All language subtitles for Biography WWE Legends s04e09 Ricky Steamboat.eng

(birds chirping)

- [Speaker] All righty, folks.

It's time again to see your WWE
superstar

out here enjoying the
golden years of life.

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat,
folks,

going to make his second hit of
the night.

- It's just a big rush for me.

I guess I'm adrenaline nutty.

I almost get the same kind of
feeling

during a wrestling match,

when you hear the crowd
responding

to what you're doing in the
ring.

You notice that adrenaline rush.

This car, it's something for
me to play with, and something

that I've been familiar with
for pretty much all my life.

- [Speaker] Here we go, folks.

(engine revving)

- [Speaker] Standing
ovation for The Dragon,

Ricky Steamboat.

And a dropkick right in the
kisser.

- He's just incredible in the
ring,

I remember watching him, and
he impacted on first sight.

- This is a John Lennon in our
business.

This is a Muhammad Ali in our
business.

- He was a main-event guy
through his whole career.

There are no flaws.

- Greatest (indistinct) of all
time.

- Ricky's matches were some of
the best

of the best ever to be recorded.

- [Speaker] This is one
of the greatest matches

I've ever seen.

Steamboat, leaping.
- That was my goal,

to have the match of the night.

I sacrificed so much.

I would be gone a lot,
be away from home a lot.

The business was a different
animal, being away so much,

and it was hard on family.

I kind of felt I need to
do what I need to do now

to help prepare myself for the
future.

- [Speaker] Ricky "The Dragon"
Steamboat,

the new heavyweight champion.

- [Ricky] I always put
my career at the top

of what I wanted to be able to
achieve.

(Ricky sniffling)

- He's a tough guy on the
outside,

but he's very tender-hearted.

- [Speaker] Ricky Steamboat,

one of the most electrifying
wrestlers ever to wrestle.

Be one of the country.

- [Announcer] Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat!

- [Crowd] Steamboat, Steamboat,
Steamboat, Steamboat.

(soft music)

- Wrestling has given back to me
as much

as I've given into it.

I had to take a moment
and think about that.

The sport has made it very
difficult to have a normal life

as you hope for, but that was
a career in a life I chose.

Yep.

- [Speaker] Nice.
- Okay, Dad.

There you go.

- [Ricky] In and out
of the wrestling ring,

I was known as the good guy.

I think it's the values that
my parents instilled in me.

(crowd cheering)

- [Speaker] The Japanese have
accepted

fully the surrender terms
of the United Nations.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is
the end

of the Second World War.

(crowd cheering)

(soft music)

- My dad was in the
army, I think 22 years.

Being in the Army, military,

and traveling all around the
world,

he met my mom in 1949-ish.

When he got married to mom over
in Japan,

and he came back to the
States with his new bride,

his parents, my grandparents
wouldn't let her

in the house because she was
Japanese.

It's because of the war.

This was early '50s.

- When they got married,

her side of the family really
rejected it,

and his side of the
family rejected it also.

- I understood that I and my
brothers

were different because
we were half-Japanese.

My life as a youngster, being
the so-called Army brat,

whether we lived in
Germany or Turkey or Italy,

I do remember that the people
that lived

in those countries frowned
upon the way we looked.

- The Turks did not like us too
much.

We'd have rock fights
all the time with Turks,

standing at one end of
the road, at the other,

just chucking rocks at each
other.

But that was the time, back
then.

Everywhere they went,

it seemed like they got the look

just because she was Japanese.

- And my mom would wash, rinse,

and then hang the clothes on the
balcony.

And I do remember some of
the younger Turkish kids,

they would throw tomatoes and
stuff

at our laundry hanging on the
line.

Being a minority does
play a factor on, I guess,

the way you brought up

and also the way you
understand the way life is.

You grow up a little bit faster.

- I do remember one time,
we was going to the Ozarks,

and we're behind this old pickup
truck.

The guy in the back, he looks
at me, he points at my mom,

he takes a shotgun, he does this
with it.

My mom told my dad to turn the
car around.

Boom, we're back in Florida the
next day.

- When I was growing up,
I was called slanty eyes,

yellow skin.

Every time they would say
something to me about it,

I almost looked at them that
they were making fun of my mom.

I would deal with it in a way
of retaliation, physicality.

I'm glad with the way my
parents brought me up,

and my dad teaching me
to stick up for my right,

and if you gets your butt
handed to you at the end

of the night and you come
home, don't be ashamed of that.

You stuck up for what
you thought was right.

(soft music)

Going to high school,
I was always interested

in playing some kind of sport.

I went out for the football
team, and I was a running back,

and I also went out for
basketball

because I played
basketball as a young kid.

Never was tall, but I was pretty
accurate.

But I knew in 10th grade, I
would never make varsity because

of the seniors.

So over in the corner of the
gymnasium,

there's guys over there
doing high school wrestling.

I asked my basketball coach, I
said,

"What are they doing over
there?"

He said, "Oh, that's the
wrestling team."

I said, "Oh, really?

Wrestling?"

Then I said, "See you."

I walked off the basketball
court over to the wrestling mat.

- Ricky and I were high school
teammates

on the wrestling team.

He was a big guy in high school.

He was humanly strong, and it
showed.

The wrestling coach told
several of us lightweights

to all pile onto Ricky and
see if we could pin him.

He would throw us off like
popcorn.

- Wrestling was a different
animal.

I played football, but that's
a team effort; basketball,

that was a team effort;
baseball,

that's a team effort; but
wrestling, you show up as a team,

but you're one on one on the
mat.

- Ricky was a star,
there's no doubt about it.

He was well-qualified
to be a state champion.

He would dominate wrestlers.

The matches would begin,

and they would be over very
quickly.

- All said and done, my senior
year, out of all the athletes

at the school, I was
voted Athlete of the Year.

My life through high school
was pretty much go to school,

go to some kind of practice,
whether it be football

or wrestling, and then on
weekends, work at the gas station.

When my dad retired from the
military,

and he settled in St.
Petersburg,

he bought a little
neighborhood gas station,

and that's when I got introduced
to cars.

And I'll never forget when
I would go out and pump gas

and wash the windshields, check
the tires,

check the oil, I'd always knew
in the back

of my mind that whatever I
did out front would reflect

on this gas station as who we
are.

And I thought that was the
biggest thing.

(soft music)

My dad was paying me a $1.50 an
hour.

With that money, I learned
to put away what I could,

and I bought my first car.

- He could rebuild an engine and
whatnot,

being a gearhead and stuff like
that,

but that's not his protocol.

Him being in sports, he was
pretty much all he could do,

knew how to do very well.

- And I don't know if it was
planned

or how it worked out this
way or it just happened,

Maureen, Rick's high
school love was working

for an airline up in
Minnesota, and her roommate

at the time was Donna Gagne.

- Donna Gagne's father was Vern
Gagne,

and he was the wrestling
promoter for the AWA.

- The past 32 years been

tremendously entertainment.

You've truly been a great champ.

- Well, it's been a great sport.

It still will be a great sport,

and it'll go on long
after Vern Gagne quits.

- Vern Gagne was the wrestling
promoter

based in Minneapolis.

He ran a school that

was not unlike the WWE
Performance Center today.

And a lot of great wrestlers
came through there.

A lot of superstars came through
there,

including The Iron Sheik,
including Sergeant Slaughter,

and including Ric Flair.

- So Vern told Maureen, he says,

"Yeah, it is understanding
that your boyfriend

was pretty good in amateurs.

We have a wrestling school here,

if he would consider
getting into pro wrestling."

And I said to myself,

"I think I'm going to give this
a shot."

- Same shock you had the first
time

someone threw you down,

but you're building up a
tolerance to it.

- I think on the first day,
there was about 16 of us.

The Iron Sheik was our coach,
and man, he was relentless,

he was unforgiving, he didn't
give a flip, he didn't care.

We had a dozen guys quit
after the first week.

- [Speaker] Come on.

