If there is a superstar who knows a thing or two about being involved in some of the greatest matches in pro wrestling history, that individual would be WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
From his epic encounter with "Macho Man" Randy Savage at WrestleMania 3 and his rivalry with "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Steamboat has long been recognized as one of the best wrestlers to ever lace up a pair of boots. So it would make sense to ask him what he thinks about Randy Orton and Edge competing in a match billed as "The Greatest Match Ever" at Backlash (Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on WWE Network).
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Steamboat talked with Sporting News about what it takes to have a great pro wrestling match, whether Edge and Orton can live up to the hype, the difference between working with Savage and Steamboat, who he wished he could have worked with and why he never went heel in his entire career.
SN: For you, what are the elements that make up a great pro wrestling match?
Ricky Steamboat: It’s the chemistry between the two wrestlers. Do they gel together and do their styles complement each other? Do they have the same basic psychology format to the direction of where they think the match should go? That's really important because some guys may think this way and some guys think that way and it can be a bit of a tug of war. But being able to be on the same page with the guys that you're in a program with is a major, major deal.
SN: How much does the crowd have to do with being able to have a great match? In the case of Randy Orton and Edge, they’ll have to attempt to pull off this feat without fans in attendance.
RS: A lot of times we would feed off of the crowd. A lot of things that we were doing in the match was called on the fly. For example, Ric Flair and I would go into a match and have a couple of spots and moments set up. And then, of course, we would line up the finish. But the rest was called on the fly. And then after each spot and a moment you get a crowd reaction.
I'll give you an example: I was working with Barry Windham and we were working in different cities. I remember the first time we were in the ring and I was being a very aggressive babyface, and we were working an arm drag series and the fans were just sitting on their hands. I looked down at Barry and I said, “Barry, they're not buying this stuff!” So we went right to the heat where he was kicking my ass and the fans got excited and booed the crap out of him. That's where a crowd reaction sort of dictated what we needed to do to get the match over.
I think it plays a big influence on how you would react to your opponent. The crowd actually helps you and to be out there without a crowd … it must be very hard.
SN: Does it matter the pedigree, familiarity and seasoning of the two wrestlers? Although Edge had been away for a while, is there a way they could pull this off?
RS: Edge being away for a while reminds me of the time back in December of 1986 when Randy Savage and I started our angle for WrestleMania 3. I had virtually a three-month layoff from an injury angle we ran so I didn’t wrestle at all. I was worried the most about my cardio and I tried to stay in cardio shape using a Stairmaster and treadmill but there’s nothing like being in ring shape.
I can remember that my match with Savage at WM3 lasted less than 20 minutes. Understand this: I’ve routinely gone an hour wrestling Ric Flair, Harley Race and Blackjack Mulligan. But after the Savage match, I collapsed in the locker room because I was so gassed out. I’m sure they are finding ways to get Edge into ring shape. That being said, I don’t see this falling short of being a great match considering the two guys in the ring despite there being no fans out there. That would definitely play a factor for me.
SN: When we talk about your best matches, oftentimes the matches with Flair and Savage immediately come up. But your match with Steve Austin at Clash of Champions when he had the Dragon Slayer tights on was one that flew under the radar. What do you remember about that match and working with Steve?
RS: He was awesome. When I wrestled him, he was still a young buck. But I knew right then and there that he had it. His light bulb was on all the time, he understood psychology and how to pace himself. We just had it working together. I told the higher-ups at WCW that we needed to do more with him but it didn’t pan out. The rest was history: He became Stone Cold and look at what happened.
SN: Going back to Flair and Savage, what were the differences working with them?
RS: Randy was the type of guy that would have everything lined up for a match from top to bottom. But with Flair, we wrestled maybe 30 matches to a one-hour draw and only had a few spots lined up. When we wrestled in the Carolinas and the Mid Atlantic region with Jim Crockett promotions, we would wrestle in places that were maybe 90 miles apart in the same week. We were forced to try and have a different match every night and that made us better performers. It made you understand how to make changes on the fly. We didn’t want fans from Greenville seeing the same match we did in Columbia. Even though the matches would often go to a time limit draw, we had to make sure it was different. Flair was a guy who 90 percent of your match was called on the fly while Savage was a guy who had 90 percent of it set in stone before the match began.
SN: When you look at today’s roster, who would you have liked to work with?
RS: Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns and AJ Styles. Seth Rollins was a guy who came to WWE with years of time in the indies but he listened and he just got it. Styles is a great mix of old and new school. Bray Wyatt has always been able to step up when asked to do something different. He’s very athletic for his size but it’s all about his creativity.
SN: Anybody who you didn’t get a chance to work with when you were active?
RS: I would have loved to work with Shawn Michaels. I was in the twilight of my career when he came to WWE. Bret Hart as well. We only got a chance to work together a few times but one of my best matches was against him at Boston Garden. He’s a guy I wished I could have worked many, many times with.
SN: Why didn’t you ever turn heel?
RS: Truth be told, in my last run with WWE I told Pat Patterson that I’d like to work as a heel. At that time I had 17 years as a babyface. I told him before I bow out of the business I wanted a run as a heel to say that I had done it. He told me that I was the ultimate babyface. He said that Hulk Hogan — who was the top babyface — could have been working with a top heel and I could have had a chainsaw in an effort to save him. I could have swerved the fans and used the chainsaw to cut off one of his 24-inch pythons. There would be a hush and then 20,000 fans would stand up to tell Hogan “You deserve it.” So that didn’t work.
I tried again when I went to WCW and I was told it would ruin my career. I’m one of the few guys in this business that started out one way and stayed that way for my entire career. I would have liked to see what it felt like to work heel. But, in some ways, I’m thankful I never turned heel because there just aren’t too many guys who can say they did what I did.
