WWE Hall of Fame 2009 Ricky Steamboat
The Dragon is the Fourth Inductee in the Class of 2009
Mar 9, 2009
Long time WWE wrestler and employee Richard Henry Blood, better known as Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat is set to join a plethora of other legendary superstars, including his long time rival Ric Flair, in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat Early Career
Steamboat made his wrestling debut with the AWA (American Wrestling Association) in 1976 under the name Sam Steamboat Jr. and occasionally Ricky Blood before settling on Ricky Steamboat.
Barely a year later he joined Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), which was the forerunner of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), in a talent exchange with One Man Gang who would also go on to work for WWE and WCW. Shortly after joining Steamboat was put in a rivalry against Ric Flair; who he would go on to face multiple times throughout his career in some breathtaking encounters.
Steamboat made a name for himself by wrestling a stand out match and taking the NWA World Television Championship from Flair in Raleigh, North Carolina; The Nature Boy's home town. From this base Steamboat went on to have an astounding sixteen more title reigns during his 8 year stint in the company, including becoming a three-time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion and a six-time NWA World Tag Team Champion.
When Ricky Steamboat became 'The Dragon'
After creative differences with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes drove him away from the NWA, Vince McMahon signed Steamboat up to the WWE in 1985, quickly re-branding him as 'The Dragon' and kitting him out in martial arts attire.
Steamboat made his WWE Pay Per View debut at the first ever WrestleMania, beating Matt Bourne (who would later become the first Doink the Clown) before getting involved in long running feuds with Don Muraco & Mr Fuji, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts and Randy Savage.
The latter of the three lead to a stand out match at WrestleMania III in which Steamboat defeated Savage for the Intercontinental Championship. It was voted Match of the Year 1987 by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer, and many people including Steamboat himself felt that it upstaged the Andre/Hogan main event.
Steamboat Moves between WWE and WCW
Following this Steamboat requested some time off as he was expecting the birth of his first child, which didn't go down too well with Vince McMahon and the WWE management, having him drop the Intercontinental Championship to The Honky Tonk Man and limiting his opportunities when he did eventually return.
Shortly after losing to Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine at WrestleMania IV Steamboat announced his retirement and parted company with the WWE.
In early 1989, just under a year after retiring Steamboat re-joined JCP which was now going under the moniker of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and revived his feud with Ric Flair. They met in three high profile title matches, with Steamboat winning the Title in the first and dropping it back to Flair in the third. From there he went on to feud with Lex Luger for the U.S Championship before contractual difficulties resulted in him leaving the company later that year.
In early 1991 WWE began running promo videos for 'The Dragon', promoting Steamboat much like they would a brand new wrestler, despite his previous success between 85 and 88. He wrestled a number of squash matches and remained undefeated on WWE televised programming throughout his entire 7 month run, before once again leaving the company and heading to rival promotion WCW.
The Dragon's Final Match
Back in WCW Steamboat added another five title reigns to his already impressive tally, although couldn't capture the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from his old rival Ric Flair when the two had one last feud in 1994. Steamboat's last title reign was bitter-sweet, as he defeated fellow Class of 2009 Inductee Steve Austin for the WCW Television Title but in doing so injured his back and had to forfeit it at the following Pay Per View.
Steamboat, much like Austin, had his career with WCW ended in a rather unorthodox way when President of the company Eric Bischoff fired him via FedEx, stating his back injury as the reason. This signalled the end of Steamboat's long on/off relationship with the JCP and lead to his retirement in September 1994.
Ricky Steamboat Post-Retirement
Since retiring from active competition Steamboat has officiated a number of matches in both Total Non-stop Action (TNA) and Ring of Honour (ROH) as well as managing a number of wrestlers while embroiled in a non-wrestling feud with hardcore icon Mick Foley.
In 2005 Steamboat re-joined the WWE in the role of a road agent and to date has made a number of appearences on WWE programming as well as officiating a number of main events at house shows.
To find out who else is set to join The Dragon in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009 Click Here.
 |