Dig, dig, dig.

- It was very hard for them, but
slowly,

they learned and they
did it my way and good.

- Khosrow would break them down.

I literally saw guys crying

because of the pain
they were going through.

- I pushed Ricky very hard.

I want to test him.

He didn't quit.

He come in and come in,
and then he impressed me,

and then finally he made it.

- Once we finished the
camp, Vern Gagne booked us,

the rookies, maybe three
or four shows a week.

- My mom was probably not so
excited,

but after seeing him wrestle,

both of them were very proud of
Richard

becoming a professional
wrestler.

- I wrestled in the AWA circuit
for maybe about four months,

and then Vern Gagne came up
to me, and he said, "Ricky,"

he said, "How would you
like to go to Florida?"

And I was like, "Wow.

Going back home."

And I said, "The Florida
Circuit?"

And he goes,

"Yep, down there with the
promoter, Eddie Graham."

- I wrestled as an amateur,

that's where most professionals

do get their background
although,

there is a definite
difference as there is going

from the amateurs to
professional in any sport.

- I walked into Eddie Graham's
office for the first time,

and he goes, "The last name,
Blood, that's for a bad guy."

He said, "But you're a good guy.

You're young, you got
this long black hair,

you got a good look."

- My first impression
when I first met him,

"What a nice guy."

It wouldn't work to make him a
bad guy.

How?

He couldn't pretend to
be something he's not.

- So he said, "I'd like
to call you Steamboat.

I'd like to call you Ricky
Steamboat."

He said, "I had a guy
here a few years back,

he has since retired.

He was from Hawaii.

His name was Sammy Steamboat,

and the fans here in Florida
loved him."

I'm going to start
advertising you as his nephew.

- [Speaker] In the blue
corner, from Honolulu,

Hawaii, 263, Sammy Steamboat
Mokuahi.

- My mom, I remembered
her saying, "Steamboat?

Why?

No.

Ricky's no Steamboat son."

"It's on the stage, Mom.

It's a stage.

That's the stage name."

"Oh.

But Steamboat?"

Ah. (laughing)

- When I was wrestling in
Minneapolis, I was a nobody.

They announced Dick
Blood, and I'd get this.

(hands clapping)

They announced me as Ricky
Steamboat,

and the fans jumped out of their
seats.

Thousands of fans jumped out
of their seat, and I'm going,

"Oh my goodness, so
this is what it's like."

- [Speaker] The plane spin,
falls back.

Oh, beautiful.

- I saw Ricky on TV, and I went
back

and told Jimmy Crockett, I said,

"There's the kid that
can be second to none."

I was adamant.

I said, "This guy is going to be
it."

- I'm going to say May, June of
'77 is

when I got introduced to
working with Ric Flair.

- Whatever Ric Flair
wants, Ric Flair gets.

- If you got involved in
a program with Ric Flair,

you got the rub, meaning
your star was elevated.

- My parents, only on a few
occasions,

actually watched me live live.

The very first time, we were
driving,

and dad's sitting next to me,
mom's sitting in the back.

So I started telling them the
ins and outs of the business.

And in so many words, I wanted
to explain to them that,

"Don't worry, I may show that
I'm hurt,

but your son's okay."

I was working with Ernie Ladd,
the Cat.

- [Speaker] Ernie "the Big Cat"
Ladd.

- So we do the match.

I get my hand raised, and here,

Ernie attacks me from
behind, boom, boom, boom.

Down I go, and he's stomping on
me.

I'm laying on the mat like
this, trying to cover up,

and over here to the side.

I see this commotion going on.

So I look over and it's my
dad standing on the apron.

He's got a folded steel chair in
his hand.

He's got one leg in the ring.

Security has got the other leg.

Guys trying to yank him off the
apron.

Another security guy has
got his hands on the chair,

and I could see my dad
pulling on the chair,

and he's trying to get in the
ring.

My dad yells out, "Don't worry,
son, I'm coming for you."

So I roll out, I run around to
the ring,

and I grabbed the two security
guys,

and I said, "Hey, that's my
dad."

They looked, "Ricky, that's your
dad?"

Ah.

Now we're driving home,

and for about the first
half hour is dead silence.

I look over at my dad, and I
said, "What are you doing?"

He goes, "What do you mean?"

I said, "I tell you not
to worry about your son,

that everything was going to be
okay?"

And then, my dad, whose
from Boston, military,

"Don't blame me, blame your
mother."

And I look up in the mirror
and I go, "Mom," I said,

"Didn't I tell you not to worry
about it?"

And she's from Japan, she's
Japanese.

She goes, "I don't care.

He a cheater.

Match over.

I said, 'Daddy, do something.

Help our boy.'"

- Everywhere I've gone,

every letter I've gotten
has said, Rick Steamboat.

I'm talking to you.

You listen to me, boy.

I first met Ricky when
I saw him in Atlanta,

and I saw someone for me to
wrestle

that I thought would be a new
face

of that company because he
was so handsome, great body,

nice guy, and Ricky Steamboat
could wrestle from day one.

- When Ric Flair went to
Jim Crockett Promotions

and told Jim Crockett, the
promoter,

that he saw something in me, I
was like,

"Holy moly, this is the
number one guy in the region."

- I just played, whether
you like it or not,

am the greatest wrestler
in the world of all time.

- I realize Steamboat's
a pretty young guy.

So to be spotted like that and
told,

"I want this guy main eventing
with me,"

that's a dream come true.

- [Speaker] Steamboat,
an outstanding wrestler

and competitor in the ring.

- Rick Steamboat and Ric Flair

were very much like the
characters they portrayed.

Ric Flair was very much
the brash, flamboyant,

limousine riding, jet
flying, kiss dealing,

wheeling, dealing son of a gun.

And you know Rick Steamboat
was a straight guy.

- Ricky Steamboat, probably
sitting

in a corner somewhere,
sucking on something.

While Nature Boy, Ric Flair
stands

before the whole world with two

of the most gorgeous human
beings on on the face

of this Earth.

- In and out of the wrestling
ring,

I was known as the good guy.

I had those values, with my
dad being in the military

and my mom being from Japan,
with family values very high.

They supported me in my
wrestling career.

The drawback was my mom couldn't
stand

to see her son getting hurt.

- He must be serious.

He wants to wrestling me
one-on-one?

- Maybe you didn't hear me.

I said get in there and
wrestle me right now.

- Yeah, he's serious.

- You got to it.

- This was the start of a
lengthy, successful rivalry,

and fans needed to believe

that there was something
legitimate behind it.

- [Speaker] I've never seen
anybody handle

that way on the mat.

He's out on the floor now.

And here comes Flair after him.

- And at one point Ric Flair
whispered,

"Rick, I'm really sorry,
but I have to do this,"

and he hit him with a hard way
shot.

- [Speaker] Rick Flair has gone
mad.

He's dragging him (indistinct)-

- The expression "the hard way"
means,

"Can Flair give you the real
shot?"

No holding back, one shot.

So here's the moment.

He jumps me, he beats me up.

We're outside on the floor.

I'm on my knees.

He's standing behind me.

He pulls me back by my hair, and
he goes,

"Here it is."

Boom, right there.

- Oh, right in the eye.
- Right hand,

right into the eye again.

He rubbed that eye.

- Then he took me down to the
cement floor

and started of scraping my
face on the cement floor.

- [Speaker] Steamboat
really hasn't had a chance.

- So after they did this
angle, the great Harley Race,

multiple NWA champion, took Rick
Steamboat

into a private area,

and he cut his face all over

and then he rubs
sandpaper into the wounds.

- I'm sitting there in the
chair,

Harley says, "I need a couple of
wrestlers

to hold Ricky down."

So they got these two guys
holding me down like this.

He pulls me back, he's got that
sandpaper,

and he starts doing this to me.

- It took a year for the
pigmentation to come back.

- The scar is really just
starting

to heal real well now.

It looks better.

