Greatest Opponents: Ricky Steamboat
‘The Dragon’ is one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time but who were some of his greatest dance partners throughout his career?
My personal favorite wrestler of all time, Ricky Steamboat is one of the most beloved wrestlers of all time. Everything from in-ring psychology to his facial expressions to his look, he made a legacy for himself in the 70s, 80s and 90s. With his good looks and charm, he remained a babyface for his entire career, throughout his career wrestling several villains, always with great matches as a result. Over his time in the JCP, WWF and WCW, he made many rivals in this time. In this series, we will look at some of the most memorable and iconic opponents of Ricky Steamboat.
Ric Flair
The legendary Flair/Steamboat feud actually started back in the 70s in the Mid-Atlantic territory. Steamboat actually won the Mid-Atlantic Television title off of Flair in 1977, in a star-making performance for the young Hawaiian. Steamboat also beat a young, brash ‘Nature Boy’ for the NWA United States title later that year.
After his stint in the WWF, Steamboat returned to the NWA. In his first match, he was the surprise tag partner of Eddie Graham in a bout against Barry Windham and Ric Flair. In the match, the returning Steamboat hit the Flying Crossbody and pinned the then-NWA titleholder Flair. The duo clashed in lifestyles, with the feud built on the premise of the family man Steamboat versus the playboy Flair. This meant Ricky’s family made a number of on-screen appearances. Their match at 1989’s Chi-Town Rumble, which kicked off their legendary trilogy.
The first match saw Steamboat win the belt via small package roll-up after over 20 minutes of brilliant technical work. During his reign, Ricky was the last NWA champion to defend the belt in Japan when defeating Misawa’s iteration of Tiger Mask. The second match was a 60-minute time limit, 2-out-of-3 falls encounter. Flair got the first fall via cradle, Ricky got the second fall via Double-Arm Chickenwing and Steamboat too got the final, down-to-the-wire fall with minutes left, when getting his shoulder up when in a Dragon Suplex pinfall position. The final bout took place at WrestleWar with a knee injury allowing Flair to get an opportune win. This feud earned Flair such respect that it turned him face, as he would go on to battle Terry Funk. Ultimately, all these expertly-paced, technical masterpieces are viewed as some of the greatest matches of all time and undoubtedly the greatest wrestling trilogy ever.
After Ricky’s second WWF run in the early 90s, he returned to WCW, renewing his feud with Naitch in 1994. At Spring Stampede, it seemed as if Ricky won the belt from Flair however both men’s shoulders were down so the ruling was that Flair retained. The belt was subsequently held up, with Ric regaining it after beating his opponent on a May edition of Saturday Night. The last match the duo ever had was in a talent-packed tag match, in which Ric Flair and Steve Austin beat Ricky Steamboat and Sting.
Overall, this feud produced 4 Dave Meltzer 5 star matches and 4 matches with a rating above 9 on Cagematch. One of, if not the, greatest feud of NWA/WCW history, it has forged a legacy and still stands up as an amazing body of work to this day.
Don Muraco
An underappreciated talent of the early 80s, Don Muraco was a WWF necessity during his heyday, with one of his more memorable feuds being with Ricky Steamboat.
Debuting in early 1985, ‘The Dragon’ would spend his first few months earning victories over enhancement talent when not teaming alongside more established Federation names. In September, on an episode of Championship Wrestling, Steamboat earned a pinfall win over former 5-time WWF World Tag champion and wrestler–turned–manager Mr Fuji. Fuji’s protégé and client Don Muraco then jumped Ricky after the bell. This rivalry became even more heated when a scheduled bout between ‘The Dragon’ and ‘Magnificent’ Muraco did not take place after the future ‘The Rock’ hung Steamboat over the top rope with his black karate belt. In a memorable and gruesome visual, Steamboat was shown struggling greatly whilst dangling with his feet off the floor. He was eventually saved by the babyface duo of the Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana, but the fire had been lit.
