Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Ricky Steamboat – The Life Story of the Dragon – Discs 1 & 2

Disc 1

The Documentary

The in-house documentary covers Steamboat’s life and career in a very straightforward manner. Steamboat is one of those guys who has had a fairly controversy-free career. Thus, the doc doesn’t suffer as much as others for having a narrative that the WWE tries to force down the audience’s throats. By all accounts, he was (and is) a nice person, and no one had anything negative to save about him. All of that makes for an easy watch, but there’s not much of note that needs to be discussed here. He was a great wrestler, and he had a great career. Everyone agrees. Despite bouncing back and forth between WWF and WCW a few times, he displayed no bitterness about any of those issues. Unless there’s nothing beneath the surface, he seems to be very guarded about letting his natural personality out there.

Here’s a detailed rundown of all the topics covered.

Other notes on the feature:

– I never get sick of hearing about Verne Gagne’s wrestling camp.

– It was interesting to hear about Flair and Steamboat’s initial feud. I have not seen enough matches from that period.

– Steamboat being able to be a bodybuilder and a wrestler at the same time fascinates me. He said it was just a “hobby” for him.

– Despite spending a few minutes on the team with Jay Youngblood, his premature death was not mentioned at all.

– Steamboat copped to stealing Jack Brisco’s armdrag.

– Steamboat really put over working with Jake Roberts.

– They kept kayfabe for the injury angle with Savage. WWE’s inconsistency with kayfabe on their releases never ceases to make me laugh.

– Steamboat admits to wishing that they kept the IC belt on him while he took time off to be with his pregnant wife.

– Steamboat seemed offended that WCW immediately did the Terry Funk angle after he dropped the belt to Flair. That left a sour taste in his mouth, and he ended up leaving for the WWF again.

– Steamboat got tired of waiting for a push in his second WWF run. So, he gave his notice.

– Despite clearly being at peace regarding his injury-forced retirement in 1994, he seemed potentially on the verge of breaking down about it.

– His brief 2009 comeback was put over, obviously. Given his age, he looked quite great. I really want to watch the ten-man tag from the Raw after that Wrestlemania.

 

Special Features

There were a couple of deleted scenes from the doc. The highlight was Ricky’s experience with buying his first car.

There were also some promos, vignettes, and television segments. Considering how average Ricky was as a talker, there were a crazy number of these on the disc. None of them were all that good. His WWE Hall of Fame induction was lovely though.

Here is a detailed rundown of all the special features.

 

 

Disc 2

 

Starrcade
Greensboro, North Carolina
November 24, 1983

The Brisco Brothers (Jack & Gerald Brisco) vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood [NWA World Tag Team Championship]

Steamboat and Youngblood had a lot of success early on. Steamboat promptly got cut off by Gerald just as I typed that out. Steamboat basically gave Gerald a Rampage Powerbomb in order to escape the beatdown. Youngblood made a hot tag. Youngblood got cut off though, and Jack worked him over. Steamboat made the proper hot tag. Steamboat and Youngblood used a double team combination to pin Gerald and win the match.

The Briscos initiated a big brawl after the match. The new champs won that, too.

In my ignorance, I did not recognize Angelo Mosca as the referee for the match.

Original Review: This was well-executed formula. The Briscos were nefarious heels, and Steamboat/Youngblood were dynamic babyfaces. I can watch NWA tag matches for a long time despite their tendency to end before they have a chance to truly peak.

New Review: While I think this match is still solid (good, really), I didn’t get sucked in as much this time. The dynamic and framework was there, but there was energy missing from the match to elevate it.

Match Rating: ***

 

Boogie Jam
March 17, 1984

Ric Flair(c) vs. Ricky Steamboat [NWA World Heavyweight Championship]

They really took their time here. Steamboat worked a side headlock for a very long time. Flair fought back, and Steamboat transitioned to a front chancery. Flair could just not get any momentum. Steamboat later transitioned to a Boston Crab. Flair was fighting back more and more. Steamboat remained in control for a long time. Flair finally got control after 30+ minutes. He worked Steamboat over for a while. Steamboat came back with a sleeper. Going back after the neck after all this time is definitely appreciated. Flair survived it and applied an abdominal stretch. Steamboat survived that, but Flair maintained control. Steamboat finally made a comeback until Flair Hot Shot him. Flair cut him off again. Steamboat made a comeback yet again. Steamboat was furiously trying to finish Flair off, but he couldn’t. Steamboat hit a diving splash, but the time limit expired before the three count.

I did not like this match at all. They went long for the sake of long to do the slow burn build to the finish. That was the style of the times, and I can hardly fault them for that. They weren’t playing to a crowd that was going to watch this on video thirty years later. That doesn’t make the match good though. If this is a style you enjoy, they clearly executed it very well.