How's the eyesight?

- Well, vision is still
not on the 100% scale yet.

Hopefully, it's going to look
better

with the next coming months
coming up.

Now it's time for Ricky
to get back at Flair.

(dramatic music)

I get out there, and jump him.

He says, "Tear my suit off me."

- [Speaker] Brand new suit
shirt.

Oh, that's right.

And it's all Ricky's Steamboat
now.

That's right, it is.

He's got him down now.

- The only thing left
is Ric Flare's briefs

and Ric Flair's dress shoes.

- I got the shirt, the suit,
the pants, and beat him up,

and left him laying,

and went down to the
announcers table and said,

"You just saw an example of
what's going to be happening

in the future for that man up
there."

After that aired, we went and
sold out,

sold out everywhere, turning
away people.

Now previously, up to
that time in my career,

I was first, second, and third
match guy.

Now, I'm in the main events.

(dramatic orchestral music)

My growth in the ring with Rick
Flair went

to another new level.

- Ricky had that ability to
be able to work with anyone

and everyone.

If there was a newbie like
myself, I could go in,

and if I just followed his lead,

I knew it was going to be a
great match.

- [Speaker] Ricky Steamboat,

one of the most electrifying
wrestlers ever to wrestle.

- To be a main inventor,
which is what Ricky were,

you have to be dependable,
you have to be reliable,

and you have to know
how to draw a audience.

It was more than just the
wrestling part.

He had the ability to draw fans.

- Ricky Steamboat for the
fans, he was like a god.

Their desire for him to win was
so strong.

- [Speaker] Steamboat,
one of the favorites

of fans everywhere.

- There was a brief time in my
career

for about a little bit over four
years

in which I got involved with
tag teams with Jay Youngblood.

We set some records
throughout the Carolinas,

30 straight sellouts.

My career just kept snowballing.

It seemed like year after year
after year.

- [Speaker] Nobody could
be any more popular

than they are right now.

- Jay Youngblood and I had a
good run.

It was time for maybe
adventure off into singles.

You wondered, do I have an
opportunity to win the world cup?

- Rick was a matinee idol.

He was the perfect good guy.

- [Speaker] Listen to the crowd.

Here comes Steamboat down on the
range.

- The Mid-Atlantic
territory had a lot of good,

believable, tough guys there,
but not a lot of heartthrobs.

A teenage girl would put a
poster up of Rick on her wall.

- By that time, I was a main
event guy for going on a number

of years.

I know the fans have been
wondering

what I've been doing.

For the past eight months,

I've been making tours over to
Japan.

I've had three now.

All it is for myself as
a learning experience.

1984, we went over to
Japan and toured Japan,

and the promoter, Giant Baba,
I went to him and I said,

When my mother married my
father, and they left Japan,

my mother lost contact with her
family,

they were from Kyoto,
so I went to Giant Baba,

I said, "During my match,
could you maybe announce

or have him tell the story
that my mother is from Kyoto,

her last name is Ito,
and tell them the story

that she married an American GI.

Last name was Blood.

If there's any family members

that are watching the wrestling
show,

please contact the office."

Ultimately, my goal is I'm
searching for my mother's family.

And the very next day,
this Japanese runner,

young boy knocking on my
hotel door, says, "Ricky,

we have people call
office about your mother."

I said, "Really?

Oh, how many?

He said, "We have 200 people."

I said, "It must be fans."

The very first phone call that
he made

was my mother's oldest
brother, very first.

I said, "Ask the older brother

if he has any wedding pictures."

Because I've seen all
the wedding pictures.

I had the interpreter.

So they're talking, the
introduction,

opens up the photo album,

they're the same pictures from
the wedding, same pictures.

So I got back to the
States, back to Carolina,

I went over to my mom and dad's
and my dad

was in the kitchen, and I
showed him this phone number,

and the oldest brother's
name was written on it,

and he broke down crying.

Mom was sitting in the living
room, and she was sewing,

and I took the paper, and
I went out and I said,

"Mother,

it's your oldest brother."

(soft music)

I arranged to bring my mother
home.

So we get our bags, go through
customs,

and as soon as we get through
the doors, they embrace,

big hug.

They haven't seen each other
for over 30-some years.

Flash camera. (imitating
camera shutter clicking)

Well, in the Tokyo paper,
there's a picture of my mother

and her brother hugging each
other.

and pro wrestler,

Ricky Steamboat through
the company of Giant Baba,

brings mother home to be with
family.

And the next morning I get
up and I get a phone call

and that's my mom.

"I'm ready to go home."

I said, "Mom, it's only been two
days."

"I don't care.

I finally finish big argument
I have with oldest sister.

I'm ready to go home now."

She had an argument before
leaving

because her oldest sister
did not like the fact

that my mother was marrying
an American GI right

after the Second World War.

I said, "I'm under here
under contract for Baba

for two weeks.

He paid for your plane ticket.

You have to fix it, Mom."

"Okay, I do it for you."

Two weeks later, we're meeting
back at the company hotel

end of tour, and there's my mom

sitting there with the family,

even the oldest sister.

They made amends.

I think one of the things
that I've ever done

in my life that I was so happy
to be able

to pull off was reuniting my
mom with her family by now.

My mom passed away three
years ago, she was 91,

but they had the moment.

(speaking foreign language)

There was a way that Japanese

would show you their
appreciation

by throwing this spool
of ribbon into the ring.

And prior to bringing my mom
home and I would get some,

but this time it'd be so much
they would fill the ring.

(crowd cheering)
(speaking foreign language)

They'd bring out sweeping
brooms to sweep it out

of the ring so we could have the
match.

It made me feel proud to be
Japanese.

- [Speaker] I understand
that Ricky Steamboat

is a master of the art of
karate.

- [Ricky] When I went to WWE,

they had moved to a national
level

on cable coast to coast
on national television.

I'm getting national exposure.

I wanted to change my
appearance to fit more

of this martial arts guy.

- It is my distinct privilege to
present

to you Hulk Hogan.

(crowd cheering)

- By the mid '80s, the
professional wrestling business

is being transformed rapidly.

Vincent Kenny McMahon had
a radically different view

of the business than his
predecessors.

Vince McMahon still
receives some criticism

for ushering in what's known
as sports entertainment.

- [Speaker] Ladies and
gentlemen,

we have got a crowd
that is coming on good.

They're loving it.

- The company was going in a
direction of making everybody

like a superhero.

They actually came out with
the cartoons and the comics

and taking the pro wrestling
in a whole different direction.

- I got to give Vince credit on
this.

He knew his audience.

The gimmick got more outrageous.

The costumes got more
outrageous.

- [Speaker] The Macho Man,
he always looks sharp.

- Suddenly everyone's
attention was going to WWE.

- [Speaker] Holy cow, they
do love him everywhere.

- Now, professional
wrestling was at a level

it had never been at before.

- I went into the office,
spoke to Jimmy Crockett, said,

"You know, I've been here
for almost eight years.

It's time for me to move on."

- Well, I know Ricky was really
eager

to go that route and now
this is his chance to get

to that next level of what we
were looking

at the business then is,

"This is wrestling and this
is sports entertainment."

- I was a Bruce Lee fan,
"Enter the Dragon" movie.

And then that name The Dragon
that sort of, boom, popped.

- Scene two, take two.

Gene Okerlund here on location

at the temple of Ching Lau with
Rick "The Dragon" Steamboat.

Ricky Steamboat, it is
right here on these premises

where you and others have gone
through

and will go through intense
training in preparation

for not only professional
wrestling but for life itself.

- Mind and body as one.

Physical and mental preparation
in the martial arts.

- [Speaker] From Hawaii,
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- [Speaker] Boy, is
this Steamboat exciting.

He's just electrifying.

- He came in as this super
athletic,

muscular martial artist.

And he had the headband
and he would wear the gi

and he would present
himself in a way that nobody

had really done before in the
WWE.

- He was like an action star.

