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Sports: Doring ready to take Richards down for the 1-2-3

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Story by Chris Graham
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Danny Doring and Stevie Richards were both ECW Originals, so you’d probably assume that their paths had crossed somewhat regularly back in the glory days of E-C-Dub. And you’d be wrong.

“We probably only crossed paths in the ring two, three times, which isn’t a lot in 10 years,” said Doring, who will square off with Richards in the main event of Night of the Superstars VI at Waynesboro High School on Nov. 8.

The card is a fundraiser for the UVa. Children’s Hospital. General-admission tickets are available for $10 and are on sale now at the WHS athletics office, at 7-Eleven in Fishersville and Stuarts Draft, and at Crossroads Music in Waynesboro and Staunton.

Doring, a former ECW tag-team champion with his longtime partner, Roadkill, has been doing well for himself on the independent circuit since the demise of ECW in 2001 and his release from WWE in 2006. “I’m actually busier now than I’ve been in years,” said Doring, who is also working into his busy wrestling schedule work toward a certification in physical therapy. “I figure I broke or injured every bone in my body, so I pretty much know the anatomy pretty well. So it would be a natural progression,” Doring said. “Plus it’s kind of like police work. There’s always going to be demand for people who are injured or are criminals, so they’re the best two fields with the economy being the way it is.”

Doring was “basically like any other kid who dreams to do something big someday. The only difference for me is I actually made the sacrifices to chase what it was that I wanted to do,” he said. He signed up for the ECW House of Hardcore wrestling school in 1996 and debuted in ring in 1997. Newbies to the business had to earn their mat time back in the day, to hear Doring tell it. “It’s a different animal now, a different sport, sport entertainment, as it were. It’s one of those things where now you can get noticed just by being an athlete in college or in a swimsuit magazine or however it is that people get noticed in this day and age,” Doring said. “When we were breaking in, the only jobs that we got were being filler on shows every now and again, and we had to do all the legwork, driving around, setting up the ring, setting up the banners, picking up guardrails on our days off. We were gone probably 20 days out of the month, and ECW was only running eight shows a month at the time. So we were pretty much on the road the whole time,” Doring said.

By the time ECW was on its way out in ’01, Doring had risen to the top of the company. Which meant it was hard having to go back to square one when the hardcore was no more. “It spoiled us on what the wrestling business really is,” Doring said. “I mean, we were such a tight-knit group that literally we all exchanged presents on holidays, Christmas, Hanukkah. We all exchanged gifts, made sure everybody got a card. Nobody does that in wrestling. And after the shows, we worked hard, and we played hard. Everybody got along. There wasn’t a lot of that wishy-washy, backstabbing, walking-on-eggshells kind of feeling like everywhere else I worked. It was different. It was the best time of my life in a lot of ways,” Doring said.

“It was hard to adapt to going from being one of the bigger guys in the company to trying to figure out what you’re going to do next to get your next paycheck,” Doring said. “Just the fact that now you’re trying to get a job, and me and Roadkill were trying to work everywhere, it was very difficult for a while. It was hard trying to bounce from place to place. We bounced around for a couple of years and never really found a home.”

But Doring is in a good place now. He’s working regularly, he’s in school, he’s taking care of business. And he’s still able to talk trash E-C-Dub Style.

“I really feel bad for Stevie, I really do,” Doring said in mock sympathy for Richards, his main-event opponent in Waynesboro next week. “He hasn’t had a full schedule since his departure from the WWE, and I feel bad that I’m going to have to abuse him like I’m going to,” Doring said. “I don’t know how hard he’s been training or how ready he is, and I feel bad, but I have to warn everybody ahead of time that this story will not have a happy ending,” Doring said.

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