Grilling JR - Ricky Steamboat [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and will be celebrating his 70th birthday at the end of the month.

Ricky was a prominent amateur wrestler in high school in Florida, and originally had his sights set on a career as a physical education teacher.

But that didn’t work out and his journey into pro wrestling started when his girlfriend at the time was the roommate of Verne Gagne’s daughter.

Gagne had heard of Richard Blood previously through Eddie Graham, as Blood had wrestled Eddie’s son Mike Graham in their amateur days.

***There’s so much talent coming out of Verne Gagne - do you think Verne gets the proper due for what he gave to the business?

So this leads to Ricky going through Verne Gagne’s training camp and his new career is born.

He debuted in the AWA early in 1976 using his real name Dick Blood as his ring name, before moving onto the Florida territory after a few months, where he was given the name “Ricky Steamboat”

***When do you first hear of Ricky Steamboat?

On becoming Ricky Steamboat:

“Eddie Graham gave me the Steamboat name.

In 1976 I walked into the Tampa office and there sat Eddie Graham, and Verne Gagne had sent him pictures of me wrestling as “Rick Blood,” and Eddie said what a great wrestling name- but for a heel. He then said we had a guy here in Florida named Sammy Steamboat and he was from Hawaii.”

***The wrestling business was much simpler back then wasn’t it with the way names were given out…

“The very next night in West Palm Beach, I’m the first match. I’m standing in the ring and the ring announcer goes “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a substitute this evening. Rick Blood is unable to make it.” And I’m standing there and I completely freak out and forget that I’m Ricky Steamboat.

***This is just pro wrestling at its finest isn’t it?

Steamboat spends a bit of time working in Georgia, but then in 1977, he was brought into the Mid-Atlantic territory by George Scott working in the Carolinas.

***Did you get a chance to see him at any point during this time on tape?

Here he got his first big program when matched up with Ric Flair. Flair had personally requested to Jim Crockett that he wanted to work with Steamboat.

***I mean when you’re Ric Flair you can do this right?

***Did you see any of the legendary Flair - Steamboat matches from the late 70s?

***Did you ever see two workers so perfect for each other up to that point?

Steamboat was doing an interview on TV when Flair, then Mid-Atlantic television champion, began goading him. Steamboat knocked Flair out with a backhand chop to set up a match between the two. Steamboat's star-making performance came when he pinned Flair after a double thrust off the top rope to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship at the WRAL-TV studios in Raleigh, North Carolina.

***It’s hard to compare these two going out on TV and having Steamboat made like this - but do you have any comparisons to this in the last 20 or 30 years that you could point to?

Another time Flair dragged Steamboat’s face around the TV studio, causing facial scarring, and Steamboat retaliated the following week by ripping Flair's expensive suit to shreds (an angle that would be redone several times by others in later years)

***This angle has been done many times since and most recently in AEW with Action Andretti & Chris Jericho…these things can be done again if done correctly is that right?

Steamboat and Flair wrestled hundreds of times over the next 8 years in the Carolinas including many 1-hour broadways.

***Did you ever get a chance to see any of these live?

He wrestled every other heel of note who went through the area such as Harley Race when he was World Champion, and the likes of Ernie Ladd, Roddy Piper, Ray Stevens, Dory Funk Jr., Greg Valentine and Sgt. Slaughter.

***Are you surprised no one ever turned Steamboat into a heel? Is that one of the few times you can remember this in the business?

He won other multiple singles titles such as NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title and NWA U.S Heavyweight Title, but always in this era came up short when challenging for the NWA World Title.

***It was just a different time for the NWA Title wasn’t it?

***Was there ever any talk of what Cowboy Bill Watts though of Steamboat and any consideration of bringing him into Mid South?

He and Jay Youngblood were also a very predominant tag team in the territory, winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles multiple times, including defeating the Brisco Brothers for the titles at the first Starrcade in 1983.

***Jim - did you watch the first Starrcade on closed circuit or on tape? What did you think of Steamboat & Youngblood?

Besides going on some All Japan tours in the early 80s, Steamboat never left the Mid-Atlantic area in those 8 years to work in other territories, which is unusual as nearly every top wrestler would work a year here, a year there, a year somewhere else etc.

