History Wrestling / RickySteamboat

* MartialArtsUniform: Before his "human dragon" persona, he walked down the aisle wearing a karate ''gi'' jacket and the mythical ''black belt''.

* SpiritualSuccessor: He may not be the first, but he's the most fondly and well remembered "Martial-artist" wrestler in the last 50 years or so. Every performer, {{Face}} or {{Heel}}, from Wrestling/SteveBlackman to Wrestling/{{Glacier}} and even [[Wrestling/ChrisKanyon Mortis]] can trace their roots to him.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Just look above, the only reason he didn't use it when wrestling is that "Richard Blood" doesn't suit a career Face too well.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: ''SEVERAL'' ...how many ''Rock 'N Wrestling'' era performers have had the luxury to say such of themselves?
** His ''five stars'' match against The Macho Man at ''[[Wrestling/WrestleMania ´Mania III]]'' simply stole the show. Yes, it was the same night Wrestling/HulkHogan slammed Wrestling/AndreTheGiant down on national TV!
** His ''Holy trilogy'' against "Slick Ric" for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship is remembered as one of the few long-term arcs that '''stills''' being a reference point for anyone interested on learning to watch and enjoy (Left aside ''to perform'') pro wrestling!

* {{Corpsing}}: In the profile for the Brisco Brothers (Jack and Jerry) in the book ''The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams,'' while discussing his and Jay Youngblood's matches with the Briscos, said, "You would not believe the number of times I had to stop from laughing. I'd be in the corner covering my mouth, but you could see my belly bouncing up and down."

* IHaveTheHighGround: Particularly known for his top rope ''crossbody'', a seemingly [[SoLastSeason outdated]] move which became a lot more popular in WWE when he came out of retirement to wrestle Wrestling/ChrisJericho.

* WrestlingFamily: His brother Vic was also a professional wrestler. His [[Wrestling/RichieSteamboat son]] is a wrestler in WWE's developmental territory of FCW.

** Starting with the franchise's [[VideoGame/MortalKombat2 second game]], Liu's attire begun to be every time more similar to that worn by Ricky.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/SgtSlaughter, [[Wrestling/DonMuraco, "Magnificent" Don Muraco]], [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]], Wrestling/RickRude, [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stunning" Steve Austin]] and Wrestling/ChrisJericho.

** His ''five stars'' match against [[Wrestling/RandySavage "Macho Man" Randy Savage]] at ''[[Wrestling/WrestleMania ´Mania III]]'' simply stole the show. Yes, it was the same night Wrestling/HulkHogan slammed Wrestling/AndreTheGiant down on national TV!

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/SgtSlaughter, Wrestling/DonMuraco, Wrestling/RickRude, [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stunning" Steve Austin]] and Wrestling/ChrisJericho
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: What he took to the ring in order to fight back Damien in his match against [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]] wasn't a "Komodo Dragon", but a baby crocodile.

* SignatureMove: Several:
** A lot of ''chop'' variants, prominently the ''Mongolian'' and top-rope ''Overhead'' ones. Also ''Kicks'', being his ''dropkick'' the most famous.
** ''Atomic drop-roll over'' and ''Arm drag-armbar'' transition combos.

** He also has a tendency to arch his back ''really'' high when he is dropped on it.

Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-tv.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Television Champion]], former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-tv.html WCW Television Champion]], former 5x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Tag Team Champion]] (3x with Wrestling/PaulJones, 1x with Dino Bravo and 1x with Jay Youngblood), former 6x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic/WCW) Tag Team Champion]] (5x with Jay Youngblood and 1x with Paul Jones), former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag-Team Champion]] (1x with [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]] and 1x with Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html NWA United States Heavyweight Champion]], former 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWF United States Heavyweight Champion]], former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-h.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Heavyweight Champion]], former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWF/E Intercontinental Champion]] and former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]]. He is been inducted into the George Tragos/Wrestling/LouThesz Professional Wrestling and to the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2009 as well as to the NWA Hall of Fame in 2012.

Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-tv.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Television Champion]], former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-tv.html WCW Television Champion]], former 5x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Tag Team Champion]] (3x with Wrestling/PaulJones, 1x with Dino Bravo and 1x with Jay Youngblood), former 6x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Tag Team Champion]] (5x with Jay Youngblood and 1x with Paul Jones), former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag-Team Champion]] (1x with [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]] and 1x with Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html NWA United States Heavyweight Champion]], former 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWF United States Heavyweight Champion]], former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-h.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Heavyweight Champion]] and former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]]. He is been inducted into the George Tragos/Wrestling/LouThesz Professional Wrestling and to the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2009 as well as to the NWA Hall of Fame in 2012.

