Ricky the Dragon Steamboat [Eclectik-style] aka Dick Blood aka Sam Steamboat Jr aka “The Dragon” is 59 years old today.

He was born Richard Blood. Billed as born in Honolulu Hawaii, Richard was actually born in West Point, New York in 1953. His professional wrestling career is long and filled with championship titles of many levels. Over the course of his life as a fighter in the spotlight he wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance/Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment), and for World Championship Wrestling.

Steamboat was inducted into the WWE HALL OF FAME in 2009.  His likeness and character have been immortalized in action figure and video game forms.

As with all professional wrestlers who gain popularity and noteriety, Steamboat became involved in his share of feuds with other fellow wrestlers.

The most of famous of the rivalries included (but are not limited to):

• against Randy “Macho Man” Savage which began with “the ring bell incident” and culminated  at WrestleMania III in 1987,
• against Jake “The Snake” Roberts (Damien vs. the Komodo Dragon on WWF’s Saturday Night’s Main Event) that had originated during their the MAC Wrestling stints in the late 70’s,
• against Ric Flair in the NWA, then later in WCW. This feud lasted for years, with plenty of hour-long and iron man matches. It eventually exploded at the Chi-Town Rumble in 1989.

Steamboat also had several memorable matches and feuds with “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Don “Magnificent” Muraco & Mr. Fuji (highlighted by this gruesome hanging), Harley Race and several others.

Steamboat also formed a great tag team with Jay Youngblood in the early 1980’s for Jim Crockett Promotions, capturing the NWA tag titles six times as a team.

Steamboat ass kicking montage

Steamboat’s WWE Hall of Fame video & induction speech

In June of 2010 a lot of the classic WWF stars including Steamboat got decimated by the upstart group called The Nexus

It appeared as if Steamboat had been seriously injured, unable to move or get up off the mat as Nexus walked away from the ring leaving the trail of legends behind.  What actually happened was a capillary in his brain burst as a result of the beating.  He recovered but it took time and his long term health was definitely in question while he was in the hospital.

As a wrestler, his finishing move was the Flying Bodypress.  His favorite moves during his matches are the Dragon Armdrag, Leaping Judo Chop, Knife Edge Chop, BodySlam, and Heel Kick.  As of the writing of this article The Dragon is a producer for WWE.  His decades of experience and knowledge of the professional wrestling industry makes him an invaluable resource to the current hotshot superstars of the WWE.

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JD is a new contributor to ColdSlitherPodcast.com. He is also the co-host of the General Geekery Cast, a show for geeks by geeks. JD is also an aficionado of GI Joe toys and creates some kick-ass custom action figures. Follow JD on twitter at @NFCJD.