***Ricky was just different wasn’t he?

He was also one of the only guys to work in Japan and keep his role as a babyface as normally the foreigners would be the heels and the Japanese wrestlers would be babyfaces in their own country.

***Seriously - never a heel anywhere - even in Japan. Do you think he could’ve been one at any point?

Steamboat opened his own gym in Charlotte in the early 80s, with his family running it while he was out working on the road.

***What were your contemporaries who worked and knew him telling you about him in the 80s?

Steamboat finally makes a career change and signs with the WWF just before WrestleMania 1, with WWF booker George Scott playing a key role in getting Steamboat to go up north.

Steamboat had also seen the writing on the wall so to speak when Dusty Rhodes became booker of the territory and saw it was time to leave.

***It was a change to see Steamboat going from a work based promotion to the land of the giants wasn’t it?

Steamboat defeated Maniac Matt Borne at the first WrestleMania, making Steamboat 1 of only 3 guys to wrestle at the first Starrcade and first WrestleMania . The other two being Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine.

***Quite the feather in his cap is it not?

***How did you watch WrestleMania 1? What did you think of it?

Early in his run, Steamboat is given the nickname “The Dragon”, and a king fu / karate style gimmick. Steamboat’s first major feud in the WWF is with Don Muraco. Then Ricky goes on to defeat Hercules Hernandez at WrestleMania 2.

***The change in presentation is very WWF like…do you think he needed that?

When Steamboat begins his feud with Jake Roberts following a DDT on the concrete floor that legit knocked Steamboat out, they have him bring a Komodo dragon to the ring with him to counter Jake’s python that he would always have at ringside with him.

***This is one of those moments that gets replayed a lot - just one of those things that happens am I right?

Steamboat’s most legendary feud with the WWF is of course the WrestleMania III match with Randy Savage, and Savage becoming the IC Champion.

Even now 36 years later this match is always one of the first talked about when anyone thinks top WrestleMania matches in history.

***Did you see this one live and what did you think of it?

Just 2 months later, Steamboat drops the IC title to the Honky Tonk Man. Steamboat had asked Vince for a few weeks off for when his son was going to be born.

He gets the time off, but after promising him a decent run as champion, takes the belt away too, and Vince wants a defending IC champion on the house shows every night.

***The shift in Steamboat from winning what was at the time heralded as the greatest match in WWF history - to just dropping the title - Vince had to take serious offense to this didn’t he?

So this created a bit of a rift between Steamboat and Vince, and when Steamboat did return he knew the writing was on the wall here too, particularly when he’s told he’s getting eliminated in the first round of the WrestleMania IV WWF Title tournament in March 1988.

This would be Steamboat’s last wrestling appearance anywhere until 1989…

***What did you think of Steamboat’s exit? Did you think he wouldn’t be long for the business after this?

***When did you first hear rumblings of Steamboat coming in?

It’s January 1989 in the NWA, and Jim this would be your first time working with Steamboat. He is brought in as the surprise partner for Eddie Gilbert for the WCW TV show at the WTBS Studios in Atlanta, and they defeated Ric Flair and Barry Windham with Steamboat getting the pin on Flair - the NWA World Champion.

***Is this all Flair? Had to be right?

***Having a Ricky Steamboat in the dressing room does what for your company?

***Were you excited over the fact you’d be calling some Flair - Steamboat classics?

This led to the classic trilogy of PPV matches in 1989 with Flair vs Steamboat, the first being the Chi-Town Rumble with Steamboat finally becoming the World Champion.

Jim, you are doing a watchalong of this match on AdFreeShows.com this month.

***How good do you remember this match being and when it’s over - was it one of the best you had ever seen?

Steamboat retains the title in a 2 out of 3 falls match vs Flair on April 2nd in New Orleans at the Clash of Champions, and then drops the title back to Flair at WrestleWar 89 in Chicago on May 7.

***Is this the greatest trilogy you ever called?

While these matches are held in very high regard, if you ask Steamboat or Flair, they would say that their matches in the late 70s that nobody saw unless you were in the arena on those nights were even better.

