Background and career
Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Steamboat is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential professional wrestlers of all time.
In JCP and WCW, he was a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a four-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a four-time World Television Champion, a 12-time World Tag Team Champion (eight under the WCW banner, one (though unofficial) under the NWA banner, and three under the Mid-Atlantic banner), and a two-time Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. In the WWF/E, Steamboat was a one-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Richard Henry Blood was born on February 28, 1953, in West Point, New York, to a Japanese American mother and a white father. He went to high school first in New York and later graduated in 1971 from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Florida, where he was on the amateur wrestling team. He was a two-time New York state qualifier and a Florida state champion.
Blood was trained to wrestle by Verne Gagne and The Iron Sheik. He debuted in March 1976 as a babyface in Gagne's Minneapolis, Minnesota–based American Wrestling Association (AWA), wrestling as "Rick Blood". His early opponents included Scott Irwin, Buck Zumhofe, Mad Dog Vachon, and Blackjack Lanza. In May 1976, he took part in a two ring, $50,000 battle royal that was won by Mad Dog Vachon and Larry Hennig. He left the AWA later that month to join Championship Wrestling from Florida.
Before Blood's debut in Championship Wrestling from Florida, Eddie Graham gave him the ring name "Ricky Steamboat" based on his resemblance to Hawaiian wrestler Sammy Steamboat. According to Steamboat, Graham thought "Rick Blood" was a good name for a heel, but not a face.
In 1977, Steamboat entered the National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which ran under the concurrent brand names "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" and "Wide World Wrestling"—later "World Wide Wrestling"—as well as airing syndicated TV programs under those respective names), where he would remain for the next eight years of his career. Steamboat, who had been brought in by JCP booker George Scott on the recommendation of Wahoo McDaniel, was initially billed as a babyface protege of Wahoo and barely spoke above whispers in interviews. Matching him with his brash young counterpart, Ric Flair, was a natural fit. Steamboat was doing an interview on the syndicated Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling when Flair, then Mid-Atlantic television champion, began goading him. Steamboat knocked Flair out with a backhand chop to set up a match between the two. Steamboat's star-making performance came when he pinned Flair after a double thrust off the top rope to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship at the WRAL-TV studios in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over the next eight years in JCP, Steamboat captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship three times and the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times (once with Paul Jones and five times with Jay Youngblood). He also held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship singles crown twice and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship four times (three times with Paul Jones, once with Jay Youngblood). He also won the Television title (which had been renamed NWA World Television Championship) a second time. Notable moments involving Steamboat's time in the Mid-Atlantic territory include: the day Flair dragged his face around the television studio, causing facial scarring, and Steamboat retaliating the following week by ripping Flair's expensive suit to shreds (an angle that would be reworked several times involving other wrestlers in the years that followed); when longtime tag team partner Jones turned heel on Steamboat at the end of a two-ring battle royal; Steamboat and Youngblood painting yellow streaks down the backs of Paul Jones and Baron von Raschke to embarrass them into defending the World Tag Team titles against the two; Steamboat and Youngblood's top drawing feud with Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle; Steamboat and Youngblood being turned on by their friends Jack and Jerry Brisco; Steamboat in a shocking (and emotional) feud against former mentor McDaniel; and his last great series in the territory, feuding with Tully Blanchard over the NWA TV title. After creative differences with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes, Steamboat left the NWA.
