Ricky Steamboat On Ric Flair's Impact On Him, Wrestlers Learning Differently Today, Favorite Matches
Ricky Steamboat spoke with NBC Elmira on a number of wrestling topics. You can see the full interview in the video above. Here are some of the highlights:
Ric Flair's influence on his career:
"Ric and I go way back, we go back to the late 70s. We ran our [matches] ? on and off – through the mid 90s, about seventeen years. That was a guy, who was two years ahead of me in the business, but went to bat for me in the Carolinas for Crockett Promotions ? Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, at the time ? and pointed it out that he'd like to do something with me and from that point on it made me a main event guy, and the rest is history."
Comparing how this generation of wrestlers learn to how he learned:
"When I started in the business, getting in the ring, most nights I'd look across at a 15-20 year veteran. And every night, he would take me to school. Right now at our [WWE] training grounds, we've got great instructors, but most times when these guys are looking across the ring, they're looking across the ring at someone with the same knowledge. Whether it be three months, or a year or two of knowledge. Guys like myself and Arn Anderson, we're always trying to pass knowledge along. It's a key factor to being able to keep the business going."
Favorites matches in his career:
"I've got two matches, and I've had over 6,000. 'Macho Man' [Randy] Savage [at] WrestleMania III and then, of course, [1989] when I beat [Ric] Flair for the World Championship."
Ricky Steamboat also discussed advice for younger wrestlers and his WrestleMania match against "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Again, you can see the full interview in the video above.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit NBC Elmira with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.