months before returning to ECW.
In 1999, Richards signed for WWE where he briefly teamed up with the Blue Meanie and later began impersonating other superstars.
His run is probably best remembered for his time as the leader of Right To Censor where he attacked the risque content of WWE’s Attitude Era programming. He recruited The Godfather and Val Venis – who were renamed ‘The Goodfather’ and ‘Chief Morley’ – as well as Ivory and Bull Buchanan.
Richards remained with the company until his release in 2008. More recently, PWInisder reports he has been involved in fitness and technology ventures as well as continuing to wrestle for independent promotions.
Everyone at Inside The Ropes wishes Stevie Richards the best in his recovery.