***That’s some tough competition isn’t it?

***Do you give most of or a majority of the credit for these matches to Flair or Steamboat - or is it equal?

Steamboat is paired with Terry Funk next at the Clash of Champions on 6/12 and defeats Funk via DQ. He then challenged Lex Luger for Luger’s US Title including at the Great American Bash in Baltimore on 7/23 - losing via DQ, and his NWA run came to a close after only 6 months due to a contract dispute.

***You recently said on this podcast how much the NWA missed out over the contract issues with Steamboat - how much more do you think could’ve been done with Steamboat?

Steamboat took some time off from wrestling again and returned to the ring in 1990, working briefly for Carolina indy-based promotions NAWA and SAPW, before returning to the WWF in March 1991.

While they acknowledge him as Ricky Steamboat occasionally, they go full on trying to get him over as just “The Dragon” with a dragon outfit as he comes to the ring and breathes fire in his entrance.

Vince even sent him to a guy in Florida to master the fire swallowing / breathing gimmick.

***How…why…Vince just couldn’t let him be Ricky could he?

Steamboat supposedly even pitched working as a heel for the first time there.

On never working heel & wanting to:

“I never had a match where I worked as a heel. When I started in 1976, I was always a face, and the reason for that was that the heel would always lead the match. Now for me to graduate to be a heel, most times you started out as a face, and then when you got good, you would transfer over to a heel and you were the guy in charge.

So I never had an opportunity to work as a heel, although in the WWF in 1991, I expressed my desire to work as a heel and the response that I got back was it would never work. Pat Patterson said that I was the consummate babyface and it would probably hurt my career. I tried to push it to them hard and said, "Let me go under a mask and let me go under a full suit and cover up my body. I won’t throw any chops and I’ll just kick and punch and I’ll be a heel. Then the big surprise, if we can carry this thing through, after about a year or so, have somebody finally takes the mask off, hopefully the response we get from the fans will be 'Oh my God, all this time it’s been Ricky Steamboat,'” but they wouldn't buy it.”

***Do you think something like that could’ve worked?

Steamboat said he was told they would start him off slow and build him back up near the top of the card  in a few months. Well, over 6 months later and they’re still only featuring him as an opening or second match guy against the likes of the Brooklyn Brawler, Paul Roma and Skinner.

Steamboat gave his notice and was asked to do 2 stretcher jobs at a 10/21 TV taping on his last appearance for The Undertaker and IRS. Steamboat apparently refused and was fired on the spot.

***Do you remember hearing this story?

***Is this something you hear about and you go - we need to bring Ricky back in ASAP?

***Do you know if there was any hesitation to bring him back to WCW after what happened last time?

***Was Ricky’s reputation in the business - with him moving in and out of companies in short time periods - not great with the office?

***Did his work overshadow any issues?

Steamboat immediately comes back to WCW a month later at the Clash of Champions in Savannah, GA on November 19 - and in a similar fashion to his 1989 debut in WCW, he is a mystery partner subbing for Barry Windham - Steamboat this time teamed with Dustin Rhodes, and they defeated Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko that night to win the WCW Tag Titles.

***Why did this always work for Ricky?

They lost the titles on January 16 to Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton at a house show in Jacksonville on January 16th.

***Was there concern that his run in the WWF might’ve hurt him as a top guy?

***We know there have been people that have lost their attitude and belief in what they could do - was that something that Steamboat had to deal with or was he always full steam ahead I know what I can do just give me the ball?

From there he feuds with Paul E Dangerously‘s Dangerous Alliance stable, specifically Rick Rude, and we’ve talked a lot about those matches in the past year on the show, particularly War Games at Wrestle War 92 and Rude vs Steamboat in a 30-minute iron man match at Beach Blast 92.

***Do you think people can say Ricky is underrated considering all the great matches he’s ever had?

Closing out 1992, Steamboat has a short WCW TV Title reign after defeating Steve Austin at Clash of the Champions XX. Then he and Shane Douglas are paired up and win the NWA/WCW Unified Tag Titles at the next Clash in Macon, GA on November 18 - defeating Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes.