He was definitely one of my
favorites.

- [Speaker] Beautiful karate
kick.

There's another one
devastating karate kicks.

Oh, look at that.

Shot to the back of the net and
over the top goes the champ.

- It was going to be Ricky's
thing with the performance arts

and the karate and judo and
fancy moves and all that,

and it made him more aggressive.

- [Speaker] And a dropkick
right at a kisser.

- Ricky would do this incredibly
athletic

off the top rope dive,

which not that many people did
moves

off the top rope in that era.

- [Speaker] High cross body.

- But back then, if you were
diving off the top rope,

it was your specialty.

And Ricky made it special.

- [Speaker] The Dragon on the
top rope.

- [Speaker] Steamboat, leaping.

Flies through the air, high
cross body.

Down one, two, he got it.

- [Speaker] He definitely got
it.

- He was amazed that he could do
that.

He was just so excited about it.

- [Speaker] Flies through
the air, high cross body.

- If you want to see what
separates Ricky

from everyone else, take a
move as simple as the arm drag.

Everybody does an arm
drag, but Ricky's arm drag

is a work of art.

- [Speaker] Whoa, what a deep
arm drag.

And another one.

- He would take a guy, snap
them over him and it would look

like he was going to throw
the guy into the rafters.

It was electrifying.

- [Speaker] Arm drag, take down
again.

- [Speaker] And an arm
drag, well executed.

- I love that arm drag.

I love that arm drag.

- He could fight on the ground,
he could fight in the air.

- It sort of made me different
from all the other wrestlers

in the business and the fans
loved it

because my style was different.

- The dragon just brought
something different to the table

that caught on really fast.

- [Speaker] Standing
ovation for The Dragon,

Ricky Steamboat.

- My popularity was growing.

They saw me that I would be a
good cast

to put in with Macho Man, Randy
Savage.

- All the world will
realize that The Dragon

cannot go against the
Macho Man Randy Savage.

- You're you're not nervous?

- I'm not nervous.

- We hooked up in December of
'86.

He was over the threshold
of the up and comer

and now the star.

- Macho Man Randy Savage,
it's totally impossible

that I could be intimidated.

- Randy Savage was the WWE
Intercontinental Champion

and Rick Steamboat challenged
Randy for the title on TV.

And it led to a very disturbing
incident.

- Every wrestling fan of the
era remembers where they were

when Randy Savage took out the
throat

of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- [Announcer] Get him down from
there.

From the top rope.

Whoa.

- Randy Savage attacked
first with a double ax handle

that knocked Ricky's throat
across the guard area.

- [Speaker] Steamboat's
grabbing his throat.

- Once they were back in
the ring, the evil Macho Man

took the ring bell, which is a
metal bell

that has plywood under it.

Took it with him to the top rope

and performed his elbow
drop with the ring bell.

- [Speaker] Look, he's got the
bell.

Whoa.

- The story that we were
told was as he came down

and made contact, he destroyed
the larynx

of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- I remember Vince is telling
me,

"You would not believe the hate
mail

that's been delivered to the
office.

We got duffle bags full of
hate mail about Savage doing

that to you."

(crowd cheering)

- [Speaker] Whoa.

Steamboat can't breathe.

- The WWE sent cameras to
a local medical facility

and week by week they tracked
the progress

that Ricky Steamboat was making.

- [Speaker] Ricky Steamboat
suffered a crushed larynx

in that accident and tremendous
trauma to his vocal cords.

- They showed him going
through speech therapy.

- What we're going to do now is

to increase the strength
of your vocal cords.

I'd like you to say this vowel
after me.

E.

- E.

- [Speaker] Okay.

Now, you're trying, but I
want it to be more crisp.

E.

- E.

- This was one of the biggest
stories up until that point

that Ricky Steamboat had been a
part of.

- Now I'm talking to you.

You are a priority in my career
right now.

- Suddenly it was announced
Rick's Steamboat was recovered

and he was coming back and he
was coming after Randy Savage.

They were able to stretch
this thing out all the way up

to WrestleMania and he was going

to take that Intercontinental
Championship.

(crowd cheering)

- [Speaker] 93,000 here at the
Silverdome.

This is a vendetta that's been
coming down

for quite some time.

(soft music)

- When we started to work for
the WWE

and we found out they
were flying everywhere,

Vince decided to get on
cable and go coast to coast.

So we're flying all of
these major markets.

- [Speaker] Ricky Steamboat,
getting a big hand

from this capacity crowd
in Madison Square Garden.

- And if you're a Main Event
guy and you're doing well

with the company and you
know they're selling tickets,

you might be home for
just a couple of days

and then you're gone for
three or four weeks again

and then home for two or three.

Then it hits you in the
head of reality that,

"God, I'm hardly making it
home."

At the time when I was
married, that led it

to be very hard on families.

The hardship was being away so
much

and then finding out that
your wife was pregnant.

Around 1986, towards the end of
November,

I brought it to Vince's
attention that,

"I have a son that's coming
due in the first week of July.

I'd like to have that week
off and a week following,

two weeks off."

We're on a schedule.

We wrestle 365 days a year,
Thanksgivings and Christmases,

and I said, "I just want to
be there for my firstborn."

"No problem," was the response.

And that was back in December,
before WrestleMania III.

- We have established a brand
new

indoor attendance record of
93,173.

Give yourself a big hand.

- I was at WrestleMania III.

The crowd at the
Silverdome was so immense.

It was like the biggest mass
gathering of people ever at

that point indoors.

- For guys like Ricky and Randy,
this was literally the eyes

of the world on them.

The planet has stopped and
is paying attention to this.

- [Speaker] This is a vendetta
that's been coming down

for quite some time.

- [Speaker] You got to get up
pretty early in the morning

to outsmart the Macho Man.

- As soon as the curtain opened
up,

the stress just went away.

For some reason, it all went
away

and it came down to the ring.

- [Speaker] He has to
concentrate

on "The Dragon" Ricky
Steam boat and the defense

of this Intercontinental
Championship.

- WrestleMania III, the
match with Randy Savage,

this had as much attention
almost as Andre the Giant

and Hulk Hogan.

(crowd cheering)

- [Speaker] Going to work on
him.

- Andre the Giant and Hulk
Hogan were headlining the show.

They were the main event, but
our objective was to go out

and have the best match of the
evening.

And if it meant to upstage
the main event, so be it.

- [Speaker] Look out, Irish
whipping.

Ducked underneath The Dragon.

Oh, look at that deep arm drag.

Off the ropes, through the
legs, and another deep arm drag

by The Dragon.

Oh, and catches him
right around the throat.

- Steamboat and Savage stole
the show of WrestleMania III,

no doubt about it.

They worked so well together.

It was incredible to watch.

- [Speaker] Whoa, look at that.

- [Speaker] Look at the
leverage on the wrist line.

- That really cemented in to my
psyche

what a good wrestler he
was because of that match.

And it introduced me
to a style of wrestling

that I didn't realize existed.

- [Speaker] Look at this, wide
open.

- [Speaker] And he's
going after the throat.

- [Speaker] He's going
after the throat indeed.

The reigning champion,
Macho Man Randy Savage.

Oh, what a clothesline.

- I mean, these are two
really apex predators

in our business.

These are really incredible
talents.

- [Speaker] He dropped
right in the sternum area,

overhooks the leg again.

Two count and The Dragon
comes out once more.

- It was just a real quality
match and both guys delivered.

- [Speaker] This is
beyond wrestling ability.

This is guts personified right
now.

- So the beauty of that match
is that you have something

like 20 near falls
throughout the whole story.

- [Speaker] Could be all over
right here.

Two count-
- No.

Macho Man throwing everything
but the kitchen sink

and can't keep The
Dragon's shoulders down.

- [Speaker] I don't know how.

- [Speaker] Savage
doesn't know where he is.

Oh, what a karate shot
right between the eyes.

This (indistinct) has gone
bananas.

