Monday, October 23, 2017

Best of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat: WWF Years 1985-1988

Best of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat:
The WWF Years (1985-1988)

 


Ricky Steamboat came into the WWF around the time of the inaugural WrestleMania. At first, he was positioned as an upper midcard babyface performing well against midcard heels like Greg Valentine and Bob Orton. From the outset, Steamboat was the number three working babyface behind Hogan & Santana (Andre was a special attraction and JYD was more of a fun attraction). This blog covers those beginning months.  There is tag team match with Tito Santana taking on the Dream Team at Maple Leaf Gardens in April of 1985 that I think is the best WWF tag match of all time and I would say is the second best match of 1985 in WWF. So definitely check that one out.
 
Then he moves onto a feud with Don Muraco (coming down the card from working Hogan) to give Steamboat his first major feud when Muraco & Fuji hung Steamboat from the ropes with his karate belt (quite the visual!) and really establish him as someone the fans should take seriously.
 
 
From there, he started a major program with the recently debuted, Jake The Snake Roberts, in the spring of 1986 when Jake The Snake DDT'd Ricky Steamboat on the cement. This led to some amazing matches in 1986 and I think their one from August 9. 1986 in Boston Gardens is the WWF match of the year.
 
 
 After a great performance with the Snake, he furthers moves up the card and takes the Number two babyface position (with Andre turning heel there is no doubt, he is the second most popular wrestler in WWF at its peak) and is paired with the Macho Man Randy Savage producing some of the best matches in WWF history. Everyone talks about WrestleMania III, but watch their house show matches and you will see that not only did they never have a bad match, I rated all their matches at least ****. They had insane chemistry. All hardcore fans would say check out their Toronto February 15, 1987 match which is as good if not better than Mania III (depends on my mood).
 
 
After that, Steamboat had a child and I believe that led him to not working such a rigorous road schedule so he dropped the IC Title to Honky Tonk Man. The rest of this blog covers that and the Rick Rude program.  
 
Must See Miscellaneous Ricky Steamboat in WWF:
 
1. The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/21/85
2. WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man vs Ricky Steamboat - MSG 8/22/87 Lumberjack Match
3. Ricky Steamboat vs Ace Cowboy Bob Orton - WWF, Cap Center 7/20/85



The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/21/85
 
This match sure lived up to the hype and may be the best Beefcake performance I have ever seen. This match was all about tempo. Santana was in his red-hot feud with Valentine who had broken his leg and taken his title. The crowd was molten for that angle. The babyfaces worked their entire end in an up-tempo, fired -up fashion. The Dream Team knowing they could not match this attempted every trick in the book to break their momentum and work a real grinding style. This led to a really good match.
 
Early on Steamboat and Santana have a hot shine sequence with Beefcake and Valentine just bumping all over the place for them. I have been down on WWF Steamboat, but he was pumped for this match just flying around the ring. You know that Tito is going to bring the hate with his fists balled up. Beefcake and Valentine do their best to stall and break this momentum, but at first there seems like no end to this onslaught. Until, Tito goes for the figure-4 on Valentine, who grabs his trunks and hits a knee in the midsection. Once he hits a shoulderbreaker he consolidates the advantage for the Dream Team and grinds the match to a halt. They work on Santana with some double teams and Valentine slaps on an arm bar. Tito is almost able to make the tag, but Valentine knocks Steamboat off the apron and then Beefcake comes around and beats on Steamboat. The crowd was just eating this all up. The Beefer gets cocky and goads Steamboat. Tito is able to crawl past Beefcake and get the hot tag to Steamboat. IT IS BREAKING LOOSE IN TORONTO! Steamboat with his best hot tag I have seen. He unloads on both the Hammer and the Beefer with karate shots. The crowd was losing their shit for this. Steamboat grabs the sleeper hold, but Beefcake with an eye-rake. Valentine and Steamboat have a good exchange until an eye-rake does Steamboat in and Valentine consolidates with a gut buster. I preferred the Steamboat FIP is a better at selling and the Dream Team really unloaded with double teams and offense. Valentine starts to warm him up for the figure-4, but Steamboat knows his way around the figure-4 and grabs an inside cradle. Steamboat fights out of the corner and is able to Tito. ARRIBA! Double noggin knocker. Tito drops Valentine with a right. Flying Burrito to a huge pop! Beefcake saves. Melee ensues. They are double teaming Tito and Steamboat flies off the top onto Beefcake. Tito blocks Valentine's atomic drop and applies the figure-4 for the submission victory. ARRIBA! Wooooooooooooo, I am out of breathe after that one.
 