* TheDreaded: This mild-mannered, soft spoken lifetime babyface manages to scare his heel opponents shitless. He's that good.

* {{Expy}}[=/=]LegacyCharacter: Of Sam Steamboat. Eddie Graham actually made him pass as his cousin.

* HopeSpot: In American Pro Wrestling, this trope is most commonly referred to as '''"The Rule of the Baby Face"''', referred after as '''"The Law of Steamboat"''' , credited after him. It states that even if all of your offensive power was completely ineffective, you'd always make sure to do something to at least let the people know you were still trying to win the match.

* SummonBiggerFish: He used a Komodo dragon to chase off Wrestling/JakeRoberts and his python Damien.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: ''SEVERAL'' ...how many ''Rock 'N Wrestling'' era performers have had the luxury of say such of themselves?

* MartialArtsHeadband: For show mostly when doing promos, he just wrestled with it on from '87 to '89.

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/ricky-steamboat-quotes

** ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series '87]]'': with "Macho Man", [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]], Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan and [[Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake]]. Managed by Wrestling/MissElizabeth.

** An ''Atomic drop-roll over'' and ''Arm drag-bar transition'' combos.

** But one maneuver highlights amongst the others, his ''Elevated double chicken-wing'' was so unique to him, even back in the day, that it is still a move you don't see too often outside the indy shows.

[[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rickysteamboat_3347.jpg]]

* CaptainErsatz: ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' '''Liu Kang'''... anyone? There's a very strong hint he was based on The Dragon, to the point of actually transforming into one.

* {{Expy}}[=/=]LegacyCharacter: Of Sam Steamboat.

* {{Flanderization}}: Originally nicknamed "The Dragon" due to his physical similarity to Creator/BruceLee. When he came back in 1991, he became an anthropomorphic dragon who breathed fire.

* IKnowKarate: Implied given his fighting style. The unfortunate implications of this is the old, tired cliché of AllAsiansKnowMartialArts, it came with the gimmick, though. [[{{Irony}} Oddly enough]], his style is more akin to a MaskedLuchador than to your average martial arts-based gimmick.

* LightningBruiser[=/=]PintSizedPowerhouse: At merely 5' 10''/230 lbs. he was both incredibly agile and strong.
* MartialArtsHeadband: For show mostly when doing promos, he rarely wrestled in it.
** MartialArtsUniform: Before the "human dragon" suit, he walked down the aisle wearing a karate ''gi'' jacket and the mythical ''Black Belt''.

** A lot of ''chop'' variants, prominently the ''Mongolian'' and top-rope ''Overhead'' ones.
** ''Kicks'' also, being his ''dropkick'' the most famous.

** An ''Atomic drop-roll over'' combo and the ''Sleeper hold.''

* SpiritualSuccessor: He may not be the first, but is the most well remembered "Martial-artist" wrestler in the last 50 years or so. Every performer from Wrestling/SteveBlackman to Wrestling/{{Glacier}} and even [[Wrestling/ChrisKanyon Mortis]] can trace their roots to him.

* {{Expy}}[=/=]LegacyCharacter: Of Sam Steamboat.

* [[AwesomeMcCoolName Awesome [=McCool=] Name]]: Just look above, the only reason he didn't use it when wrestling is that "Richard Blood" doesn't suit a career Face too well.

* TheDragon: His RedBaron.

* FinishingMove: Diving Crossbody.

* HopeSpot: In American Pro Wrestling, this trope is most commonly referred to as "the law of Steamboat" or "the rule of baby face" and then credited to Ricky Steamboat. Even if it was completely ineffective, he'd always make sure to do something to at least let people know he was still trying to win.
* IHaveTheHighGround: Particularly known for his top rope cross body, a seemingly [[SoLastSeason outdated]] move which became a lot more popular in WWE when he came out of retirement to wrestle Wrestling/ChrisJericho.
* LegacyCharacter: Of Sam Steamboat.

* LightningBruiser: He was both incredibly agile and incredibly strong.

* TheMaster

* SignatureMove: Chops and dropkicks. He also has a tendency to arch his back ''really'' high when he is dropped on it.

* SignatureMove: Chops and dropkicks.

* SignatureMove: Top rope cross body.