Ricky Steamboat
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Richard Blood, (born February 28, 1953 in Charlotte, North Carolina) better known by his stage name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is an American professional wrestler.
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Profile
- Height: 5'10"
- Weight: 235 lbs.
- Birthday: February 28, 1953
- Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
- Other Gimmicks: Richard Blood, Sam Steamboat Jr.
- Trainer: Verne Gagne
- Finishing/Trademark moves: Flying Crossbody Press, Dragon Armdrag, Leaping Judo Chop, Knife Edge Chop
Career
Ricky debuted in 1976 and became one of the greatest professional wrestlers of the 1980's and early 90's. He started in the Mid-Atlantic territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). 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 (WWF) in 1985 where he feuded with Don Muraco, Jake Roberts, and Randy Savage. At WrestleMania 3 on March 29 1987, Savage and Steamboat competed in what many wrestlers consider the best match in WWF history in which Steamboat captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
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 1st annual Survivor Series in November 1987. However management were still bitter over his impromptu sabbatical from his first WWF run and he was not pushed nor given any meaningful feuds. His last major WWF appearance was in WrestleMania 4 in April 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 "The 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 in late 1989 Ricky again ventured into semi-retirement. 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 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) that 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 6-man tag-team match with Davey Boy Smith and Kerry Von Erich. 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 Tag Team championship with Dustin Rhodes and Shane Douglas on different occasions. He also captured the Television & U.S. Championships. While feuding with Steve Austin in 1994, Ricky Steamboat took a bad bump off the top turnbuckle and serverely injured his back. He retired for good in August 1994.
Since then 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 the World Wrestling Federation (since renamed World Wrestling Entertainment) as a road agent.
Championship Summary
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Television title defeating Ric Flair (June 15, 1977)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team title w/Paul Jones defeating Ric Flair & Greg Valentine (August 22, 1977)
- NWA United States Heavyweight title defeating Ric Flair (October 22, 1977)
- NWA World Tag Team titles w/Paul Jones defeating Masked Superstar & Ken Patera (April 23, 1978)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team title w/Paul Jones defeating Ric Flair & Big John Studd (November 5, 1978)
- NWA United States Heavyweight title defeating Ric Flair (December 18, 1978)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Television title defeating Paul Jones (June 10, 1979)
- NWA Tag Team titles w/Jay Youngblood defeating Baron von Raschke & Paul Jones (October 22, 1979)
- NWA Tag Team titles w/Jay Youngblood defeating Ray Stevens & Greg Valentine (May 10, 1980)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship defeating Iron Sheik (November 1, 1980)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship defeating Ivan Koloff (October 10, 1981)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team title w/Jay Youngblood defeating Don Kernodle & Jim Nelson (August 22, 1982)
- NWA Tag Team titles w/Jay Youngblood defeating Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle (March 12, 1983)
- NWA Tag Team titles w/Jay Youngblood defeating The Brisco Brothers (October 3, 1983)
- NWA Tag Team titles w/Jay Youngblood defeating The Brisco Brothers (November 24, 1983 - Starcade)
- NWA United States Heavyweight title defeating Dick Slater (April 21, 1984)
- WWF Intercontinental title defeating Randy "Macho Man" Savage (March 29, 1987 - Wrestlemania III)
- NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Ric Flair (February 20, 1989)
- NWA/WCW World Tag Team titles w/Dustin Rhodes defeating Arn Anderson & Larry Zbysko (November 19, 1991 - Clash of Champions)
- WCW World Television title defeating Steve Austin (September 2, 1992 - Clash of the Champions)
- NWA/WCW Tag Team titles w/Shane Douglas defeating Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes (November 18, 1992 - Clash of Champions)
- WCW World Television title defeating Paul Orndorff (August 18, 1993)
- WCW United States Heavyweight title defeating Steve Austin (August 24, 1994 - Clash of Champions)
| Preceded by: Randy Savage | WWE Intercontinental Champions | Succeeded by: The Honky Tonk Man |
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Accomplishments/Awards
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 13 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also ranked twice in the best tag teams during the "PWI Years". He was ranked # 19 with Jay Youngblood and # 82 with Shane Douglas.
- Steamboat won some PWI Awards over the years. He won Rookie of the Year in 1977, Tag Team of the Year in 1978 with Paul Jones and the Editor's Award in 1995. He was also involved in two PWI Match of the Year Awards: 1987 (vs. Randy Savage) and 1989 (vs. Ric Flair).