A&E’s latest WWE episode focused on Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and I thought it was a very good episode.
One of the main subjects was the June 2010 angle on Raw where he was attacked by the members of Nexus which led to Steamboat suffering a brain bleed and being hospitalized for weeks. Steamboat described being very irritable in the hospital and his brother stated that he visited him in the hospital and Ricky was unable to recognize him when he entered the room. WWE kept things very quiet during this time, but it was serious enough that it could have been fatal. Steamboat worked as a producer, trainer, and ambassador until being released in 2014.
The doc went through his upbringing and being subjected to racism being half-Japanese and constantly moving due to his father serving in the military. It was a fluke that he got into professional wrestling as his high school friend ended up becoming roommates with Donna Gagne, the daughter of Verne, and suggested Ricky try pro wrestling. He survived Gagne’s camp where he was training under Khosrow Vaziri a.k.a. Iron Sheik and went from Minnesota to Florida for Eddie Graham and struck it big in Mid-Atlantic in 1977. Over the years, Steamboat and Ric Flair have remarked that while their 1989 matches are remembered due to them being preserved, their matches from a decade earlier were even better.
They didn’t spend any significant time on his team with Jay Youngblood, which was an incredible babyface tandem in that territory and covered his big moves going to the WWF in 1984 and winning the title from Randy Savage at WrestleMania 3 in a match that inspired a generation of future performers. Steamboat explained that he provided Vince McMahon with notice in late 1986 that he wanted two weeks off the following July when his first son was due, and it was considered no problem. When the date drew closer, McMahon said they had to take the Intercontinental title off Steamboat because they couldn’t afford to have the belt inactive for two weeks during that era of live events. This infuriated Steamboat and said he was now taking six months off. Realistically, his last match before his break was June 20 and he returned on July 25 but he did work a very limited schedule throughout 1987 with only 25 matches listed through the end of the year on Cagematch. The writing was on the wall that Steamboat was being punished when they eliminated Steamboat in the opening round of the WrestleMania 4 tournament in 1988 and prevented a rematch between Steamboat and Savage in the second round, which would easily have been the best match on that show and been a great set up for Savage to avenge the loss before winning the title in the main event.
Steamboat appeared in WCW in early 1989 as a surprise partner for Eddie Gilbert and pinned Ric Flair in a tag match involving Barry Windham as they were off to the races with their big series that year. The year is remembered for the big three matches at the Chi-Town Rumble, Clash of the Champions, and Wrestle War but after Flair transitioned to the Terry Funk program, Steamboat was moved to a U.S. title series with Lex Luger and left because of money issues and stating he was low-balled.
After working with local independents in the Carolinas and a tour of New Japan, Steamboat had his final WWF run in 1991 as “The Dragon” and went into detail about teaching him how to do the fire-breathing entrance. It was a lackluster run that went seven months, and he was reduced to an undercard babyface role that was mainly working live events.
His timing was unfortunate as the company was going to undergo a cosmetic makeover in 1992 with the departures of Hulk Hogan, Legion of Doom, Sid Justice, and later, Ultimate Warrior and British Bulldog. Steamboat would have turned 39 in February 1992 but was easily among the top echelon of that 1992 roster and would have a great opponent for Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, and ready-made programs with Ric Flair and Randy Savage throughout 1992 based on their histories. But it’s a moot point as McMahon didn’t see Steamboat at that level based on his handling in 1991 but it’s an interesting “what if?” if Steamboat had returned in 1992 instead of the year before.
His last run was in WCW and ended in 1994 after his career-ending back injury where he herniated a disc. They isolated the spot when he slipped coming off the turnbuckle and messed up a standard back bump, landing on his tailbone during a match with Steve Austin. In a callous move, they fired Steamboat months later and he was largely removed from the industry for the next decade.
There was no discussion about his involvement in TNA or Ring of Honor as they cut to his reunion with WWE in 2005 as a producer, making amends with McMahon after his 1991 release, and entering the WWE Hall of Fame in Houston in 2009.
There was a fair amount of reflection on his personal sacrifices for his career going through several marriages and losing a lot of time at home. His current wife was featured near the end of the doc with the two meeting at a fan convention several years ago and hitting it off. Interestingly, his son Richie was not interviewed despite his time in WWE developmental and being referred to many times throughout the doc from Steamboat taking time off for his birth, carrying him to the ring at WrestleMania 4, being shown on camera during the Hall of Fame induction, and wrestling in FCW for many years.
It went into more detail about the brain bleed than you would expect for a WWE-produced documentary and the injury taking place in their ring. The company flew close to the sun in many examples with physicality involving Mae Young and were lucky nothing serious happened to her. Between Steamboat’s brain bleed and Jerry Lawler going into cardiac arrest after a 2012 match on Raw, you can understand why so many people are concerned when older performers insist on wrestling and taking unnecessary risks. They opted not to cover his return to the ring in 2022 where he teamed with FTR in 2022.
I’d recommend the episode as Steamboat is a fairly open book and intriguing speaker, who sounded very coherent and sound given his head injury over a decade prior. He’s one of the universally respected performers and because of the stage, his WrestleMania match with Savage is always going to be celebrated in WWE’s history.