- [Speaker] No, his foot was on
the rope.

His foot was on the rope.

- There was near fall after near
fall.

There was drama, it was back and
forth.

It was breathless.

- [Speaker] Macho Man, poised
in his favorite position.

Bombs away.

- [Speaker] He got him.

- [Speaker] He nailed him with
it.

Bombs away.

- [Speaker] He got him.

- [Speaker] He nailed him.

- And when the match finally
ends,

it's because Ricky Steamboat
was able to lock in

a small package.

The fans were not expecting
the match to end there,

and when it did, you wouldn't
believe the reaction.

- [Speaker] But the
championship still in control.

No, a small package by The
Dragon.

He got him.

(crowd cheering)

- But after the one, two, three,

and I'm laying there looking
up at the Silverdome,

my body completely melted.

It is over.

(crowd cheering)

The feeling of accomplishment.

I thought we had one hell of a
match.

- [Speaker] Ladies and
gentlemen,

the winner of this contest,

our new Intercontinental
Champion.

(soft music)

- The common consensus was that
the clash

of WrestleMania III between
Steamboat

and the Macho Man was
the greatest match ever.

- I'll tell you when it hit me.

Vince McMahon would always
have this after dinner party

after a WrestleMania, and
it was nonstop how wrestlers

were coming up to us and
saying, "What a match."

It was nonstop through the
evening.

You see Hogan over there
sitting at his table

and nobody's going over there.

That meant we did something
special.

- The measure of an incredible
performer

is when you can inspire
generations to come.

- For me, as a kid, I
literally watched that match

on videotape till it wore out.

- To be able to reach that
plateau and to wrestle, what,

90 some thousand people,
screaming ass people, very proud.

(soft music)

- I think I had the IC
belt for nine or 10 weeks.

It's around that time.

I walk into TV and Vince
comes up to me and says,

"Got to have you swish the
belt."

And I say, "Well, why?"

He says, "Well, it was
two weeks you asked off."

And he's like, "We can't
leave the belt dormant."

- The mentality was that
the company couldn't afford

to have the Intercontinental
Champion out of commission.

- He said, "Well, we
have decided you're going

to have a match with Honky Tonk

and you're going to drop the
belt to him."

- [Speaker] Ladies and
gentlemen, the following contest

is for the Intercontinental
Heavyweight Championship.

- I thought that was
totally ridiculous just

to have this rug pulled out from
under me,

but any explanation
other than the fact that,

"We don't want to leave the
belt dormant for two weeks."

(crowd cheering)

- [Speaker] Party dog man scoop.

- [Speaker] He's in the ropes.

- [Speaker] Wait, a minute.

(bell ringing)

Ladies and gentlemen, the
winner of this contest,

the new Intercontinental
Heavyweight Champion,

The Honky Tonk Man.

- Maybe in terms of a business
decision,

it was the right move,

but I would imagine Ricky
felt a little bit humiliated.

- [Speaker] A major, major
upset.

- So right after the match,
I went to Vince and I said,

"You know those two weeks
I asked off in July?

I'm taking six months."

- In a position that he
was in, it's a good thing.

A lot of people don't
have that opportunity

or position to do so.

- I will have to say that my
pride and ego had a lot to

play involved in deciding
to take the time off

to go from two weeks to six
months.

(soft music)

I chose my family over wrestling

because I thought at that
time I had given so much up

to be a team player.

It was something else.

Nothing I ever experienced
to that level of happiness.

All the championships in the
world,

all the sellouts that's under
your belt

and the notoriety of who you
are and what you worked for,

it doesn't compare to that.

I kept saying to myself,
"If I was on the road,

I would miss this moment.

If I was on the road, I would
not be able

to capture what's going
on right now with my son.

If I was on the road,
there would be things

that I would regret."

- That's a good decision.

First six months, I think
the first couple of years

is the most important
part of the child's life.

- What a dad should do.

Just shows what kind of person
he wanted to be, be a dad.

It's your first son, and to be
there.

I don't know how many
diapers he changed now,

but I'm sure he was there.

- Here I've got a brand new son
and it's the joy of my life,

but it made me sad to know
that I was going to leave.

I had six months to spend
as much time as I could.

- [Speaker] Ricky "The Dragon"
Steamboat

against "The Hammer" Valentine.

- When he got back from taking
time off,

nothing was the same.

- I always thought that even
if I took the six months,

I'd come back and I'd still
be...

Maybe that was the arrogance
of my thought process

that I could pick up where I
left off, but it didn't happen.

I don't regret making this
decision to be at home.

I've been hitting it hard
for 12 straight years.

It's almost like a double-edged
sword.

You're looking at your family
and trying to be with them,

and then at the same time you
got a career

you haven't completely finished
yet

and you still got a good ways to
go.

So it was a balancing act.

- [Speaker] High cross body.

The Hammer turns it over.

He got him.

- After a certain period,
The Dragon stopped mattering.

- Every two weeks I'd talk
to Vincent on passing.

Most of the time I'd say,

"Hey, any Main Event spots come
open?"

He goes, "No, not yet, Ricky."

Weeks went into months and then
all of a sudden here it is,

about nine or 10 months later,

I just called the office
and gave them my notice.

- Ricky left to go be with his
family.

Rick didn't want to be on
the road anymore and wanted

to spend time with his family
and see his son grow up.

So he made the decision to
leave.

- Honest truth, I would go back.

I would only do two
weeks and then come back.

But it rubbed me the
wrong way, at that moment.

I don't look back at it as a
regret.

There might have been an
opportunity that I missed.

I think was home for just a
couple of months

and then I went back to WCW in
January of '89.

- [Speaker] Jim, that's Rick
Steamboat.

It's The Dragon.

- It was an intriguing matchup.

It was Ric Flair and
Barry Windham were going

to wrestle Eddie Gilbert
and Rick Steamboat,

returning to the place
where he became a star.

- [Speaker] Steamboat on fire
here dominating the action.

Flair goes for the ride.

He's elevated.

The heavyweight champion of
the world is in deep trouble

in this television Main Event.

- It's a very intense match.

The fans pop in the arena,
the fans pop at home.

I popped at home when I was
watching it.

And Ricky beats the champion,
Ric Flair

with the high cross body
block, his signature move.

And big things are ahead.

- [Speaker] Ricky Steamboat has

just pinned the Heavyweight
Champion of the world.

The Dragon has returned to the
NWA.

- Ric Flair versus Ricky
Steamboat in 1989 is the Star Wars

of wrestling trilogies.

- [Speaker] What a cute little
kid.

- [Speaker] This is the
motivation magnum

that Ricky Steamboat is
using for this contest.

- Ricky's matches with
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

were some of the best of the
best ever to be recorded.

- [Speaker] Each man has taken
the best

that the other could dish out.

- They knew each other like
the back of their hand.

They were just so
familiar with each other.

- [Speaker] Each time that these
two

admit they've been monumental
matches.

- To me, it was like falling
off a bike and you get back on

and ride it again.

We didn't miss a beat.

We didn't miss a step.

- It was like just having fun.

We knew nothing could touch it.

- [Speaker] The two finest
wrestlers in the country today.

- They would be pulling out all
the stops.

You knew when you were watching,

you were watching something
special.

Something that people are
going to talk about for years

and years to come.

- [Speaker] The people here are
in awe,

the physical nature of this
event.

- When you think about
it, Ric Flair and Ricky

did the same thing with
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Ali met his match.

He got somebody to stand ground
with him,

somebody could hold their own
with him.

And that's what Ricky was.

He was somebody that could
hold their own with Ric Flair.

- [Speaker] But now Flair,

he twists the leg inside
(indistinct).

Can he hold him?

Yes, he can.

(bell ringing)

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
has won the world title.

- The returning Ricky dethrones
Ric Flair

for the NWA World's
Heavyweight Championship.

- [Speaker] The winner and new
world heavyweight champion,

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- Whooo, whooo!

- Never had a champagne bath
before, Rick.

