Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon
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DVD details
Actor: -Director: -
Brand: Uni
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 540 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-06-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Vivendi Entertainment
Product features:
- Ricky The Dragon Steamboat is one of the most legendary performers in the history of sports entertainment. The popular superstar made his name in the Carolina territory and went on to become a fan favorite in WCW and WWE. His battles with Ric Flair for the NWA Championship kept fans on the edge of their seats and his Intercontinental Championship match with Macho Man Randy Savage is considered by
DVD Reviews of Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon
DVD Review: From Being A "Blood" To A Hall Of Fame Career
Summary: 4 Stars
Finally, one of the most highly requested DVD sets of all time, in regards to a wrestling legend, has finally been released in regards to without a doubt one of the greatest inring performers & a man who never had to work as a heel thoughout his career because of how loved he was by the fans...a rarety in wrestling for as long as he's been in the business. You'll hear from various people throughout the presentation such as the various legends (Ric Flair, Jack & Gerald Brisco, Iron Sheik, Harley Race, Tony Atlas, Steve Kern, Roddy Piper, Bob Orton Jr., Gene Okerland, Jim Cornette, Jim Crockett, Barry Windham, Magnum T.A., Sgt. Slaughter, Dean Malenko, Jake Roberts, James J. Dillion, Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes, Don Muraco, Bret Hart) & current WWE talent (Edge, Chris Jericho, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, William Regal, Dustin "Goldust" Rhodes) and even a few new faces that we haven't heard from before (NWA referee Tommy Young, NWA booker George Scott, George "The Animal" Steele, and his son Richie Steamboat).
The documentry stars with Steamboat talking about where he really grew up at & how his father's job caused him to move all around the world. His early amature wrestling days along with his first exposure to professional wrestling is discussed before going into the story of how he ended up going to Verne Gagne's camp. The story behind his name being changed to Steamboat, his travels through various NWA territories, how Ric Flair went to bat for him, and how him not fully dedicating himself to the business stopped him from being a top star. His famous tag team with Jay Youngblood was heavily discussed as far as them being friends in & out of the ring along with their feuds with Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle along with the Briscos leading to their Starrcade match. Various elements of his initial WWE run is discussed such as how he gained the nickname "The Dragon", how he inspired so many current talents with his moves such as the armdrag (and the story of where he got it from), and highlights of his feud with Don Muraco & the infamous Jake Roberts DDT incident from Saturday Night's Main Event. WrestleMania III & the buildup to his match with Randy Savage was heavily talked about such as the throat injury, how both men wanted to steal the show at this event, and what happened afterwards at the WrestleMania party before going into why he lost the championship to Honky Tonk Man. The return to the NWA, his "good vs. evil" feud with Flair along with the trilogy of matches they had was heavily discussed next with the suprise of which match in that series was actually his favorite before getting into how the series ended with a bad taste in his mouth & what led to him leaving shortly afterwards. His short return to the WWE under "The Dragon" was briefly discussed with the big highlight being the story behind how he started breathing fire before going into why he left. Returning to WCW was talked about next starting with the story behind his debut night & how people felt his feud with Steve Austin was the first time Austin really got noticed before going into the details of his back injury & the reasoning behind his retirement. His private life after retirement is discussed next with Steamboat going into details of his outside business with his son before being brought back into wrestling as a "producer/agent", going into the Hall Of Fame, his comeback in 2009 & how most people feel that he still better than most people younger than him, and his son's venture into wrestling close out the documentry.
DVD extras include bonus stories include Ricky Steamboat talking about how he bought his first car & drove it home backwards, Mike Graham talking about his first meeting with Richard Blood, the story behind Steamboat forgetting his new name, Steve Lombardi (Brooklyn Brawler) remember Steamboat's first WWE match, Chris Jericho telling the story of the one question he asked Steamboat the first time he met him, William Regal talking about how him watching a Flair/Steamboat match caused him to not be able to walk for around 2 weeks, and bonus promos & vigenttes including a hidden one with Ricky doing a "Say No To Drugs" PSA.
Bonus Matches Include:
w/Jay Youngblood vs. NWA Tag Team Champions Brisco Brothers - A pure classic old school tag team match between four great workers...nothing else needs to be said.
Starrcade '83
["Starrcade: The Essential Collection" & "Most Powerful Families In Wrestling"]
vs NWA Champion Ric Flair - All I can say after viewing this match is that Ric Flair calls himself the "60 minute man" for a reason & this perfectly showcases why. This was a match where they wrestled a calculated pace that didn't rely on "spots" or anything "hardcore" but just straight wrestling to keep the crowd entertained...a lost classic in the series between Steamboat & Flair.
Steamboat & Matt Striker do commentary during this match and talk about various subjects like Steamboat training in the AWA, his 2009 return, the art of in-ring storytelling, veterans helping out the younger talent back in the day, how Flair capturing the NWA Title convinced him that he could be a World Champion too, and his dream matches.
Boogie Jam '84
(Commentary with Ricky Steamboat & Matt Striker)
vs. Cowboy Bob Orton - This was during the period where Bob Orton was wearing the cask on his "injured" arm so that was Steamboat's focus as he heavily worked it over with various armbars & constant wrenching of it which kept him in control for most of the match to the point where Orton has to resort to throwing soda in Steamboat's eyes to get control but overall, this was a good exibition for Steamboat.
