In the history books, it may appear that Stevie Richards is a 21-time Hardcore champion in WWE, but according to him, Raven actually erased one of his title reigns.
In an interview with Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, Richards revealed that he is in fact a 22-time champion, but Raven allegedly went to WWE's media and flipped the amount of times the two held the title at the time.
"I'll tell you a funny story connected to that. The reason there's so much confusion over the reigns - I've technically held it 22 times. Raven had held it 21 times. Raven went to the website, magazine, whatever media people there were and had that flipped. He would relentlessly bother them until it was changed. At the end of the interview, as good as a guy he is, [they would say] just give him what he wants and tell him to shut up. That has been a friendly point of contention between ourselves - but I have had it 22 times, he's had it 21," Richards said.
Shifting the conversation to the current incarnation of the title, the 24/7 Championship, Richards said he doesn't think that this version is as impactful as the one that was created more than 20 years ago. Richards doesn't blame the current WWE roster for that, but added that WWE needs to find a balance between having big bumps and schoolboys whenever the title is at stake. Richards did add that he was a fan of how WWE used the 24/7 Championship during the FOX Founder's Day event, which saw Rob Stone win the title.
"I think taking out the headshots, which we took plenty of back then, is a big deal. Taking out a lot of the danger, because we weren't thinking much about that, taking bumps on a floor, on the back concrete, in the locker room or loading dock area but there could be a happy medium - they can't just have everybody schoolboying everybody, and it's so safe. Who's going to not kick out on the lightest [roll-up] I'm not blaming them because I don't want someone to bang my head on the concrete on a schoolboy backstage but there should be creative ways to do it - someone falling asleep at the airport and getting pinned... Just interesting things. The best thing they've done so far was the FOX Founder's Day with the host - that's interesting, getting more mainstream people involved. That might help it out," Richards said.
The interview between Richards and Sportskeeda can be read at this link. For a complete list of 24/7 titleholders, check here.