- Never, never.

I came my way to win the
championship that night.

Big moment.

Big moment.

I even broke down at the end of
the match.

This is a prize that we all
strive for in our business,

trying to be some kind
of a world champion.

I was real happy that
finally they felt the nod

to go in my direction.

And like I said earlier,
that there are things

in the horizon that may not be
so bright

all the time when you think
you become the world champion.

And then, what was it?

A month later, I lost
it to him in Nashville.

- [Speaker] Steamboat's got him
up.

A slam.

(indistinct)

- He did it.
- He's done it.

(crowd cheering)

Steamboat's leg buckled
and Flair has done it.

Flair has done it.

(dramatic music)

- When I lost the championship,

I was looking down the road at a
number

of return matches between Flair

and I to see if Ricky
was going to win it back.

But unbeknown to me, an angle
was brewing.

- As much work as Ricky and
Flair had done together,

I think Ricky might have
felt slighted that they were

so quickly in the same
night, in the same moment,

moving on to the next thing for
Flair,

and didn't necessarily have
anything planned for Steamboat.

- After I lost, Terry
Funk comes running out,

grabs Flair, beats him
up and pile drives him

on the announcement table.

And right before my very
eyes, they created an angle.

No return matches with Ric
Flair.

I only had a one-year deal,

and I thought that I could
prove myself in one year

to the company to warrant a good
contract.

And when I had a meeting
with the higher ups,

they wanted to cut my pay in
half.

And I said, "I don't think so."

- [Crowd] Steamboat, Steamboat,
Steamboat.

- From '87 up to '89, for
almost those two years

was high emotions, low emotions.

From '87, that WrestleMania
match with me and Savage-

- [Speaker] (indistinct) and
Steamboat,

the new Intercontinental
Heavyweight Champion.

- And then I got fired.

Highs were so high for
winning the world championship

and having classic matches
with my old friend,

and number one guy that taught
me so much,

just to get squashed out.

High emotions, low emotions.

It would play a factor
on, believe this or not,

maybe it's time to bow out?

I was also thinking
that I've got a newborn

and a couple good years for
college money,

and I was still physically
sound.

I will tell you this, I
didn't question my inability

to work at another company.

I never questioned that.

I knew my stock value was good,
and if I wanted to go back

to WWE, it was just a phone call
away.

In '91, when I came
back to WWE, Vince said,

"We want to repackage you."

- I think Vince McMahon felt he
needed

a little something extra to
connect with the WWE audience,

and that's where we got The
Dragon.

(dramatic music)

So when Ricky comes back,
he's wearing a giant headdress

and he's got a cape that
looks like dragon wings

and a tail that comes down.

And of course, like any great
athlete,

he has to learn how to breathe
fire.

- In looking at the
presentation of Rick Steamboat,

it was just a guy that
called himself The Dragon,

but we wanted to turn Rick
Steamboat,

"The Dragon" Ricky Steamboat,

into an actual dragon,
a fire breathing dragon

because that's what dragons do.

(dramatic music)

- You've been Ricky "The
Dragon",

you need to get a dragon's
outfit,

and I'm going to have you
learn how to blow fire.

- We went on a search for fire
breathers,

and we spent a couple
weeks with a fire breather

in a circus learning how to
breathe fire.

- I learned from a guy in
Florida named Brian LaPalme.

LaPalme was so excited
on showing me he wanted

to show me outside, and it was a
bit windy

down there in Florida.

So he got a mouthful of
kerosene,

and just as he went to
blow into the torch,

the wind shifted and he
blew it all in his face.

And now, I'm looking at this guy
running

around with his face on fire.

- Rick looked at me and
said, "I'm not doing that."

- He said, "Man, it's okay.

It's just superficial.

Just, look, superficial."

He says, "Come on, let me teach
it"

- [Speaker] First, he's going
to start with his hands up.

Fire lit.

Then he's going to take it, blow
it.

- Holy (beeping). (blowing)

- First time Rick came out with
the fire,

the crowd's ooh-ing and
ahh-ing, and then, spectacular.

(dramatic music)

- It's cool seeing Ricky
come out dressed as a dragon

and breathing fire and
everything,

but he didn't have any
meaningful stories

the entire time that
he was a fire breather.

- [Speaker] Nothing worse
than a sagging dragon.

- He won matches or he
might have lost matches.

Nobody really remembers because
none

of the matches really had
a lot of meaning to them.

- [Speaker] Oh, right through
the legs.

Look, now.

- [Speaker] Something about The
Dragon,

he takes it right to you.

- [Speaker] Cross-body, a
beauty.

Forget it.

- I was not in a position of
main events.

The Dragon's outfit and the
blowing fire

didn't last but maybe
10 months or something,

and then I went back to WCW.

- [Speaker] What an entrance.

Fans going nuts.

- And I was with Shane Douglas
and we were a tag team.

- It really was the blessing of
my career,

getting put with him.

He's Ricky Steamboat.

He's on the Mount Rushmore.

- [Speaker] Steamboat and
Douglas now,

with some explosive offense.

- We would get into the car at
night

and have these long drives.

I mean, you go on the road and
you're home

for about that much of the year.

And so, I know that Ricky just
was gaga over being a father.

And when we were
together, Richie was four,

and he wanted to be home
and be a dad and provide.

Ricky wrestled with that.

It was a real, like this for
him.

His marriage was starting to
falter a bit

and he was not around Richie
as much as he wanted to be.

- It's hard to be a family man.

It's hard to be a husband,
it's hard to be a father

if you're a pro wrestler.

It weighs on a family and
it weighs on a husband

and wife relationship
when you were gone 250

to 300 days a year.

- That was one of the
sacrifices that he made was

to be on a road to support his
family,

to give them that good life to
live.

I'm sure at times, it
probably broke his heart.

- I would be gone a lot, be away
a lot,

be away from home a lot.

And I kind of felt I need
to do what I need to do now

to help prepare myself for the
future.

- For someone who's not been in
the ring,

you have to understand
that there's so many

of these ingredients that go
into it.

You're on the road, you're
tired,

you're away from home forever,

but you got to go out and give
this audience their match.

- [Speaker] All right?

The youngster, Shane Douglas,
who's aligned himself

with a veteran, Ricky Steamboat.

They know each other quite well.

Oh, it's the team work and the
champions

coming through here.

- I wanted to be there in
the last twilight years,

and maybe coach or pass the
torch and help out and teach.

- I credit it with having taken
me

from being a junior partner in
tag team

to being a main event later in
ECW,

because most of what I was
doing there was built on

what I learned with Ricky there.

- This was the next group of
guys, right?

This is the next generation,
the Shane Douglas'

and the Steve Austins.

- [Speaker] Stunning Steve
Austin.

- I went to WCW and said,
"This kid Austin, he's got it."

I told the WCW higher ups, I
would suggest

to give him some more air time
on TV

and maybe feature him a little
bit more.

- [Speaker] I see a lot
more confidence zooming off

of Austin.

- [Speaker] Personally, my
favorite guy I'd ever get

in the ring with because he was
so good.

- Ricky saw that I had
something back then,

and because he'd already
been with the WWE before,

he was a great guy that
I could ask advice from.

- [Speaker] Steamboat and
Stunning Steve, now the new battle

for the US title.

- We're having a match
in Roanoke, Virginia,

and lost my balance.

- [Speaker] And Stunning
Steve, they just continue

to battle on this turnbuckle.

- [Ricky] I slipped and
ended up herniating a disc,

putting an hairline in
a vertebrae fracture.

Very last match of my career.

- [Speaker] Steamboat and
Stunning Steve now, to do battle

for the US title.

- Steve Austin, who is my
very last match of my career.

A lot of guys put baby
oil, including myself,

just to give a little shine,

and a lot of that gets
rubbed off on the corners.

And you could stand on it and
slip.

I was supposed to take a
bump backwards into the ring.

