WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat recently spoke with NBC Elmira for an interview. Below are some of the highlights.
On the influence Ric Flair had on his career: “Ric and I go way back, we go back to the late 70s. We ran our [matches] – on and off – through the mid 90s, about seventeen years. That was a guy, who was two years ahead of me in the business, but went to bat for me in the Carolinas for Crockett Promotions – Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, at the time – and pointed it out that he’d like to do something with me and from that point on it made me a main event guy, and the rest is history.”
On the difference between the way he learned how to work compared to the way people learn today: “When I started in the business, getting in the ring, most nights I’d look across at a 15-20 year veteran. And every night, he would take me to school. Right now at our [WWE] training grounds, we’ve got great instructors, but most times when these guys are looking across the ring, they’re looking across the ring at someone with the same knowledge. Whether it be three months, or a year or two of knowledge. Guys like myself and Arn Anderson, we’re always trying to pass knowledge along. It’s a key factor to being able to keep the business going.”
On favorite matches of his career: “I’ve got two matches, and I’ve had over 6,000. ‘Macho Man’ [Randy] Savage [at] WrestleMania III and then, of course, [1989] when I beat [Ric] Flair for the World Championship.”
Check out the complete Ricky Steamboat interview above or at YouTube.com.
H/T to WrestlingInc.com for transcribing the above quotes.
