Bruce Prichard Weighs In on Why Ricky Steamboat Didn’t Last Long as an Agent

– On the latest Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard discussed why Ricky Steamboat didn’t have the post-wrestling career as an agent that many people expected him to have. Most would agree that Steamboat’s in-ring career was unassailable, but his runs in WWE as a producer/agent have been relatively short-lived. Co-host Conrad Thompson asked Prichard why he thought Steamboat, who one would think would be well-fitted to the position, why this was the case. You can see highlights and listen to the full podcast below:

On why Steamboat didn’t work out long-term as an agent: “Well, I’ll probably get a lot of hate mail for this. So if you want to send your hate tweets, send them to [Thompson’s Twitter handle]. Ricky Steamboat [was] probably one of the most beautiful, smooth workers in the business. I could watch Ricky Steamboat matches all day long. I think he was effortless in the way that Ricky worked a match. What I think the issue was, was while Ricky could go out and perform, that Ricky couldn’t always articulate how and/or why he did the things he did. It was just second nature for Steamboat to go out and have a match. Ricky could get inside of a ring, and he was at home. Ricky didn’t have to think about anything that he did in the ring, it just came naturally. And Rick Steamboat had a connection with the audience that he could take them on a ride, and bring them on his journey inside the ring so that they felt they were in there with him. However, for Rick to articulate that and tell someone else how to do that? I think that’s where the breakdown was, and maybe why Rick didn’t last as long. Because you’d think it was a natural. You’d think one of the greatest workers in the business could easily tell you why.”

On Ray Stevens having the same issue: “Ray Stevens is another perfect example of that. Ray Stevens, you ask any old-timer who was the greatest worker and every one of them would probably tell you Ray Stevens. Just, natural. Just would get in the ring, knew exactly what to do and would tell the house down and steal the show on any card he was on all the way up until the time he retired. But Ray, same thing. Ray couldn’t tell somebody else how to do that. Ray couldn’t explain to him, ‘Hey Ray. Why did you do that spot there?’ ‘I don’t know. It felt good right then. It was the right thing to do.’ ‘Well okay, why was it the right thing to do?’ ‘Hey man, I just felt it.’ And I think Rick Steamboat was the same way. Because Ricky was effortless, and Rick didn’t put — didn’t have to. He did, but he didn’t have to put that much thought into what he did, because he was just so f**king good at it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.