Athletes - Michael Manna

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	Athletes - Michael Manna

Michael Manna aka Steven (Stevie) Richards (born October 9, 1971) is an American professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand. He has also worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and briefly World Championship Wrestling.

Wrestling career

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Before the arrival of Raven in ECW, "Dancin'" Stevie Richards had a 'meta-gimmick' of mockingly adopting the persona of other wrestlers.

Examples: "Superstar" Stevie Richards (Steve Austin), Baron Von Stevie (Baron von Raschke- including jackboots and 'Ride of the Valkyries' as an entrance), Flyboy Stevie Rock (Flyboy Rocco Rock of Public Enemy), "Lord Stevie Regal" (Lord Steven/William Regal), Stevie Alexander Bagwell" (Marcus Alexander Bagwell), et al.

ECW announcer/color-man Joey Styles frequently described the Richards character as a "clueless putz".

When it was announced that Scott Levy, then known by relatively lightweight gimmicks (ie, Scotty 'the Body' Anthony, Scotty Flamingo, and Johnny Polo), was coming to ECW, Richards began adopting and mocking those gimmicks. One of the first things Levy did in ECW in his new gimmick as Raven was thrash "Stevie Flamingo" soundly.

From that point out, Steven Richards acted as a flunkie for Raven in ECW, calling him "Boss".

After a dog collar match against The Pitbulls, which Richards lost, Stevie was thought of as a major superstar. Raven was in the locker room for most of that match.

Richards was also part of the bWo, a parody of the nWo. At one point, he hinted that he was bringing the band KISS to perform. It ended up being the bWo in KISS regalia, lip-synching. This was quickly 'cleaned up' by ECW 'hardcore enforcer' 911.

The Highlight of his career in ECW was participating in the main event of their first Pay-per-view, Barely Legal. He wrestled Terry Funk and the Sandman in a Three Way Dance to determine the number one contender to the heavyweight title.

World Championship Wrestling

In May of 1997, Stevie suffered a neck injury so severe that he announced his retirement, before miraculously recovering and signing with WCW. Many people, especially Paul Heyman, debate the legitimacy of the injury to this day. Stevie wrestled briefly as a member of Raven's Flock but failed his physical exams and left WCW in October of the same year.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Stevie Richards, with the bWo, was one of the first ECW performers to perform on then-WWF programming, during a cross-promotional appearance. In 1999, Richards went to the WWF in a full-time capacity. After briefly being associated with the Dudley Boyz and teaming up with his old partner Blue Meanie, Richards got a haircut and formed a heel stable called Right to Censor (based on the WWE's then problems with the Parents Television Council organization). When Chyna was featured in Playboy magazine, Richards demanded a match between Chyna's associate Eddie Guerrero and Val Venis. After Chyna had pantsed Richards leaving him in his white socks and blue briefs, costing Venis the match, Richards and his stable feuded against her.

Following a short stint as part of The Alliance as the manager of KroniK, Richards began using the gimmick of a psychotic jobber. He was drafted to RAW during the roster split, but spent most of his time on Sunday Night Heat. He eventually formed an alliance with Victoria. As Victoria started to turn face, the duo quietly separated. Richards made a name for himself as one of the mainstays of Sunday Night Heat and became the self-proclaimed "General Manager" of "Stevie Night Heat". After the death of Richard's friend Crash Holly, Richards would wear tights with a similar design to the ones worn by Crash, as a tribute to his friend.

Richards's role as a jobber has been at times physically tasking and he was legitimately injured during the RAW debut match of Chris Masters in February 2005. After returning from injury, Richards faced Masters in a rematch but lost to Masters for a second time.

Richards made an appearance at the ECW reunion event ECW One Night Stand, reuniting with his bWo comrades and proclaiming "We have only three words for you – we're – taking – over!"

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Michael Manna ]

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