WWE: 15 Greatest Technical Wrestlers – Number 15

In WWE, in the course of the past 50 years, there have been many superstars who have performed in the organization. Some of them became legends, some attained immortality, and some became the greatest in the business. Whether you talk about the Hogans or Flairs or The Undertakers, they all have been larger than life characters, those who etched their names in the history books of professional wrestling. But in this time, there were some performers who weren’t just ‘superstars’. They transcended the ‘performer’ monicker, and were known as some of the most gifted athletes. They were considered to be some of the greatest technical wrestlers the business has ever witnessed, and the WWE fans appreciated them for putting on some of the greatest wrestling matches in the history of the business.

This series looks back at some of these technical maestros in the business, those who were considered to be all time greats in the industry. I have short listed fifteen performers who were phenomenal wrestlers. In this article, I take a look at number 15, a man who is considered by many as a gifted performer back in the golden era of professional wrestling. He is also known as ‘The Dragon’, and by now you might have realized who it is. It is none other than the legendary Ricky Steamboat.

Ricky made a name for himself in the National Wrestling Alliance, wrestling with the likes of ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. During his multiple stints with NWA, he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, along with the United States championship, TV title and the tag team titles. But perhaps, Steamboat achieved his greatest success in the World Wrestling Federation, when Steamboat jumped ships from NWA to the WWF. When Steamboat debuted in the WWF, he was given the monicker of ‘The Dragon’, a gimmick which paid homage to Steamboat’s Asian roots. Shortly afterwards, Steamboat got into his first major feud, something which was considered revolutionary at that time, against Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts. After being DDT’d on the concrete, Steamboat got his retribution when he brought his Komodo dragon and scared Jake Roberts and his pet Damien away.

Ricky Steamboat was always considered to be one of the best workers in the business, but the fans got a chance to witness just how great Steamboat was during his feud with the late great ‘Macho Man’, Randy Savage. Savage had viciously attacked Steamboat after their match, injuring him in the process. When Steamboat returned, he got a chance to get back at Savage by facing him at WrestleMania 3 for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. WrestleMania 3 was headlined by Hogan and Andre, but Savage and Steamboat went out and put on one of the greatest, most talked about matches in the history of professional wrestling. Not only did Steamboat and Savage ‘steal’ the spotlight from Hogan and Andre, but the match received great response from the crowd and rave reviews from critics all over the world. This match is heralded as one of the most significant bouts in WWF/E history, and was named the best match of that year by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer.

Although Steamboat didn’t achieve more success in the WWF/E, he will always be regarded as one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the WWE. Differences between Steamboat and the WWF/E management forced him out of the company, but he went on to have three classic matches with Ric Flair in NWA for the World Heavyweight title, and all of those matches received 5 star ratings! Steamboat faced some of the greatest names in professional wrestling, wrestling stars like The Great Muta and Tiger Mask II in Japan.

Steamboat finally buried the hatchet with WWE and Vince McMahon, and has become a road agent in the WWE. Steamboat was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, where he took his rightful place as one of the greatest legends in the history of the WWE. He competed on an episode of RAW in a 10 man tag team match, and performed better than most of the current performers! The fans in attendance realized that and gave Steamboat a ‘You still got it!’ chant. Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat could have achieved bigger and better things in the WWF/E if the management didn’t punish him, and one can only wonder what could have been, had he seen greener pastures in the company.