Ricky Steamboat Reveals Which Top 80s WWF Heel He'd Have Liked To Have Feuded With
Ricky Steamboat was one of the top babyfaces in the 80s and 90s and feuded with many of the top heels in the NWA, WWF and WCW. However, there is someone who Steamboat only worked a few matches with who he would have liked a longer program with and that's The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.
Steamboat shared his memories of DiBiase and his character when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"That was just his character – people see you on TV, but how much of you do they see out of the ring? In the mid-80s when the business took a big change, everybody was living their character. Now, you start getting noticed every inch of the country and then it went around the world," said Steamboat.
"DiBiase, off camera, is a great guy. He wasn't stuck up or let stardom blow his head up. Even to this day when we see each other he is very cordial. We only had a few matches with each other and always ask each other why we didn't have a full-blown program. I would have loved to work with Ted and the few matches we had were great. But then again we always ask why couldn't we go a step farther and work a two or three-month program."
Both DiBiase and Steamboat will be a part of Hamilton's Comic-Con next week and Steamboat talked about what fans at the event can expect.
"I've wrestled in Hamilton and Toronto and the fans have always received me well there?It's always been one of my favorite areas to come in. A lot of the guys, it wasn't one of their favorites because of customs and checking this and that. But besides doing that, I love coming into that area to wrestle because the fans were always off the hook for me," stated Steamboat.
"I probably end up doing between 30-36 [appearances] a year. It's like three weekends a month for me. Unlike being in the ring and wrestling, with this I get to speak with them, shake hands, take pictures and sign autographs. It's a little more personal and I look at it as a way to give back to the fans and say thank you for all of your years of support.
"Some guys may look at it as work and it could be anybody from NBA, NFL, movie stars, TV hosts, whatever. But for me it's always been enjoyable. It is a form of work, but I enjoy the heck out of it."
As you would expect, his legendary WrestleMania III match with Randy Savage is a big talking point even from people who weren't alive when the match happened.
"I've got 8 and 10 year old kids telling me about the match I had with Savage at WrestleMania III and that was 30 years before they were even born," said Steamboat. "But with the magic of the internet, their dad tells them to watch a little bit of what they used to watch?It amazes me that we're passing it on from generation to generation."
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat will be at the Hamilton Comic-Con on October 19th and 20th. Other Superstars scheduled to be in appearance include Mick Foley, Ted DiBiase, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, the Godfather and Terri Runnels. For tickets and info please visit www.hamiltoncomiccon.com.
Ricky's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. Featuring Steamboat discussing his memories of working Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, working with Randy Savage at WrestleMania 3, Andre The Giant's spirit ahead of WrestleMania 3, which 80s heel he wished he'd have feuded with, how he spit his fireballs, the craziest thing he was ever asked to do, AEW's launch, his 2009 feud with Chris Jericho and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.