Match Rating: **

 

WWF
July 20, 1985

Ricky Steamboat vs. Bob Orton

Steamboat went after the “injured” arm. This went on for a good while. Cowboy had to throw a soda in Steamboat’s face to get control. Steamboat made a comeback. Cowboy blocked a splash and then hit a diving sledge with the hand in the cast. The referee disqualified him for that.

They were on their way to having a great match. They really needed a strong finish though, and we got the opposite of that though. This made me much more interested in Cowboy Bob at least. I have never given him a fair shot before.

Match Rating: ***1/4

 

WWF
September 22, 1985

Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco [Lumberjack]

Steamboat took it right to Muraco. Muraco cut him off with a lariat and then worked him over. Steamboat would sporadically fight back from time to time, but Muraco maintained control for a while. Bob Orton went to hit Steamboat with his cast, but Steamboat hit him and then caught Muraco with an O’Connor Roll: 1…2…3

Steamboat looked great here working his traditional underneath style of never going too long without showing some fire. There were a couple of times where it seemed like he was absolutely about to start making his comeback, but Muraco stayed a step ahead of him. This served to make Muraco look like a competent heel, even in defeat.

Muraco did not stand out to me much here despite controlling the majority of the match. I’m not familiar with his work and didn’t leave this match with a desire to seek more of it out.

Match Rating: ***1/4

 

WWF
August 9, 1986

Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake Roberts

Roberts was awesome early on, just keeping Steamboat off balance and not letting him get comfortable. Roberts started to target the left arm. Steamboat finally started to connect on some offense, and Roberts was bumping like a mad man for him. It was great. Steamboat was too reckless though and accidentally chopped a ringpost with the arm Roberts was targeting earlier. Roberts then went back to working this arm over. What a match! Roberts went to use his wrist tape, but the referee stopped him. That gave Steamboat a beat to recover, and he started his comeback. Roberts desperately shoved Steamboat into the ref to put a stop to that. Roberts tried to get the ref to wake, and Steamboat caught him with an O’Connor Roll: 1…2…3

Roberts attacked Steamboat after the match. He went to put the snake on Steamboat, but Ted Arcidi and Dick Slater chased him away.

WOW, this was a great match. The in-ring storytelling here was just as tight as anything you’ll ever see in a WWF/WWE ring. Roberts was keeping Steamboat off balance early on and started to target the left arm. Steamboat finally caught up to him, but he was being reckless and aggravated the injured arm by chopping a ringpost. Roberts then went after the arm some more before he stupidly sent Steamboat into the ref to avoid another Steamboat comeback. That came back to bite Roberts in the ass though, and Steamboat caught him with a roll-up to win the match. With some better arm selling from Steamboat down the stretch and more crowd heat, this would likely be on my list of greatest WWF/WWE matches ever. It is still great though.

Match Rating: ****

 

WWF Wrestlemania
March 29, 1987

Randy Savage(c) (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. Ricky Steamboat (w/ George Steele) [WWF Intercontinental Championship]

Much like their Boston Garden match earlier on this set, Steamboat started the match by going after Savage’s left arm. Savage cut him off pretty quickly though and then worked him over. Steamboat started to fight back, but Savage cut him off again. Steamboat finally started to come back after a back body drop to the floor. Steamboat got some nearfalls with a series of pinning combinations. There was an accidental ref bump. Savage hit the diving elbow, but the ref was still out of it. Savage went to get the ring bell, but Steele prevented him from using it. Savage went for a scoop slam, but Steamboat got a small package: 1…2…3

I know I’m being an asshole by “underrating” this beloved match, but I’ve never related to the idea that this is a timeless classic. That being said, I can understand why this match was held in such high esteem at the time. There was a ton of athleticism here, which probably stood out even more in the WWF at the time. I also can understand that if you were a fan at this time, I’m sure this match was very important to you. It’s still a really fun match for sure though. They had a great character and in-ring dynamic, and the crowd was into this whole thing. It just never reached the peak for me that it did for some people.

As the rating should have made clear, I really enjoy this match. It’s worked at a fast pace. The crowd is certainly into all of it. The action was crisp and engaging. It does have several weaknesses in my opinion though.

For starters, it definitely falls victim to the WWE style of establishing the character/role of each wrestler instead of adding genuine in-ring substance to the match. They tease some limb work early on, but it goes nowhere (imagine starting off a story by going in one direction and then ignoring it for the rest of the match). I genuinely don’t have a problem with the standard WWE style, but it has its limits. You really need to create an epic environment with that style, and I think these two fell just short of that.

I also have never really like that George “The Animal” Steele played such a large role in the finish. Yes, I understand that it made “storyline sense.” That is a common defense of anything in wrestling. All stories told should make sense or follow some internal logic. That is the lowest possible standard for storytelling. I do not have to like a story because it makes sense just because so many matches and stories in wrestling do not make sense.

While I think the match was far from perfect, I do think I would probably put it in the ****+ range if Steele did not get directly involved in the finishing moments. Perhaps people who enjoyed that aspect of the story more did not mind that.

Match Rating: ***3/4

 

Watch Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine for free!

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

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