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Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's recent AEW appearance sent shockwaves around the wrestling world. Not only was it great to see the legend back on television, but he did an excellent job in his role. The WWE Hall of Famer recently peeled back the curtain on how this outing came to be.
Speaking to Bill Apter for an exclusive Sportskeeda Wrestling interview, Steamboat revealed that Tony Schiavone contacted him about showing up at a recent episode of Collision, but it was all done at CM Punk's request:
“[Tony Schiavone] got a hold of me…through the request of CM Punk. And, you know, they had told me the storyline – the last time CM Punk and Ricky Starks met, that Ricky needed to get the win, cheated holding on to the ropes. So, they were thinking about maybe another referee on the floor, another pair of eyes. And make the match for the Heavyweight Championship of the world.” [From 00:50 to 01:33]
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Punk and Steamboat have a long-standing history from their shared time in Ring of Honor, so it makes sense for The Voice of the Voiceless to want to involve the Hall of Famer in his AEW storyline.
Steamboat made a few more appearances for the promotion in the coming weeks, with the intent of elevating Ricky Starks and "getting him heat."
How did Tony Khan manage to bring in Ricky Steamboat to AEW?
During the same interview, Ricky Steamboat went into more detail about how his AEW appearance came about, revealing that Tony Khan offered him a private jet to make the entire deal happen:
“On Friday, I was doing like a Comic Con convention in Charlotte. And, after I was done with that Friday night, I drove up to Roanoke and I was doing another Comic Con convention there and, of course, AEW’s show live was Saturday evening. So, the company through Tony Khan, he asks, ‘I’d like to pick you up in Roanoke in our private jet and fly you down to Greenville where we’re doing the television taping. About a 35-minute flight. You’d do the match with CM Punk and Ricky Starks and then we will get you back on my plane,’ Tony said.” [From 01:52 to 02:42]
In the end, Tony Khan's efforts paid off, as Ricky Starks is now arguably a larger star than ever before as a result of his meetings with Steamboat.
If you use any quotes from here, please embed the exclusive video and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling.