Steamboat got several victories over Fuji in the coming weeks, the most high profile of which was a Kung Fu match on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. ‘The Dragon’, who also has a Japanese-American mother, often uses wrestling inspired by this martial arts style in his move-set, similar to Fuji. Steamboat often teamed with Tito Santana and JYD (and even Hulk Hogan on one occasion) to take on the devilish duo or would take on Muraco in singles action on the house show circuit often in matches resulting without a decisive finish. The feud culminated in a tag match aired in January 1986 on Saturday Night’s Main Event #4 where Ricky and JYD beat Muraco and Fuji after the Dog pinned the part-time manager after a headbutt. This, therefore, closed the book on ‘The Dragon’’s first rivalry in the WWF.
Jake Roberts
Furthering the trope of feuds being built off of pre-match assaults, Steamboat’s next feud with Jake Roberts started in explosive style.
On Saturday Night’s Main Event #6, Roberts jumped Steamboat before the bell, eventually hitting him with a deadly DDT on the exposed concrete floor. ‘The Dragon’ landed with a sickening, dull thud on the floor, his head cracking off of the solid ground – as it turns out, a spot that legitimately knocked Steamboat unconscious. ‘The Snake’ then had to lift the motionless body of Ricky into the ring where he placed his snake, Damian. The duo then squared off in several house show matches – sometimes trading wins but often battling to an undecisive result such as double DQ or count-out.
As the rivals both had animal-based nicknames, Ricky Steamboat needed an animal to counteract Jake Roberts’s pet snake. Of course, as dragons are fictitious, Ricky needed something else so got a Komodo dragon…which is a lizard but close enough for WWE, I guess.
The feud culminated with 2 Snake Pit matches. The first took place in front of a record-setting 74,000 fans (a new best for outdoor attendance) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at The Big Event. Despite Jake dictating the majority of the action, Steamboat got the win after 10 minutes of action – winning with a sit-out roll-up to a huge ovation (as one of the biggest attractions the show was built around). Their rematch took place at the 7th Saturday Night’s Main Event with Ricky again victorious, this time via Crucifix pin. Roberts ambushed ‘Then Dragon’ afterwards and was about to place Damian on Ricky before being chased off by Steamboat’s reptilian friend. This would signal the end of this rivalry on TV as Steamboat moved on to the Intercontinental title scene.
Randy Savage
Gaining popularity, ‘The Dragon’ took on IC champion Randy Savage on an episode of Superstars for the title belt. The combatants had actually fought before – at The Wrestling Classic, where Savage had to resort to cheating to get the win, narrowly beating Steamboat with the use of brass knuckles. In this match, ‘The Macho Man’ targeted Ricky’s neck as he dropped the Hawaiian throat-first on the guard rail and hitting him with a Bombs Away axe handle over the barrier. Following this, he dragged Steamboat into the ring, where he came off the top rope with the ring bell across the esophagus of Steamboat. Trying to damage Ricky’s vocal cords, Randy crushed his larynx in storyline with the angle gaining furthered by ‘The Dragon’’s realistic-feeling selling. Ricky was carted off in a stretcher, being written off by this injury.
Steamboat returned after Savage successfully defended the Intercontinental strap over George Steele, stopping Savage from injuring ‘The Animal’ the same as Ricky. Still trying to avenge his loss at WrestleMania last year and his crush on Miss Elizabeth, Steele became a close ally of Steamboat. Prior to their match at WrestleMania 3, Steamboat got some more building block wins on TV over The Iron Sheik and Jimmy Jack Funk.
It is impossible to do their ‘Mania bout justice in this small section but it is regarded as one of (if not THE) greatest WrestleMania match(es) of all time. A meticulously crafted bout, it was a technical masterclass with some huge bumps, iconic moments and athletic displays. In the end, George Steele thwarted a bell attack by Savage, but got up before Ricky, picking him up into a body slam which Steamboat rolled through into a small package for the 3. A huge pop commenced as the 93,173 made a huge ovation for Steamboat prevailing in one of the matches the historic event was built upon. Steamboat emerged victorious with the belt, carting back up the ramp with the championship in-toe. Their feud would continue for a short while on the house show loop with multiple IC matches inside a steel cage.
Ultimately though, despite Roberts tormenting him and Savage trying to destroy his voice forever, it must have no matter to Ricky in kayfabe as he teamed with both that very same year at Survivor Series. Hey, whoever said WWE storytelling is consistent?