As I was pushing off to get
some distance, I slipped,

landing in almost a sit-up
position on my tailbone.

- He had probably done that
10,000 times in his career.

But if you go out and you
do something 10,000 times,

there might be a chance that

on that 10,001st time you might
trip.

Something might not be in the
right place.

And when he took that bump and
he went

to do the backward roll, I
saw him throw his hand back.

For me, I knew that with Ricky,

if he's selling this like
this, he must really be hurt,

because Ricky would never go
to the hospital on his own.

- And when I got back home to
Charlotte,

I went to the Charlotte
Spine Center and they said,

"Yeah, you've got a pretty
serious herniated disc."

They did say it looked

like it might have been
accumulation of over the years

of wrestling, those two
vertebraes being compressed

so many times for it to
finally herniate out the side.

After being in the business of
wrestling

for almost 20 years,

this was the first real
serious injury that I suffered.

That injury forced me to retire,

or to take a serious
consideration.

It was almost like a
double-edged sword on my feelings.

I was kind of sad that I was
getting out because I'd been in

and I was still doing well,

and then because of this
injury, it left a little bit

of a sour taste in my mouth.

- [Speaker] The winner
and new United States

Heavyweight Champion, Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat.

- When I decided to get
out, I forfeited the belt.

Things that were going
through my mind obviously was,

what do I do now?

I started spending some more
time being around the house

and being able to do that,
but I guess that didn't work,

and I was getting divorced.

Didn't see that coming.

Here I was, off the road and
home.

I was reading the Sunday paper.

She goes, "I want a divorce."

"Okay.

What are you talking about?

Why do you..."

None of that.

I don't know why.

I don't know, maybe she liked
me being away. (laughing)

(soft music)

My love for cars started just
as I became an early teenager.

My father retired from the
military,

moved to St. Petersburg,
Florida,

and the first thing he went out

and got me was a go-kart.

I got to learn the basic
mechanics off of this go-kart.

Then I had '65 GTOs and
I had '67, '68 Camaros.

When I had the Camaro, that's
when I started venturing

to the drag strip and doing
very well with the car.

That was my first introduction.

I was 17.

But up until about five years
ago,

I really didn't have
anything in the garage.

And five years ago, I
started looking around.

I wanted something a little bit
newer,

and so I started looking
at Shelby, Cobra Mustangs.

Take a look.

What attracted me to this
year car of Mustang '07,

is that the body lines are
like second generation Mustang,

'69, '70, because that was the
era I grew up in high school.

So I wanted to have that look,

so I ended up cutting a hole in
the hood.

Then I cut these relief holes
here.

There's vents up top where
the heat that's coming off,

the headers can go up through
here.

Over there, as the rear
end that came out of it,

and I put it in a heavy
duty nine inch Currie

made rear end to handle the
horsepower.

That was the weak link on the
drivetrain.

- That's one big thing
I see of my brother.

He's a fairly quiet man until
he gets in his hot rods.

- I'm pretty mechanically
inclined,

so that's how Richie got
started.

And Charlotte being the hub for
NASCAR,

they had racing for kids.

The cars were called Bandoleros.

We raced it for about three
years.

Lot of hours together,
lot of hours together.

It was a good bonding time.

My son and I grew really
close with this racing,

but at the same time, I
missed the time in the ring.

Every other aspect of the
business, I was not a fan of.

The travel, the being away, the
politics.

- [Speaker] Welcome back.

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- [Ricky] The time in the
ring is what I missed.

- In 2005, I got a call
from talent relations.

"How'd you like to be a producer
for WWE?

You will be assigned a couple
of matches to oversee them

to make sure that the end
of the match, the product

is what the company wants."

I said, "I'd be happy
to come in and help out,

but you need to talk to Vince

because we did not have a good
departing."

I'll never forget, as I
walked into the building,

lo and behold, the first guy
I run into was Vince McMahon.

And he came right up to me
and shook my hand and said,

"Welcome aboard."

The last time we talked,
he said, "You're fired.

Find your own way home."

So, what a change.

- I liked it when Ricky
was a producer at WWE.

I was a fan of his.

I think everybody was, so it was
cool

to think maybe he could help
give some insight to my match.

- Boom, bang, bang, bang.

- But I got a chance to
have him as my agent in many

of my matches.

I'm grateful to been able to
have given that opportunity

to pick his brain just that
much.

- I'm back into this
routine now of being gone.

At this point, around 250 days a
year,

which then at that time
was also hard on family.

At the time, I had to
remarried, and I could see how

that was wearing on the
marriage,

but I wanted to get back
to the wrestling business.

(dramatic music)

When you start out in
the wrestling business,

you start knowing where you're
going

to be on the ground
level, opening matches.

And then you wonder, "Will
I ever be good enough

or get good enough to make main
events?"

- So, you want to slip them up
or down?

- And once you reach main
events, you say,

"Am I going to ever have a
championship?"

Then you wonder, "Will I ever be
inducted

in the Hall of Fame?"

The last piece.

And that happened.

- You worked hard for this.

Congratulations.

- Thank you, boss.

I mean that.

I mean it.

(crowd cheering)

- Over a 36-year period, when
I'm asked

who my greatest opponent was,
the answer

is always Ricky Steamboat.

(crowd cheering)

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my
honor

to induct my friend, Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat.

(crowd cheering)

- [Crowd] Steamboat, Steamboat,
Steamboat, Steamboat.

(crowd cheering)

- He couldn't believe it.

Not worthy of this.

He didn't felt worthy.

That's why people like him

so much is that humbleness about
him.

He rather brag about you than
he'll brag about himself.

- I knew I was going to break
down, but I didn't know it was

before I was going to start
talking.

When I look back 35
years ago and visualize

what this business has given me,

I cannot help but be
passionate and humbled

with what I've been blessed
with.

(audience applauding)

You see, ladies and gentlemen,
my rewards are not measured

in wins and losses.

It was about the performance,
the match,

to know you left everything
you had in that ring.

I want to stand here and thank
all of you

for giving this moment,
this Hall of Fame moment.

I'd like to give a special
thanks, Richie Steamboat,

where are you?

Hopefully, someday, a
future WWE superstar.

I stand before you, so proud, so
humbled,

to be in the 2009 WWE Hall of
Fame.

Thank you, everyone.

(audience applauding)

- The night after Rick was
inducted into the WWE Hall

of Fame, he took part in a
legend's match at WrestleMania.

- [Speaker] Welcome to the
wonderment

of the 25th anniversary of
WrestleMania.

- [Ricky] I was more worried
about, I'm 56 years old.

I had not had a match in 15
years.

- [Speaker] And here comes The
Dragon.

Well, Steamboat looks in great
shape.

- It's a three-on-one handicap
match at WrestleMania 25.

Chris Jericho versus Rowdy Roddy
Piper,

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka,
and for the first time

in a ring since 1994.

- [Speaker] Ricky "The Dragon"
Steamboat.

- As a fan, I remember looking
at this match as a spectacle.

It'll be fun to see the old
timers again.

And all of a sudden, Ricky's
Steamboat gets in the ring,

and it's like he jumped
into a time machine.

- [Speaker] Whoa.

That's will, ladies and
gentlemen.

Ooh, that's passsion.

Look at Steamboat go.

We've turned back the hands of
time.

- And my jaw was on the floor.

And I go, "Oh my God.

Ricky's still got it."

- [Speaker] I love the vintage.

Oh, and a great arm drag.

The Dragon.

(indistinct) Ricky Steamboat.

- Him and Jericho had a hell of
a match.

(indistinct)

(crowd cheering)

- Jericho was so impressed,
and even Vince was so,

watching me working the ring.

Vince shook my hand.

He said, "You ain't lost a
step."

Well, three weeks later,

they have another
pay-per-view called Backlash.

So I'm looking through it and
I'm looking

at match number one,
match number two, match...

Then I also look, oh,
Steamboat versus Jericho.

And I went, "What?"

