The Right To Free Speech

Wrestling Digest, Oct, 2001 by Andrew Maxwell Fowler

Steven Richards censors nothing in a candid conversation about his recent WWF tenure

AFTER FIGHTING MULTIPLE concussions and neck and foot injuries, it appears that Steven Richards [real name: Michael Manna] has finally squashed the injury bug that has plagued him throughout his wrestling career. Richards--who is now involved in the highly visible Right to Censor angle with Bull Buchanan, the Goodfather, Ivory, and Val Venis--has found his niche in the World Wrestling Federation by mocking one of WWF's most vocal, real-life critics, the Parents Television Council.

With that storyline about to run its course, Richards recently talked about the gimmick that made him a household name, the injuries he's overcome, parenting in America, and much more.

WRESTLING DIGEST: A year ago, you were preparing for the start of the Right to Censor storyline. Now that a year has passed, what has it been like being in a major WWF storyline?

STEVEN RICHARDS: Things are very different from this time last year. It's been very exciting, busy, and hectic. This is exactly why I got into wrestling. This is exactly why I signed with the WWF two years ago, and maybe by the time this interview goes to print there might not be a Right to Censor any more, but hopefully there will be a Steven Richards on WWF television.

WD: After fighting neck and leg injuries in the past, you've been healthy for quite a while. What has it meant to you to overcome the injuries and star in a major angle?

SR: It makes me feel good knowing that I'm healthy for the first time in awhile. It was rough for a while, because each time I wrestled, it seemed that I got hurt, and that was one of those things that just happens. There are some guys who never get hurt in their careers, and there are guys like me who, for whatever reason, get hurt many, many times. Right now, that is all behind me, and I now can hopefully live my life and the rest of my career injury free. The position the WWF put me in enabled me to still work, keep busy, and keep my face on TV even while I was injured. I'm very lucky.

WD: You had a neck injury similar to Steve Austin's. Does that still weigh on your mind when you wrestle? Are you gun-shy?

SR: No, I don't worry about that I always carry in the back of my mind the multitude of problems I've had with my neck. That's part of being careful and taking care of yourself--that's not being gun-shy. All the other injuries are little nagging injuries that just kind of hindered me a little bit. But the neck injury is something you've got to think about Guys like me, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, X-Pac, even Billy Gunn, have a neck injury that we're working through. You just have to take care of yourself and remember you have to live your life after you're out of this business.

The RTC-PTC connection

WD: RTC is based on the Parents Television Council and its founder, L. Brent Bozell, who publicly lobbied for the WWF's sponsors to quit advertising on the WWF's shows because of perceived adult-oriented content What did you initially think about participating in the gimmick?

SR: I really didn't understand the gimmick at first. Then I did my homework, and I actually joined the PTC--which to this day they never sent me any of their propaganda at all, so I want my $25 back! It's a very easy gimmick to do, because the spots they put me in--like taking the Godfather's hos away or removing the tables prior to the table matches - are a very easy way to get heat. They could have put anybody in that spot who could talk, and it probably would have gotten over just as easily. I was lucky they put enough stock and faith in me to give me the microphone a number of times to show what I could do. I think I've talked just as much as anyone on WWF television, right up there with Vince McMahon, Triple H, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, all those guys. If they give me that kind of time, I must be doing something right

WD: What do you think the PTC stands for?

SR: The PTC stands for total censorship, just trying to decide what the people of America should and should not watch, and that's wrong. It's up to the parents. The problem is, there are parents out there who are unfit, who can't gauge what their children should or should not watch. That's why America is screwed up, because a lot of parents in America suck. It has nothing to do with the PTC. The PTC is just an instrument that thinks it can control something that it has absolutely no jurisdiction over.

WD: There seems to be some dissension within the RTC storyline. Val Venis was discovered reverting to his "porn" past, and it looks like RTC is going to break up. Where is the gimmick is going, and what will you do after it has run its course?

SR: I see Steven Richards still being somewhat of a zealot, somewhat of an extremist, still being pretty much a psycho, just maybe not with the Right to Censor banner behind him. There has always been chemistry between Ivory and me that a lot of people have pointed out. Bull and I have always had some sort of chemistry. Right to Censor also made Bull, Ivory and me stand out for the first time in the WWF. So maybe it will be something where the three of us, or a mixture of two of us, can still do something together. When we are done, there will never be another Right to Censor, because it's kind of like the Four Horsemen: Once you try to replace those members, it's never the same.