Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Davey Richards - FIP Heatstroke '07 Night Two - 5

Davey gets criticized a lot for not knowing his mechanics in-ring and being a veritable Dynamic Kid clone. An aspect of his work I think has been overlooked is his ability to rile up a crowd. On his way to the ring he calls one kid a bastard, another young boy tries to reach his hand over the rail for a high five and Richards hastily kicks at it. Hotty is the complete opposite, slapping hands incessantly on the way down, making sure to give the children their moment. This is easily one of the loudest FIP crowds I've heard. Richards bumps for a Scotty shove like a torrential wind just blew him away--hope he had insurance. Richards is reveling in the crowd heat, the old school heel reaction he's receiving here rivals even his loudest ROH reaction. I think I'd rather be working for passionate kids and families than middle-aged comic book nerds that won't pop for anything for the same reason they didn't attend dances and other social gatherings. Scotty removes his shirt to a molten reaction. They go to tie-up but a loud "Scotty! Scotty!" chant distracts Richards who bails to the floor to jaw with the kids in the crowd. In this environment I could see Richards being the perfect fit for The York Foundation had he been around back then, give him some Buddy Holly glasses, a golf shit, and a pocket calculator and he'd have been a nice pairing with Terrence Taylor in tag bouts. Davey stooging for Scotty's goofy offense is somehow much more satisfying then him playing tough working Tyler Black in a fifteen-minute derivative throwaway bout. You've really got to see this as its remarkable how over 2 Hotty is. This is actively better than anything in the Malenko/2 Hotty series in 2000, not so much a compliment to Richards' work, but to the maturity and timing of Scotty in-front of a drastically different crowd. Davey retreats, trying to leave through a curtain but Hotty spins him around and belts him in the face with a couple right hands. Davey finally gets the advantage, beating Scotty into the ring and stomping him upon entering. After a knee to his mid-section Hotty does a really great job of selling anguish on the mat. Scotty reverses a "Camel Clutch" by biting Davey's hand, the same hand that alternately rewinds a Benoit VHS comp. on his 12-inch Panasonic and yanks his manhood. Davey's chinlock is less than convincing. Davey does a snap suplex, Scotty thinks, "I've had your idol's and it was much crisper". Scotty does this real wild flying clotheslines that'd be ideal in CMLL. Could a Scotty 2 Hotty world tour be what this business needs? After seeing this I know I'd pay to see him work Jun Akiyama. A ref bump sees Erick Stevens run out, he tosses Davey with a huge German suplex, but Richards scrambles to get into position for the next spot without even selling any damage. Scotty capitalizes on a downed Davey and hits his patented "Worm" for the finish. Without the crowd heat you couldn't call this much of a match, but, this had an old school energy that was palpable and Scotty worked much better in this context and setting than he did on the big stage in WWE. I also enjoyed Davey more as a stooging, impatient heel; with better timing, I think that might be his calling, but instead we're generally supposed to buy him as a colossal ass-beater.