I look up at Vince and Vince is
going-

I said, "What's going on?"

He says, "Well, you did so
good with the legends match,

but Jericho wanted to really
have his hand

at you in his singles."

- [Speaker] Can Jericho believe
that that

just happened to him?

Don't you have to admit that
this

is far more competitive a match

than you thought it would be?

- [Speaker] Magnificent effort
from this WWE Hall of Famer.

Oh no.

- [Speaker] You got to be
kidding me.

- [Speaker] Look at this.

You have got to be...

Oh my goodness.
- You still got it, baby.

- It felt great because I
was getting a bunch of pat

on the backs from some of the
younger kids

that were watching my match.

But I'll tell you this, at
56 years old, my skeleton,

my joints, I was happy that I
did it,

but then I was happy, "Okay,
I've done it.

It's done.

It's over."

- [Speaker] Magnificent effort
from this WWE Hall of Famer,

who we could have seen
here for the last time.

Oh, got one more.

- I feel it was important
to continue training

even when I retired from
wrestling.

- [Speaker] Go back towards me.

Back towards me, Rick.

Good.

Up, good.

- The difference between now

and when I was actively
wrestling, as you know,

when you're working out, you
do a tearing down process

with the muscle and
then it rebuilds itself.

But as I got older, I understood
that that slowed way down.

- Bang it out.

Come on, Ricky.

Get it.

Get it.

That's all you.

Stand up and show them off.

Stand up and show them off.

(Ricky laughing)

- I got into the notion to
where, if I just use lightweights

and do a lot of reps, I could
also help my joints out.

A range of motion would
still be good as opposed

to not being able to raise my
arms

because of my shoulders
or my elbows or my hips.

But just doing some form of
exercise

to keep the blood flowing in
those areas

has really helped me out.

- [Speaker] Ladies and
gentlemen,

please welcome Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat.

(crowd cheering)

- In 2010, we did this
skit on Monday Night Raw.

They were going to bring a
three disc DVD of my career.

- It's going to take more than
three DVDs

to hold your career, my friend.

Congratulations.

You've earned it.

- They said, "Ricky, we want
to send you out, and the fans,

and introduce this three disc
DVD.

We'll talk about it, and then
we're going

to send this NXT guys up"

- [Speaker] The Nexus.

- And he said, "They're going
to jump you and beat you up

and leave you laying.

And of course, you're up,
and you're 57 years old.

It isn't like they're
jumping at a 25-year-old.

So we're going to get a lot of
heat."

And everybody, "Oh my God,
they're going to beat Rick up."

You could hear the buzz and the
audio.

Oh no, oh no.

They're going to, oh no.

- [Speaker] Oh my God.

This is not good.

- I get picked up and slammed
down so hard

that I ended up with a brain
bleed.

(all chattering)
(dramatic music)

I was in intensive care
for almost three weeks.

(machine beeping)

They call it a subarachnoid
hemorrhaging.

This is down in between your
two halves of your brain,

your left and right side.

You got connecting blood
vessels or capillaries,

and they got torn apart
during the G-force,

during the impact.

He said, "The problem we have
is that we cannot get to it.

It has to stop on its own,
and if it doesn't stop

on its own, you're going to
die."

- I go to the hospital
and I sit down next to him

and he doesn't recognize you.

He sit there and stared
at me for 10, 15 seconds

and it freaking dawned
on him that it's Victor,

his brother next to him.

That was, oh boy, such a
frightening experience,

so heartbreaking.

- They were doing CAT scans and
MRIs about every three days.

They were checking it.

And after about almost
two weeks, they said,

"God, it looks like it
might be fixing itself."

All right.

Meanwhile, my wife at
that time was Claudia.

They flew her down from
Charlotte.

She sat in that hospital
room every single day

for almost three weeks.

I was in and out of it.

There was times that I
was angry at the nurses

and there was a time to
which I ripped everything

out of my neck and pulled
it all out of my arms

and "I'm getting out of here.

God, I'm tired of this."

That was hard on her.

And I had an attitude of,
I'm not going to say angry

at the world, but I had
a chip on my shoulder

and this wore off on her.

So being gone for so many
years and then capping off

with coming back home and
having an edgy attitude

all the time culminated
into us finally separating.

And that's when I picked
up and left Carolina.

Hey, how you doing?
- I'm like, normal.

- Good morning.
- Good morning.

- I already had my coffee.

- Yeah?
- Yep.

Going to make some toast.

You want some?
- No.

I'm just going to have
my coffee this morning.

Going to have my coffee this
morning.

Oh, so sweet.

Always so sweet.

Thank you for my note, baby.

Ricky and I met about
seven and a half years ago.

They had a fanboy convention in
Knoxville

and my best friend wanted to go.

So we're walking through, we
hear this voice go, "Hey."

So we take a picture
together and we stood there

and talked, I guess 10 or 15
minutes and we walked off.

- I write down my phone
number and I go out

and I search in the crowd and I
find her

and I tap her on the shoulder
and I say, "Shoot me a text."

- We started talking and
it just went from there.

- You want to try another one?

Hmmm?

It might be your day if
mama wasn't here, right?

Where's pops?

- Pops give you toast?
- Pops give you toast, huh?

- Ricky is very tender-hearted,
very tender-hearted.

I mean, he's a tough guy on the
outside,

but he's very tender-hearted.

- They say if you have a
stressful day

and you go out and sit at a
dock and look out at the water,

it sort of just takes it all
away.

Sandi, we've been together for
seven years

and I wasn't doing a whole lot
on the road and being away.

I've had past relationship and
marriages

that the sport has made it
very difficult to maintain.

I don't know if even she would
be with me

if I was on the road 300 days a
year.

It's hard for your other better
half to put up with that.

Unfortunately for me on
some of my other situations,

it never worked out that way
and I accepted and moved on.

Having her there plays such
a big factor in my life now.

You always wonder when you
get into the twilight years,

where are you going to be?

Are you going to be with
someone that cares about you

or are you going to be alone?

And this is so comforting
to me that I know

that she'll be there.

I'm in a good spot.

I got a nice home.

I got a great wife, Sandi.

I got a little hoppy car.

- [Announcer] And Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat folks

right here.

One of the legends of the
ring right here in the house

in Knoxville Dragway.

- I've had a number of
cars throughout my life.

There were some that I was
really passionate about.

This car is the fastest
car I've ever owned.

(dramatic music)

The first time I took
this car down the track,

it was like somebody hit you in
the gut.

Yea

It was that kind of holy (beep)
moment.

I'm over the moon.

I am over the moon.

Got the heeby-jeebies every
time I went down the track.

For me tonight, it's like
winning the world championship.

- [Announcer] The winner and
new world heavyweight champion.

- Steamboat was in a league of
his own.

- God, it seemed like he was
born for it.

- [Announcer] What an
outstanding athlete he is, with a lot

of natural ability.

- If there was ever a wrestler
to be built and be molded,

it would be molded after him.

It was almost like a chess
player that would think two,

three steps ahead.

- Everything he done was
phenomenal.

Every move was crisp.

Every move was like poetry in
motion.

- [Announcer] And that is
poetic.

That is a piece of art.

- [Speaker] I'm just getting
this picture in my mind

right now, just visualizing
how smooth he was.

- [Announcer] One of the most
respected

and talented athletes to ever
compete.

(soft music)

- The only way I can look at him

is he was the consummate
professional.

- Well, why you just laying
there?

- If Ricky was in football,
he'd be Tom Brady.

Laser focused.

He took his job seriously.

- He was that guy that the
parents wanted their kid

to meet because this guy's
doing it all right, son.

- My upbringing with my parents
played 99%

of who I am today.

- [Announcer] This youngster's
a gentleman 24 hours a day.

- And this comes from
the bottom of my heart.

I'd like to give thanks to all
the fans

that have supported me.

I've had ups and downs in my
life, but you're missing out

a big part of living if
you're never grateful.

That spins off into finding
some form of happiness.

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