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VIP - MITCHELL'S MEMO: Ricky Steamboat and The Hidden Treasure (PWTorch Newsletter #996) Oct 30, 2007 - 8:51:24 PM
VIP EXCLUSIVE - Early-release article from PWTorch Newsletter #996...
BRUCE MITCHELL FEATURE
Original Headline: "Ricky Steamboat and The Hidden Treasure"
Original Publish Date: October 30, 2007
Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #996
A few months ago, Jim Ross mentioned in passing on his blog that WWE was working on a legacy DVD for Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.
I'm not sure where Steamboat stands with today's fans. Even though WWE markets DVDs like the successful "Ultimate Ric Flair Collection" and the not-so-successful "WWE 24/7" pay-cable service to fans with a sense of history, the business is notorious for turning over a new generation of fans every few years. This new generation may have no idea that Ricky Steamboat was, as Ric Flair put it on his DVD, "the best babyface wrestler ever" and may not even notice him as the balding, grey-haired gentleman acting like he's trying to push Umaga and Triple H apart.
Rick Steamboat [artist Joseph Borzotta (c) PWTorch]
Steamboat, real name Richard Blood, had a career that fits all the criteria for one of these DVDs. Never mind he was one half of one of the greatest wrestling feuds in the sport's history, his series with Ric Flair that started in a Raleigh TV studio when the rookie upset the cocky NWA TV champion in 1977, set a standard for wrestling work for seven years in hundreds of matches before it was more famously revived in 1989 in a series of five-star matches.
It's his match at WrestleMania III with Randy Savage that he's most remembered for by long-time WWE fans. For years it was the most memorable non-Hulk Hogan match in WrestleMania history and the one great match of the event's early years, but there's been too many great performances by too many great wrestlers since then for the match to keep that cachet.
He also fits the Legacy DVD mold politically, as least since he broke up with his strong-willed wife Bonnie, who used to guard his career like an angry lion. She was so tough she won the "Steamboat" trademark in the divorce. He's now a well-respected backstage producer for WWE. (He's the one who taught John Cena how to sell.)
The key to these legacy DVDs, after making sure the McMahons gets praised for their foresight in the documentary, is the match selection. Obviously the Savage match, which has been put on what seems like dozens of WWE compilations over the years, and one of the three famous Flair matches from 1989 belong. Bret Hart's DVD already has their rare match-up from the Boston Garden.
There are two rare, never-before-seen on WWE DVD matches for which WWE has the rights, that would make this collection stand out. The first is Steamboat's match at the second Starrcade with Tully Blanchard, just before Steamboat left his longtime Mid-Atlantic home for the WWF. Dusty Rhodes may have told any young wrestler who wants to know how to work to get tapes of Steamboat during his WWE Hall Of Fame Induction speech, but at the time he had swiped Steamboat's promised main event from him and was booking him out of the promotion in favor of his pal Magnum T.A.
Steamboat responded to this pressure by having a great match with Blanchard, one of the best workers of the day in his own right. This was also the best match of Blanchard's famous run in Jim Crockett's promotions.
For my money, it's a better match than its more famous counterpart at WrestleMania.
Then there's the one match, before there was a Starrcade, before there was a WrestleMania, that raised the stakes for promoters everywhere, including a young Vince McMahon, who was even then planning......
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