51 Facts About Ricky Steamboat

1.

Ricky Steamboat went to high school in New York and graduated in 1971 from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Florida, where he was on the school wrestling team.

2.

Ricky Steamboat was a two-time New York State wrestling qualifier and a Florida state champion.

3.

Ricky Steamboat went from the AWA to Championship Wrestling from Florida.

4.

In 1977, Ricky Steamboat entered the National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned Jim Crockett Promotions, where he would remain for the next eight years of his career.

5.

Ricky Steamboat, who had been brought in by JCP booker George Scott on the recommendation of Wahoo McDaniel, was initially billed as a babyface protege of Wahoo and barely spoke above whispers in interviews.

6.

Ricky Steamboat was doing an interview on the syndicated Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling when Flair, then Mid-Atlantic television champion, began goading him.

7.

Ricky Steamboat knocked Flair out with a backhand chop to set up a match between the two.

8.

Ricky Steamboat held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship singles crown twice and wore the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship straps four times.

9.

Ricky Steamboat won the Television title a second time.

10.

In 1985, Ricky Steamboat was offered a contract by Vince McMahon and he joined the World Wrestling Federation.

11.

Shortly after his debut, Ricky Steamboat was given the gimmick of a babyface nicknamed "the Dragon"; Ricky Steamboat's jacket-and-trunks attire was replaced by a keikogi and long tights.

12.

Ricky Steamboat's mother is Japanese American, hence his Asian features which were crucial for his "Dragon" gimmick.

13.

Ricky Steamboat kept the nickname and gimmick for the remainder of his career.

14.

Ricky Steamboat appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania where he defeated Matt Borne in the third match on the card.

15.

Ricky Steamboat then faced off against Randy Savage in the quarterfinals.

16.

The referee was distracted by Miss Elizabeth as Savage took advantage and pulled out brass knuckles from his tights and hit Ricky Steamboat before pinning him to win the match.

17.

However, Roberts' fears came true and Ricky Steamboat was legitimately knocked out when his forehead hit the concrete.

18.

Ricky Steamboat lost the match by countout but after the match, Savage continued to assault him and injured Ricky Steamboat's larynx with the ring bell, beginning an angle between the two.

19.

At WrestleMania III, Ricky Steamboat defeated Savage for the Intercontinental Championship.

20.

Several weeks after winning the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, Ricky 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.

21.

Ricky Steamboat came back in time for the Survivor Series in November 1987.

22.

On WWF television prior to the match, Ricky Steamboat appeared in a vignette where he stated that he hoped Randy Savage would win his first round match, thus setting up a rematch of last year's WrestleMania match and "one more classic confrontation".

23.

Ricky Steamboat made his comeback to wrestling in January 1989 and returned to the NWA on the January 21,1989 edition of World Championship Wrestling as a surprise tag team partner of "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert against NWA World Champion, Ric Flair and Barry Windham in a tag team match that saw Ricky Steamboat pin Flair.

24.

Ricky Steamboat was the last NWA World Champion to defend the belt in All Japan Pro Wrestling in a match against Tiger Mask II.

25.

Ricky Steamboat lost the match by disqualification after hitting Luger with a chair.

26.

On subsequent episodes of Superstars and Wrestling Challenge, Ricky Steamboat would go on to win numerous squash matches.

27.

Ricky Steamboat would be victorious on televised Madison Square Garden events, defeating the likes of Haku, Demolition Smash, Paul Roma, Col.

28.

Ricky Steamboat's only pay per view appearance during his second WWF tenure was at SummerSlam.

29.

The day after his dark match loss, Ricky Steamboat gave his notice to WWF management and then quit the company shortly thereafter.

30.

Ricky Steamboat proposed to fight as a masked heel until somebody would remove his mask, but Patterson said he was a consummate babyface.

31.

Ricky Steamboat began feuding with the Dangerous Alliance at this point, facing them in a critically acclaimed WarGames match at WrestleWar, which received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

32.

Ricky Steamboat unsuccessfully challenged Dangerous Alliance member and United States Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude for the title at SuperBrawl II.

33.

Ricky Steamboat then feuded with US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin and earned a US title shot at Bash at the Beach, but lost.

34.

Ricky Steamboat was the referee for the four-way double-elimination match to crown the first holder of the TNA X Division Championship.

35.

Ricky Steamboat has made appearances for Ring of Honor where he refereed the first defense of the ROH Pure Wrestling Championship.

36.

In 2004, he engaged in a series of confrontations with CM Punk over Punk's arrogance in matches Ricky Steamboat refereed and then became CM Punk's inspiration to become the better person Ricky Steamboat knew he could be.

37.

In early 2005, Ricky Steamboat returned to WWE as a producer and was introduced as a WWE Legend on the "Homecoming" edition of Raw in October 2005.

38.

In early 2006, Ricky Steamboat told WWE management that he would like to come out of retirement at WrestleMania 22 and work a match with Ric Flair, but the idea was nixed.

39.

Ricky Steamboat refereed another title match in July 2007 between John Cena and Randy Orton in Anaheim, California.

40.

Ricky Steamboat briefly appeared at the Vengeance: Night of Champions pay-per-view, being recognized as a former Intercontinental Champion.

41.

Ricky Steamboat made another appearance on WWE television during Ric Flair's farewell on the March 31,2008 edition of Raw.

42.

Ricky Steamboat appeared on the February 23 edition of Raw, after being named one of the members of the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame class.

43.

However, Ricky Steamboat was attacked by Chris Jericho, who began to feud with the Hall of Famers.

44.

From June to August 2009, Ricky Steamboat worked in house shows against Chris Jericho, Drew McIntrye, and Sheamus.

45.

On WWE's website the following day, it was announced that in storyline, Ricky Steamboat suffered injuries from the attack.

46.

Ricky Steamboat worked as an NXT trainer and in the talent relations department with Triple H until the developmental release of his son, Richie Ricky Steamboat, in 2013.

47.

Ricky Steamboat appeared in Major League Wrestling, as a guest matchmaker.

48.

Ricky Steamboat returned to the ring on November 27,2022 at age 69 for the first time since his last match in 2010.

49.

Ricky Steamboat teamed with FTR as they defeated Nick Aldis, Jay Lethal and Brock Anderson at Big Time Wrestling Return of the Dragon in Raleigh, North Carolina.

50.

Ricky Steamboat appears in 14 wrestling video games, he made his video game debut in WCW: World Championship Wrestling in 1989.

51.

Ricky Steamboat later appeared in WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling in 1994 and later Legends of Wrestling in 2001, Legends of Wrestling II in 2002 and Showdown: Legends of Wrestling in 2004.