Pros: Considered one of the great techincal wrestlers of all-time, very reliable babyface, indispensible rival for Ric Flair and Randy Savage
Cons: Relatively short career, not a proven top draw
If there was one constant about Ricky Steamboat, it's that no matter what, you could have counted on him to give you a primo match in the ring, regardless of the opponent. In fact, in his prime, he could have wrestled a ten-pound sack of potatoes. Dave Meltzer would have given it three stars, and no one would argue it. You could go to any year that Steamer was active and put at least one or two of his matches on the MOTY list. His athleticism and versatility made him a good opponent for anyone.
However, the eternal argument against him was that he was never a top draw or featured attraction anywhere he went. He was always a foil for Flair rather than the guy who'd defeat him and rule the roost. In the WWF, he arrived at the time that Hulk Hogan was king and when the ascent of Randy Savage was imminent. Even in his later years, instead of being put at the top of the WCW heap with Sting, Lex Luger, Flair, Vader and Ron Simmons, he was used as a vehicle to get Steve Austin and Brian Pillman over when he got injured. Many would argue to be considered the greatest, or to at least be a part of the conversation, shouldn't you have to be a draw?
Well, while one can argue that it was Flair that made Steamboat, could you really discount the theory that the reason Flair got so big was because he had Steamboat to push him, that the fans weren't just coming to see whether their top regional babyface could topple Flair, but because they were emotionally invested in the Dragon's decade-long quest to wrest the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from the Nature Boy? It was proven that not just anyone could challenge Flair and draw doing it. Case in point - Ronnie Garvin.
It could also be argued that Steamboat was well on his way to megastardom in the WWF at the time right after he beat Savage for the Intercontinental Championship. Some conspiracy theorists will claim that Hulk Hogan was becoming rather paranoid about the ultimately charismatic and technically gifted Steamboat taking his spot and shoving Hogan out of the limelight and into smaller pay days, and that was the reason why Steamer jobbed the IC title so shortly after winning it to Hogan's crony, Honky Tonk Man (who is, by the way, my pick for most undeserving push EVER). Steamer taking a hiatus to be with his wife during the birth of their first child, people claim, was the convenient front.
I admit, I kinda believed in the Hogan hype just because of how seedy a business wrestling is and about how paranoid guys get about their spots. I e-mailed Meltzer for analysis on the situation, and here was his take:
It wasn't even punishment. Steamboat wanted to take a few months off and while they weren't happy about it, because he was off, he had to drop the title. Hogan had nothing to do with it. BUT, they would never push him to that level again because they didn't like that he left when he was a headliner.Okay, so now this goes from a case of backstage politics to one of ethics. You take two sides, one that favors the business and one that favors family.
Whichever way you do look at it, Steamboat did have a chance to make it to the top of the WWF. If I were a betting man, I'd say that he would have been the one pegged to win the WWF Championship at WMIV instead of Savage had he not left the way he did. Would history have been different if that happened? Would he still be around today? Would his resumé have been stronger? That is a lot of hypothetical wondering, and usually, if you have to ask the question "What if?" too much for a guy, he probably doesn't deserve the consideration.
Still, there is something to be said about being the best at your craft. I fully believe Steamboat belongs in the discussion because he was arguably the best full-on wrestler from his era and that he was arguably in the top two all-around babyfaces from the era (along with Hogan). While drawing and making money are big parts of the equation, you can't discount what happens in the ring. When it came down to what happened in the ring, Steamer was arguably the best.
Look at the match resumé. Look at how many quality bouts he's had with various amounts of opponents on various stages. He gave it all and entertained whether it was a house show in Bumfuck, Indiana or on the biggest stage of them all, WrestleMania III in what was one of the top three WM matches of all time against Savage. He connected with fans everywhere he went, and he was a guy that was impossible to root against.
That's why Steamer belongs in the discussion, despite the fact that he was never the draw that he could have been.
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