Biggest Fan: John Rohner "He was one of the high flyers. He knows karate."
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat was a revolutionary in-ring performer: he participated in the Match of the Year (according to both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer Newsletter) in 1987 and three of his matches with Ric Flair in 1989 were Five Star Matches.
Ricky Steamboat, in his pre-"Dragon" days, was immensely successful over an eight-year period in Jim Crockett Promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance. The newcomer was almost immediately matched up against "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, and this exposure helped catapult him up the ranks in the NWA. Between 1977 and 1985, Steamboat embarked on three NWA United States Heavyweight Championship reigns and six NWA World Heavyweight Tag Team Championship reigns (five of them with Jack Youngblood).
Steamboat jumped ship to the World Wrestling Federation, due to backstage tensions and creative differences with booker Dusty Rhodes, just in time for the first WrestleMania. At the event, he was victorious over Matt Borne (see #64 Doink the Clown below). Feuds with Don Muraco, Mr. Fuji and Jake "The Snake" Roberts were to follow. The feud with Roberts was particularly chock full of memorable moments, including Steamboat scaring Jake away with a komodo dragon and Jake performing a DDT on Steamboat on the arena floor that knocked "The Dragon" unconscious for real. Steamboat sustained a concussion.
Shortly after dealing with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Steamboat was tabbed to become the new WWF Intercontinental Champion. After an intense buildup in the weeks leading up to their battle, at WrestleMania III, Ricky Steamboat and the "Macho Man" Randy Savage put on a showstopping match that was considered the best match of 1987, and is to this day considered to be perhaps the best match in WrestleMania history! Ricky Steamboat left the ring with the Intercontinental Championship, but he would only hold the title for a scant two months.
Steamboat returned to compete in WCW in 1989, and although he was only there for a year before announcing his retirement (for the second of several times), this stretch in the promotion was incredibly fruitful. He would capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair in one of the aforementioned Five Star Matches, and he held onto the strap for 76 days until losing it back to Flair at the inaugural WrestleWar in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat would reemerge in the WWF breathing fire in 1991 and had another successful run in WCW from 1992 to 1994, but wrestling fans will certainly remember this high-flying superstar most for his exciting, industry-changing matches of the 1980s.
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