The following is a guest editorial from the May 1988 Wrestling Observer newsletter
Bruised Egos and Missed Opportunities
by Joe Bruener
A lot has been made of Ricky Steamboat and Vince McMahon's dust-up after WrestleMania III over time that the Dragon wanted to take off to spend time with his pregnant wife. Now that Steamboat has left the WWF and returned to roost in Jim Crockett Promotions, many people are pointing to that incident as the beginning of the end of Steamboat's successful on-screen but tumultuous backstage ride with Titan Sports. It started innocently enough; Steamboat asked for some time off to be with his pregnant wife as she was about to give birth to his son. Most employers would be happy to give time off within reason. The sticking point, however, was that Steamboat was asking for an indefinite leave of absence. Big problem. He was the reigning Intercontinental Champion, and Vince didn't have any plans of taking the title off him very soon.As reported by Dave [Meltzer] in December, that leave of absence wasn't so indefinite because of one man - Pat Patterson. Patterson has been known as a company man, but never let it be known that he doesn't have a nose for talent. Steamboat was money. Patterson knew this, and he knew that Vince would be kicking himself if he let a sure thing like Steamer get away and was left with no one to fulfill the hero babyface role if Hulk Hogan's movie career were to take off. He was able to broker a compromise; Steamboat would be given leave for a month or two to tend to his wife, and McMahon would have his guy with enough time to spare to build to a hot IC title match at SummerSlam.
Everything seemed hunky-dory, right? Steamboat would steamroll Honky Tonk Man, wrestle four-to-five star matches against opponents like Bret Hart, The Blue Blazer, Bad News Brown, Mr. Perfect and Harley Race. McMahon kept booking him in high-profile matches and feuds. Even in losing the strap at the Royal Rumble, Steamboat was being groomed to hold the WWF Championship, potentially as soon as WrestleMania IV. However, we didn't really know the half of it, although the signs were right in front of our eyes. I know I remarked to anyone who'd listen to me that Vince McMahon would often say something really backhanded about Steamboat. The most egregious example was on an edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, when in the intro, Vince claimed that "Steamboat will try not to lose the Intercontinental Championship tonight as he takes on Bad News Brown." It was so bad that Jesse Ventura did a spit take and replied "That sounds like something I would say, McMahon."
Apparently, he was just saying what he was feeling. Vince hated the compromise so much that he resented Steamboat for getting one over on him. Vince's ego is purported to be pretty big, big enough that if he didn't get his way, he let you know he wasn't very happy. Steamboat felt it, and felt it pretty bad. Even though Vince loved the money that Steamboat drew for him, he didn't show it to Steamboat himself through gratitude or warmth. He was cold to Steamboat backstage, shrill. He let that bitterness seep through on broadcasts as was pointed out a paragraph earlier. In the final nail in the coffin, Vince lowballed Steamboat when it came time to re-up his contract. Dave speculated that Hogan had something to do with it as well, not wanting to have his perch as the top money-winner in the company compromised by a smaller johnny-come-lately. Personally, even if that wasn't the case, Vince wasn't inclined to offer Steamboat market value, not when there was the prospect of turning a guy like Randy Savage face and replacing Steamboat's secondary drawing power with a guy who didn't try to "put one over" on Vince.
Steamboat was made to feel like he wasn't wanted, which made the overtures made by Ted Turner's deep pockets that much more appealing. JCP had missed the boat on Steamboat (pun intended) by letting him walk to Vince years prior, and now, still with no one to replace Magnum TA as their top young babyface, they were desperate to find someone who could challenge Ric Flair and really get the fans behind him while they build up guys like Lex Luger and Sting.
And so now, what should have been Steamboat's crowning moment in wrestling history, his first ever major World Championship, turned into his swan song with Titan. Ted DiBiase is the WWF Champion and Steamboat is packing his bags and following the money to Atlanta after Stamford gave him the cold shoulder. While the ending of WrestleMania IV, Steamboat falling victim to the Million Dollar Dream in the middle of the ring, garnered rave reviews from Observer subscribers, it left a bad taste in the collective mouth of "regular joe" fans who wanted to see their hero win, or at least find a way for Hogan to make his way out and take the belt off DiBiase before they all left Trump Marina that evening.
What could have been a beautiful relationship that would have lasted years into the future and given the WWF chance to double the house show market by running two crews, one headlined by Hogan and one by Steamboat, has been ruined because of hubris. It's hard to blame Steamboat for wanting to be with his wife as she gave birth to his son. He still played ball, though. It's not like he got his indefinite leave and stayed out until Survivor Series, like he was rumored to have been planning. And now, Vince has given his competition a spark.
But hey, at least we might get a few more Flair/Steamboat matches out of this, right?