This is babyface wrestling 101, folks. Steamboat and Santana gave maximum effort and I bet it is real easy when you have a crowd as hot as this one at the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Dream Team wrestled a smart match to ensure constant heat throughout the match as they built not one, but two really hot tags. In some of those double FIP AWA tags, the first hot tag is not all that hot, but in this match that Steamboat hot tag is just as red-hot as the following Santana one. Beefcake actually wrestled pretty well here and was not as awkward as usual. The Hammer is going to clog the lane every time and make sure that babyface earns every shot. This up there with the Bulldogs match as one of the best WWF Tags of the 80s. ****1/2
 
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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat - WWF, MSG 6/21/85

Gorilla Monsoon is the fucking worst. Nobody could take the sails out of hot comeback faster than him with his nonchalant "Nope, he is not going to get him." I will take Vince's bombastic and naive belief that every nearfall is a potential winning fall than Gorilla's constant undercutting of drama.

This is the Superstar Sleeze dream match on paper and I think this would be a dream match for most wrestling fans. It does not quite live up to OMG RICKYSTEAMBOAT VS GREG VALENTINE~! The beginning is pretty pedestrian surprisingly. For whatever, Valentine did not seem very engaged in the beginning of the match. He was content to bump and sell, but he was not his usual chippy self. Then Steamboat kept locking these holds on Valentine as if to contain him, but Valentine was not supplying energy. I think those clamps are perfect to keep a runaway babyface down or I guess really any explosive wrestler. Valentine was not demonstrating that on this night. I think Steamboat needed to provide more of the energy. He was at times, but he needed to go full throttle. The Valentine heat segment was good. I expect greatness out of The Hammer, so I could not help but be disappointed. It was the standard stiff shots and then setting up for the figure-4. On the flip side, it was standard great Steamboat selling. The entire match up until the finish felt very routine. Basically, it was each guy doing what he did well, but not really responding to each other. Then Steamboat wakes up on the outside and sort of Hulks Up and the crowd's interest is piqued. Then all of sudden it becomes a couple Carolina boys doing Carolina boy things in the ring when they fucking start wailing on each other. This is what I wanted. Steamboat had a tremendous comeback showing great fire and exuding charisma. It was either on a big karate chop or the top rope cross body when the crowd and the match were at a fever pitch that fucking Gorilla said "Nope, he is not going to get him." What a fucking asshole.Valentine had a brief spell of offense before Steamboat Karate'd his ass out of the ring to lose by countout. I will say Steamboat's kicks look aesthetically pleasing in the sense that when his kicking the air it looks smooth and well-executed, but man he just is not connecting at all. Of course, kicks were never part of his repertoire, but hey now he is the Karate Kid so he needs to do KICKS~! This reminds me Jimmy Hart was great in this match first worrying about all the Karate bullshit and then when Steamboat was down and out taunting by calling him the Karate Kid. Great Mouth of the South performance. It is a good match, but not at level I wanted it to be at. ***

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Ricky Steamboat vs Ace Cowboy Bob Orton - WWF, Cap Center 7/20/85

The Landover crowd is rocking for the recently debuted Ricky The Dragon Steamboat. I have to say Steamboat committed himself to the Karate gimmick better than I would think a lot of proud veterans would. He had working at a high level and he could have been badass Steamboat in the Carolinas, but he went out there and executed Vince’s vision, which is pretty cool. I think those intense spots where he is summoning his chi and what not aka flexing his bulging muscles got him over huge. Yes, this is during the time period where Bob Orton had the cast. Bob Orton was such a great midcard heel and perfect for his role.

I really enjoyed Steamboat’s mannerisms in this. I thought he was intense and charismatic. I really liked him mocking Orton in the arm bar. Steamboat focused his shine working on injured arm, but they both always kept things moving. It began with an armdrag into arm bar and some nice karate strikes to the arm. Orton keeps it moving as he tries to get out in numerous ways including to go through ropes, a punch that was blocked and a bodyslam, but Steamboat always maintains control. Steamboat is really fun in this. Orton backs him into corner and starts laying on the heavy artillery. Headscissor by Orton tries again and goes flying over ropes into railing on the second attempt. He throws soda in Steamboat’s eyes and goes to town. Cool transition. Orton powerful knee lift. Good heat builds to the cast shot, but misses. Big chop by Steamboat but he missed a fistdrop. They slug it out in Carolina boy fashion. Orton midsection shots stops the Dragon rally, but he is backdropped out fo pilederiver. Top rope crossbody by Steamboat!!! 1-2-No! Great nearfall!

