Ricky Steamboat
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Richard Blood (born February 28, 1953 in West Point, New York), better known by his stage name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is a former American professional wrestler.
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Career
Ricky debuted in 1976 in the American Wrestling Association and became one of the greatest professional wrestlers of the 1980s and early 90s. He took the name Sam Steamboat, Jr. from older Hawaiian wrestler Sam Steamboat, to whom he is not actually related, and also wrestled for a time under his real given name before settling on the name Ricky Steamboat, by which he would be known for the remainder of his career. He went from the AWA to the Mid-Atlantic territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1977. There he captured the United States Championship three times and the World Tag Team championship six times (once with Paul Jones and five times with Jay Youngblood).
He was brought to the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, where he feuded with Don Muraco, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. At WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, Savage and Steamboat competed in what many wrestlers consider the best match in WWF history, in which Steamboat captured the WWF Intercontinental Championship. It was after seeing this match that Chris Jericho decided to become a wrestler.
Several weeks after winning the Intercontinental Championship, Steamboat asked WWF owner Vince McMahon for some time off to be with his wife Bonnie, who was expecting the birth of their first son Richard, Jr. This did not sit well with WWF management, as he had been molded to become a long-term Intercontinental Champion. He lost the belt on June 2, 1987 against the Honky Tonk Man. His son was born later that month.
Ricky came back in time for the first annual Survivor Series in November 1987. However, management was still bitter over his impromptu sabbatical from his first WWF run, and he was not pushed or given any meaningful feuds. His last major WWF appearance was at WrestleMania IV in March 1988. Shortly thereafter, he announced his retirement.
Ricky Steamboat made a triumphant comeback in January 1989 and returned to the NWA, where he had a legendary series of matches with "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. He ended up capturing the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Flair in February. Aside from several rematches with Flair, he was also the last NWA World champion to defend the belt in All Japan Pro Wrestling in a match against Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa). He lost it back to Flair in May.
After losing the NWA title, Ricky again ventured into semi-retirement in late 1989. Ricky did return briefly to the WWF in the summer of 1991 wearing a dragon man costume and blowing fire before his matches. He was not promoted as a major star, as it seemed that there was still some bitterness from his first run with the company. Theories also suggest that since he had won the NWA title (the WWF's main competitor at the time), he was purposely buried to give the impression that he won the title in a smaller, less competitive league than the WWF. The highlight of that run was at Summerslam 1991, where he wrestled in a six-man tag team match with the "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and The Texas Tornado. Shortly therafter, he again left the WWF.
In November 1991, Steamboat made a surprise return to World Championship Wrestling (the new name of NWA superterritory Jim Crockett Promotions after its purchase by Ted Turner). He captured the WCW/NWA World Tag Team Championship with Dustin Rhodes and Shane Douglas on different occasions. He also captured the Television & United States Heavyweight Championships. While feuding with "Stunning" Steve Austin in 1994, Ricky Steamboat took a bad bump off the top turnbuckle and serverely injured his back. He retired for good in September 1994.
Steamboat is widely regarded as one of the top in-ring performers in modern wrestling history and is one of the most respected and well-liked wrestlers in the business. Notable stars such as Austin, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and Ric Flair consider Steamboat to be one of their greatest opponents. Flair's only, minor, criticism of Steamboat is that he never worked as a heel since the beginning of his career, though this statement could also be seen as praise since it attests to how well Steamboat played the babyface role.
Ricky Steamboat has played supporting roles in both NWA-TNA and more recently ROH (Ring of Honor) promotions.
In early 2005, Ricky Steamboat returned to World Wrestling Entertainment as a road agent and was introduced as a WWE Legend at WWE Homecoming in October 2005.
In early 2006, Ricky Steamboat told WWE management that he would like to come out of retirement at Wrestlemania 22 and work a match with Ric Flair, but the idea was nixed.
It has been announced that Ricky Steamboat will be a special referee in a live event in Yakima, WA
Wrestling facts
Finishing and signature moves
- Flying crossbody
- Dragon Arm drag
- Leaping Judo chop
- Knife edge chop
- Double chickenwing
Entrance music
Championships and accomplishments
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- with Paul Jones, defeating Ric Flair and Greg Valentine on August 22, 1977
- with Paul Jones, defeating Ric Flair and Big John Studd on November 5, 1978
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Don Kernodle and Jim Nelson on August 22, 1982
- defeating Ric Flair on October 22, 1977
- defeating Dick Slater on April 21, 1984
- 6-time NWA World Tag Team Champion
- with Paul Jones, defeating The Masked Superstar and Ken Patera on April 23, 1978
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Baron von Raschke and Paul Jones on October 22, 1979
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Ray Stevens and Greg Valentine on May 10, 1980
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Sergeant Slaughter and Don Kernodle on March 12, 1983
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Jack Brisco and Jerry Brisco on October 3, 1983
- with Jay Youngblood, defeating Jack Brisco and Jerry Brisco on November 24, 1983 at StarrCade 1983
- defeating Ric Flair on December 18, 1978
- defeating The Iron Sheik on November 1, 1980
- defeating Ivan Koloff on October 10, 1981
- defeating Ric Flair on February 20, 1989
- PWI ranked him # 13 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- PWI ranked him # 19 of the best tag teams of the PWI Years, with Jay Youngblood.
- PWI ranked him # 82 of the best tag teams of the PWI Years, with Shane Douglas.
- PWI Rookie of the Year Award (1977)
- PWI Tag Team of the Year Award, with Paul Jones (1978)
- PWI Editor's Award (1995)
- PWI Match of the Year Awards, versus Randy Savage (1987)
- PWI Match of the Year Awards, versus Ric Flair (1989)
- 2-time WCW World Tag Team Champion
- with Dustin Rhodes, defeating Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko on November 19, 1991 at Clash of the Champions XVII)
- with Shane Douglas, defeating Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes on November 18, 1992 at Clash of the Champions XXI
- defeating Steve Austin on September 2, 1992 at Clash of the Champions XX
- defeating Paul Orndorff on August 18, 1993 at Clash of the Champions XXIV
- defeating Steve Austin on August 24, 1994 at Clash of the Champions XXVIII
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- defeating Randy Savage on March 29, 1987 at WrestleMania III)
- He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996).
- 1983 Tag Team of the Year (with Jay Youngblood)
- 1987 Match of the Year (vs. Randy Savage)
- 1989 Match of the Year (vs. Ric Flair)
Championship succession
| Preceded by: Randy Savage | WWF Intercontinental Champions | Succeeded by: The Honky Tonk Man |