***Are you surprised Ricky & Shane were as good a tag team as they were ?

Steamboat & Douglas lost the titles on March 3, 1993, just about as you’re finished up with WCW Jim, to the Hollywood Blondes - Stunning Steve Austin & Brian Pillman.

***You would’ve loved calling those matches wouldn’t you?

Steamboat later feuded with Paul Orndorff and Lord Steven Regal over the WCW TV Title, before getting one final shot at the World Title scene with a series of matches against Ric Flair.

***Did you ever get a chance to watch their Spring Stampede  1994 match?

In Steamboat’s final matches in WCW, he defeated Steve Austin for the U.S Title at the Clash of Champions in August, but had to forfeit the title due to a back injury.

***Did you see the injury - and did you think that he was finished from the business?

***Did you ever talk to Steve Austin about the injury and him being in the ring for it?

Shortly afterwards he was fired via FedEx by Eric Bischoff while still out injured, and retired from wrestling, and kept away in any form for several years.

***Did you ever have any contact with Steamboat at this time - even in the late 90s during the Attitude Era - about being an agent or coach?

***Did you ever have any conversations with Vince about what he thought of Steamboat?

In the early 2000s Steamboat helped out in a couple of startup companies - TNA and ROH, mostly doing guest referee spots.

***Steamboat lends a lot of credence to a company when he’s there doesn’t he?

In 2005, he returned to work for WWE as a road agent. There was apparently rumor and innuendo that Steamboat requested a match vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania 22 in 2006 but the idea was never taken any further.

***Did you ever hear that?

***When did you see Ricky during his time in the WWE? What did you think of his work?

In early 2009, Steamboat was announced to be an inductee at that year’s Hall of Fame in Houston. After the announcement he was attacked by Chris Jericho to set up Steamboat’s first match in nearly 15 years.

***Obviously Ricky is a hall of famer - but were you surprised to see him back in the ring?

The night after being inducted in the HOF, Jericho would win a handicap elimination match over Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Steamboat.

But Steamboat was able to go toe-to-toe with Jericho for their portion of the match, at times looking like Steamboat hadn’t missed a beat.

***How shocking was Ricky during that match - considering the way Snuka & Piper looked?

Steamboat is then involved in a 10-man tag the next night on Raw with CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, John Cena, Rey Mysterio & Steamboat defeating Chris Jericho, Edge, Kane, Matt Hardy & The Big Show in a 17-minute match.

***Did you ever think you’d see the day calling a match with that list of talent?

Steamboat vs Jericho was then a featured match at Backlash on April 26 in Providence. Steamboat again holds his own but loses in about 12 minutes.

***Jericho & Steamboat - both in their primes - what do you think those matches look like?

Steamboat has a few house matches in the months following with Jericho and also Sheamus and Drew McIntyre.

***The ability to have a world class veteran like Steamboat go out there and work with the likes of Sheamus & Drew McIntyre - the experience alone is worth every bit of it isn’t it?

In June 2010, about a week after wrestling a match on an FCW show - teaming with son Richie for the first time, there was a very serious situation for a while, after Steamboat was legit injured by the Nexus faction during a segment where they beat up Steamboat and other WWE Legends on Monday Night Raw.

Steamboat was hospitalized with a brain aneurysm, and his survival was more touch-and-go than anyone knew at the time, but he eventually made as full a recovery as possible.

***What do you remember of this?

***How bad was this?

His role at WWE is scaled back somewhat when he’s able to come back to work - Steamboat becomes a trainer at NXT and more of a brand ambassador for the company before getting released in 2014.

***How much did Steamboat help that you know of after his injury?

Steamboat finally returned to the ring for one final match just a few of months ago at 69 years old.

On November 27, 2022, Steamboat and FTR defeated Brock Anderson, Jay Lethal and Nick Aldis at the BTW Return of the Dragon PPV in Raleigh, NC - Steamboat getting the win over Lethal with the figure-4

***Do you think you could ever see Ricky working with AEW in any sort of role?

***What is Ricky’s legacy in this business?