Inverted atomic drop by Orton and Steamboat crumples to mat. Really awesome selling there by the Steamer. Steamboat skins the cat and enziguiri (not a good looking one, but he is trying). Orton takes a huge bump through the ropes. Another karate shot by Steamboat while Orton is on apron. Orton eyerake while on apron and Steamboat wins suplex struggle and brings him in hard way. Steamer eats knees on splash attempt. Orton adjusts the cast! Cast shot and DQ.

Damn it was just getting good. Steamboat fends him with chops and kicks. Gene Okerlund “This guy had the guts to do whats right.” In reference to the ref DQ’ing Ace Cowboy, which I think in terms of grandstanding righteous indignation that has to rank up there. Steamboat wants some more of Orton, but Orton retreats. This was well on its way to being a great midcard match to get Steamboat over. I don’t mind the finish, it just rendered the match incomplete. Sometimes you get to that level finish and it feels right. I felt these guys still had more left to give. Plus I think that The Dragon was higher enough on the pecking order he probably should have gotten the clean win. I really fun Steamboat performance.  ***3/4

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Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86
 
I disagreed with my previous review of this match most notably that Bret was the better wrestler in this match. I think it is pretty even. Steamboat's selling and his fire on this is very good. Bret is the one constructing the framework for the match and does an admirable job. The match is missing the glue and those little details. Having recently watched Steamboat vs Orton, you can see how fun a Steamboat arm-based babyface shine can be. I would argue Bret takes the bigger, more spectacular bumps off the armdrags than Orton, but Orton fills the time just so well. Orton adds wrinkles of trying to get out of the hold and when he is thwarted thats where the entertainment comes from.  Bret transitions with a swinging neckbreaker, a little bit too much of a babyface transition. I thought the best sequence of the match was one of his favorite 80s sequences: goes for a backbreaker, opponent reverses into a bodyslam, but the wrinkle here is Bret gets the knees up on the splash. Excellent, excellent sequence as you get the hope spot, Steamboat desperately trying to capitalize, but in his overzealousness he over reaches and the Hitman is able to one-up him. Bret does Bret follows up with his bodyslam on the parquet floor and successfully gets the backbreaker. Bret misses second-rope elbow and here comes the Steamer.Steamboat had plenty of fire and Bret was bumping big off the chop. I am surprised Bret got a visual pinfall off a ref bump. Based on Bret's booking pattern, I think Vince always liked Bret and wanted to push him as a singles guy. This is definitely evident as soon as late 87, but this could have been the first evidence of that. Bret has shown he already has all the tools to be a major singles star in between the ropes. The finish is Steamboat rolling through a Bret cross body for the win. A very good match, solid stuff, but nothing that inspires just perfectly acceptable wrestling. ***1/2

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat vs Honky Tonk Man - WWF 6/2/87

It feels like a pretty routine title defense for Steamboat that worked in most of his familiar spots and he was working with great energy. Honky was bumping for him and besides a short heat segment really did not do much. He teased Shake Rattle Roll and then Steamboat came off with a BIG off the top, in a conventional match it would have been over. The finish was strange. Jimmy Hart distracted the ref, but Steamer dispatched of both, but when he went for the pin, Honky kinds but not really got on top and the ref did not break his count. It was a weird finish and not one that really protected Steamer when you could have used the manager. Thus began the reign of the Greatest IC Champion who ever lived.

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man vs Ricky Steamboat - MSG 8/22/87 Lumberjack Match

I figured I should watch at least one full-length Honky Tonk Man match in my life (correction: I have seen the Savage SNME match that leads to the MegaPowers forming so I guess this number two). This seems like his most critically acclaimed match and I have to admit this is a pretty damn good way to spend about 15 minutes. Highly entertaining. Honky Tonk feels like an overpushed jobber. Like if they gave Heath Slater the IC or US title and let him run with it. I think Slater is horribly underutilized and would shine. My point is that Slater's value is in bumping and stooging. That's Honky Tonk's value. Tremendous shine. Big smile the whole time. I loved Steamboat skinning the cat so fast the heels couldn't get him. While Honky was desperately trying to find a way out, but kept being held up at the apron and getting throttled. Steamboat giving chase into the lumberjacks were great. The bumping by Honky Tonk in the ring made each Steamboat cover feel huge. The Islanders trip Steamboat so Animal Steele trips Honky Tonk to a huge pop! Love it! Honky blocks a monkey flip and Steamer does a huge sell. Honky does not do much for me on offense. Steamboat really roared back with his comeback. Had some really good strong nearfalls. Jimmy Hart distracts the ref and Steele comes in counts for Steamboat. Raises his hand. Steamboat decks the Mouth of the South. In the fracas, Honky gets the megaphone and knocks out Steamboat to retain. All in all, really fun match especially the beginning when Honky Tonk was a total ham and Steamboat was on fire. The end was good wrestling theatre. ***3/4