Rick Rude
In the first match on a Royal Rumble event, Ricky Steamboat faced Rick Rude in the opener of 1988’s event. In this, ‘The Dragon’ won via DQ after ‘Ravishing’ Rick pulled the ref in his way to avoid his opponents Flying Crossbody finishing maneuver. This would be the total interaction that the 2 would truly have on television, with minimal storyline interaction in the WWF otherwise.
In 1992, Steamboat found himself in WCW. In early 1992, he started to feud with company supergroup The Dangerous Alliance – more specifically then-United States Champion Rick Rude. This included a failed attempt for Ricky to capture the belt at SuperBrawl II, being pinned when an incognito Paul E. Dangerously smashed Steamboat with his signature phone.
Their feud escalated when Steamboat and Rude were on opposite sides in a heated rivalry between multiple faces against Paul E. Dangerously’s faction. In the build to the bout between Sting Squadron (Steamboat along with Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes and Nikita Koloff) and The Dangerous Alliance (Rude as well as Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, Steve Austin and Bobby Eaton), the US titleholder bloodied Steamboat on an episode of WCW Worldwide. The blow-off War Games bout took place at WrestleWar 1992, with the faces leaving victorious in a match rated 5 stars by Dave Meltzer.
Their final contest took place at Beach Blast, in a non-title 30-minute Iron Man match. Despite Steamboat being the number one contender, the match was not for the title. Steamboat got 4 falls to Rude 3 to get the win as time expired in one of the greatest Iron Man matches of all time. Even though Steamboat won, Paul E. announced he would never get a shot at the belt before Steamboat was assaulted by Cactus Jack, closing the chapter on the Rude rivalry.
Steve Austin
At Clash of The Champions XX, Steamboat defeated ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin to become the Television champion. This reign was short-lived but he would bounce back – winning the WCW/NWA World Tag Team title belts alongside partner Shane Douglas. They would hold these for 104 days before losing them to The Hollywood Blonds (Brian Pillman and Steve Austin).
In mid-1994, Austin was growing in popularity – further finding and developing his character. At Bash At The Beach, he turned back a Steamboat challenge to his United States title, when ‘Stunning’ Steve rolled through a Flying Crossbody, putting his feet on the ropes for extra, illegal leverage. At Clash of The Champions #28, Ricky gained the belt when countering a scoop slam into a small package à la WrestleMania 3. Unfortunately, this reign would last less than a month with a house show bout between the 2 being the last of Ricky’s career for 15 years due to injury. At Fall Brawl, he was forced to forfeit the belt back to Austin, Steve was subsequently toppled for the title by Jim Duggan in 35 seconds. The feud may have been uncontrollably cut short, but it did leave us with some great, generational-clashing matches between them.
Chris Jericho
Although it seemed Steamboat had permanently hung up his boots, he made an in-ring comeback at WrestleMania 25 (actually the 24th anniversary of the event) against Chris Jericho. Originally, Jericho was supposed to wrestle the star of pro wrestling movie The Wrestler Mickey Rourke however the actor pulled out of the match, instead reduced to a post-match angle. Substituting in for Rourke, ‘Y2J’ battled 3 legends of the past: Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat. Snuka and Piper lumbered through the match, with their age meaning their in-ring work had diminished yet Steamboat had seemingly not lost a step, even after a decade and a half away from the ring. In a tense, exciting final, he honorably fought but eventually fell to ‘The Ayatollah of Rock ‘N’ Rolla’.
Showing that ring rust had not caught the better of him, he was placed in a 10-man tag on the next Raw with his team (consisting also of John Cena, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy) emerging victorious. A rematch between ‘The Dragon’ and ‘Y2J’ was set for Backlash the next month in Steamboat’s first singles match in 15 years. Steamboat went on a big nostalgia run, hitting all his best offence to the enthrallment of the audience without looking out of place in a WWE ring in 2009. A great performance by the 56-year-old Ricky, he eventually put over the newer star, being hit with a mid-air Codebreaker before tapping to the Walls of Jericho.
The feud continued on the house show circuit where Ricky actually got a memorable, on-the-fly win over Chris. Jericho, who had beaten the veteran at 2 previous house shows, put Ricky overdue to the match taking place in NWA home territory South Carolina, with the finish being a nod to WrestleMania 3’s ending.
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