Daniel Richards

Early life and education

Raised in the Richmond suburb of Midlothian, Virginia, the young Harnsberger was described by his mother in a 2017 interview as a child who "always demanded our attention" and someone who "never quit". He began following wrestling after watching a tape of WrestleMania III and later seeing a WWF house show in Richmond. Harnsberger played basketball in high school, and after graduating from Concord University in southern West Virginia in 2003, started training in wrestling. During his training, he supported himself as a reporter with the Daily Telegraph of Bluefield, West Virginia, but left the newspaper at about the time he made his wrestling debut for an independent promotion run by Beau James, who went on to establish AMW and serves as a mentor to Harnsberger to this day. James gave Harnsberger his ring name of Daniel Richards. He continued to work odd jobs to help make ends meet during his early years in the business. While he tried several gimmicks, he was unable to develop a memorable character; he moved back to the Richmond area in 2005, and left wrestling in 2009. For the next five years, he worked many jobs and frequently traveled abroad.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Ranked No. 500 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017