for this edition of spotlight we are going to go old school. tonight we put the spotlight on my mom's favorite wrestler, ricky "the dragon" steamboat.steamboat got his start in the awa where he originally went by sam steamboat jr after an older wrestler named sam steamboat. after that he went by his real name richard blood before finally deciding on the name he would use for the rest of his career, ricky steamboat. he would wrestle for georgia championship wrestling and championship wrestling from florida before going to the nwa and jim crocket promotions.
it was during the time in jcp that steamboat started to break through and become a main event player. steamboat won several of the promotions titles and had some amazing feuds in his 8 year stay there. his feud with ric flair during this time is still being talked about by fans that were old enough to have seen it or watched the old video tapes that went around of it, this is how i watched that feud. steamboat would form two tag teams in this run first with paul jones, who would eventually turn on steamboat and feud with him. the second team was the more memorable of the two. he formed a team with jay youngblood and the 2 had a very successful run winning both the nwa world tag team championships and nwa mid atlantic tag team championships several times. he also won several individual titles in this run.
in early 1985 steamboat jumped ship to the wwf. this is where he picked up "the dragon" as a gimmick. rumor has it that he was given this gimmick because of a resemblance to bruce lee. steamboat would wrestle matt borne at the first wrestlemania. he went on to feud with don muraco and mr fuji. after this feud he wrestled hercules st wrestlemania 2. he than went into a feud with jake "the snake" roberts. the feud with roberts came to a conclusion when roberts brought out his snake damien only to have steamboat bring out a komodo dragon to chase roberts off.
steamboat was put into an intercontinental title mach against randy "macho man" savage. steamboat won the match by count out, only to have the macho man attack him with the ring bell and injure steamboats larynx. steamboat stayed off tv for the next few months to sell the injury. he came back on a january edition of saturday nights main event to stop savage from doing the same thing he did to steamboat to george "the animal" steele. steamboat would get a chance at redemption at wrestlemania iii. the match at wrestlemania is still considered to this day by many people to be the best match in the history of wrestllemania. steamboat won the match and started what was supposed to be a long run with the intercontinental title. this would not come to fruition as steamboat requested time off to be there for the birth of is son. vince mcmahon decided to de-push steamboat due to this and had him loose the belt to the honky tonk man. steamboat would stay around for another year before announcing his retirement.
he would end his retirement in early 89 and sign with nwa/wcw. steamboat would rekindle his feud with ric flair, this time over the nwa world championship. steamboat would win the belt at the chi-town rumble pay per view. this was the first of his three matches with flair in 89. all three are considered by many to be classics. in the third and final match in this series he would loose the belt back to ric flair at the inaugural wrestlewar. next up was a feud with lex luger. luger had become frustrated that steamboat was the #1 contender even though luger was the us champion. luger would attack steamboat on an episode of clash of the champions. this set up a match at the great american bash against luger for the us title. steamboat would loose that match by disqualification. this would be the last match of note during this run.
1991 saw steamboat return to the wwf, this time just going as the dragon. his gimmick at this time was over the top. he had a very cartoon like ring get up and would breathe fire in his entrance. this was by far the most disappointing time in his career as a fan. after seeing steamboat wrestle in classic match after classic match up until this point i was personally upset that more was not done with the dragon during this run. he did win several squash matches but did not have any real feuds of significance.
steamboat would go back to wcw and in his first match back he would win the tag team titles with dustin rhodes. steamboat would go on to feud with the dangerous alliance. having several matches with members of the dangerous alliance including the famous war games match as part of stings squadron. we would have a memorable feud with a young wrestler named stunning steve austin. steamboat hurt his back in a match with austin which ultimately caused his retirement from active wrestling.
steamboat would show up from time to time on nwa tna and in ring of honor. during his time in ring of honor he had an interesting feud with cm punk. initially punk was trying to make his name by taking out the legend. punk eventually defended steamboat when generation next tried to attack him. punk would be parts of hand picked teams by steamboat in matches against generation next.
he would return to the wwe as a road agent in 2005. steamboat would come on screen during special occasions, such as the raw homecoming show and ric flairs send off on the night after wrestlemania 24. steamboat would be announced as an induction into the hall of fame at wrestlemania 25. he was attacked by chris jericho the night he was announced to be in the hall of fame. this set up the in ring return of steamboat. he would tag with jimmy "superfly" snuka and "rowdy" roddy piper against jericho at wrestlemania 25. during the match he would receive a "you still got it" after the crowd seen that he was still able to perform at the level he did during his prime. he would than compete in a 10 man tag match on the next nights episode of raw. he would have a one on one match with chris jericho at backlash and loose by submitting to the walls of jericho. he still wrestles occasionally at house shows for the wwe.
whats next for the legend? that is totally up in the air. is he going to have another short run? will he show up from time to time to face off against new heels? or just go back to being a road agent. only time will tell. if he does nothing else the body of work he has left behind is on par with the all time greats in the business.
dedicated to elaine coles, love you mommy
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