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Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude - MSG 12/26/87
 
I often forget that Steamboat stuck around after dropping the IC Title to Honky Tonk Man. The result was a feud with Ravishing Rick Rude, which I have never watched before (it is not as critically acclaimed as their '92 WCW feud). Rude is such a great character. He doesn't quite have that swagger when he tells all the New York Sleazebags to piper down while he shows all the ladies what a real, sexy man looks like but it was definitely there. Steamboat did not look pumped here. Very subdued entrance. I am guessing he took a lot of time off for his newborn and doesn't seem invested. Nice opening shine with Steamboat skinning the cat, but hitting Heenan in his bad neck on the way up and then back body dropping Rude out of the ring who takes a big bump onto a chair. Besides that bump, thought Rude did an excellent job selling the arm which Steamboat worked on for like 10 minutes. Steamboat won wrist control out of a test of strength. Really good, straight wrestling here. Is there anyone better at simple criss cross exchanges than the Dragon. Simply electric. I thought Rude did a good job creating movement for Steamboat to work in armdrags. Nice eyepoke and great selling of the arm while throwing bows with his good arm. Steamboat runs him into the buckles, but as he is charging he runs into them too.

Second half of the match is Rude working holds. I thought they worked good hope spots then cutoffs before going back into holds. Rude cant flex his left bicep, but he can his right. Love it! Rude misses the seat drop. Steamboat goes for the slam, but his back gives out. Steamboat gets out of bearhug but Rude hooks the ropes to avoid dropkick. Eventually Steamboat gets the famous Electric Chair spot and then Rude goes up top and Steamboat catches him. Classic Steamboat finish run with a ton of nearfalls for both men. Steamboat gets the big chop off the top and the bell rings calling for the time limit. Heenan gets on the mic to say he could beat the Dragon now but it is a trap and Rude blindsides him and smashes the microphones into his head. Steamboat makes a comeback and throws him out.

It was clear they were working a WWF time limit draw with all holds, but it was such a textbook match. I just enjoyed the selling and the beauty of the exchanges. It was simple, lo-fi, but effective. ***1/2

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Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude - WWF Royal Rumble 1988

It is generally unusual that matches that happened in WCW are more fondly remembered than the ones in the WWF, but this is for good reason as Steamboat/Rude's series in 1992 is lightyears better than the matches in late 87 and 88. I thought this was a condensed and more pedestrian version of their MSG draw a couple of months or so before this, the inaugural Royal Rumble. Rude does not have Heenan, which does lessen the fun. They do the spot where Steamboat skins the cat and sends Rude flying. The issue with this match is Rude just isn't as good as in the MSG match. He is not bumping as big. His offense is so weak that Steamboat is not bumping for him. He is trying to help him by selling but there is no heat. He finally musters up a transition but it is just a lame kneelift to the back. They do the usual Rude chinlock spots. Then they do the usual Steamboat nearfall sequence. The wrinkle in the end is Rude throws the ref into a diving Steamboat. He picks up Steamboat into an Argentine backbreaker. Ref calls for the bell you think Rude has won due to submission they even play his music, but Steamboat wins by DQ. The MSG match is actually very good and I recommend that. I think this is totally skippable and probably the worst Steamboat match I have seen in the WWF.          


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Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude - WWF Superstars 2/6/88

I was interested to watch this match because I don't recall reading about an angle between these two so I thought by watching this I might find something. The angle here was the Heenan Family (Race & Hercules) started to interfere after Steamboat was rolling with some top rope moves. So ULTIMATE WARRIOR in black trunks came out. I honest to God didn't even recognize him. He was kinda treated liked a JTTS getting beaten down and it was Hacksaw Duggan who made the real save. So it made sense Rude/Steamboat, Duggan/Race and Warrior/Herc going into WM IV. As for the match, sub-5 minutes, I could watch these two do criss cross sequences all day so beautiful.
 

 

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