July '85
Lumberjack Match vs. Don Muraco - For the rare people who haven't seen a lumberjack match, the rules are that wrestlers surround the ring and their job is to throw a superstar back into the ring whenever they would go outside of it. As expected, Muraco tried to escape various times early in the match only to be tossed back in. Muraco worked over Steamboat's left shoulder with nerve holds & a shoulderbreaker. There was a very funny moment when Muraco tried to escape out of the ring via the ramp only for the group of babyfaces to pick him up & toss him back in. Bob Orton did get involved in the match but it ended up backfiring on Orton leading to Steamboat winning this very entertaining match.
Sept. '85
vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Roberts showed early on that they he had Steamboat scouted so well that he was able to counter & avoid the attacks that were sterotypical of Steamboat before Steamboat was able to finally catch Roberts. At one point, Steamboat missed a chop & ended up hitting the ringpost which hurt his arm & wrist which Roberts then worked on before Steamboat got very angry & took the fight outside by ramming Jake into the barrier & headfirst into the table. In the end, Jake Roberts used the referee to avoid a Steamboat attack before that ended up coming back to cost him the match.
"Boston Garden" Aug. '86
vs. Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage - Let's be honest here, I can try to summerize this match but words wouldn't do it justice & what hasn't been said about this match that hasn't been said for over 20 years. This was the match that stole the show at WrestleMania III, this was the match that was an inspiration to so many wrestlers today like Chris Jericho, and is still known as one of the greatest matches of all time.
We get a special treat with this edition of this match as there is alternative commentary with Steamboat & Striker as they talked about various subjects such as the backstory of this match infront of the camera & behind the scenes along with which current superstars he feels can make it to his level of performance.
WrestleMania III
(Alternative Commentary By Ricky Steamboat & Matt Striker)
["Best Of Intercontinental Championship", "Macho Madness: The Ultimate Randy Savage Collection", "WrestleMania III: Championship Edition"]
NWA Championship/2 Out Of 3 Falls Match vs. Ric Flair - This was the second match of their classic 1989 trilogy of matches and despite the first match being the one where Steamboat wins the World Championship and the third match being the most praised match amongst wrestling fans & critics, this match was Steamboat's personal favorite. Steamboat began working on Flair's head with a side headlock & got a few near falls off that move before both men traded moves back & forth until the first fall was scored around 20 mins. into the match. Flair took the fight right to Steamboat in the second fall by taking it to the outside at one point by throwing Steamboat into the ralling twice & slamming him onto the floor before getting back into the ring & doing a very unique pinning combination that Terry Funk best described as a "Oklahoma Crossbody Ride" before Steamboat was able to recover & apply a variation of the chicken wing to win the second fall in 34 mins. Flair having a heavy focus on the legs in the third fall as the intensity & pace heavily picked up between both men in the third fall before a controversal finish that led the door open for the third & final encounter but this was classic quality.
"Clash Of The Champions" Apr. '89
[Ultimate Ric Flair Collection]
vs. United States Champion Lex Luger - This was suppost to be a No DQ match but Luger demanded that stipulation would be changed which Steamboat agreed. Steamboat used his speed to get an early advantage while Luger used his power & heavily worked over Steamboat's back with various slams. They went back & forth here before Luger brought in a chair & tried to use it only for it to backfire which made Steamboat lose his temper & assault Luger with the chair from the ring all the way up the entrance ramp. Although Luger has a bad reputation for being one of the most overpushed wrestlers in history...this was when Luger was in his prime & could carry his own weight as the match is a step down for the Steamboat/Flair classics that dominated the NWA for the first half of the year but each wrestler held their own & again, the cheap ending didn't take away from the match itself.
Great American Bash '89
w/Dustin Rhodes vs. WCW Tag Team Champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyzsko) - This was originally suppost to be Rhodes & Barry Windham going for the tag team titles but due to Windham's hand being injured, this left the door open for Steamboat to return to WCW as Rhodes mystery partner. The Enforcers were completely caught off guard and just couldn't get it together in the early part of the match leaving Dustin & Ricky to focus on Larry's arm & dominate before The Enforcers were able to get back in the game by doing constant double teaming. The match was very entertaining with the suprise of Steamboat capturing a championship on his first night back.
"Clash Of The Champions" Nov. '91
Ironman Match vs. Rick Rude - For those who don't know what an Ironman match is, this was a 30 minute match with the man who scores the most decisions (pin/submission/countout/DQ) in that time limit wins the match and it should also be noted during this time that WCW had a rule that you would be disqualified if you came off the top rope onto your opposition. Steamboat went right after Rude's ribs right off the bat with various kicks & chops along with various moves such as a gutbuster, a modified abdominal stretch with his knees into Rude's ribs, and a Boston Crab. Steamboat's stragegy worked as Rude's ribs were heavily injured for the rest of the match which showed when he did the Rude Awakening but had the move hurt himself in the process which led to Rude being desprate by at one point doing a top rope move which caused him to lose a fall by DQ just to hurt Steamboat more only to get a fall right back in his favor. Steamboat defined the phrase "fighting until the every end" towards the final seconds in the match as the last 30 seconds was one of the most intense moments during that period of WCW as the whole match IMO was simply a lost classic.
Beach Blast '92
No Disqualification Match vs. WCW Television Champion Steve Austin - This was a spinoff of the previous feud with Rick Rude as Steamboat went against a fellow member & the other single's champion of the Dangerous Alliance stable in a young Steve Austin. Going into this match, Steamboat had ribs that were injured in a tag match against "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, this was had a No DQ stipulation, and Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) was locked in a small cage & raised above the ring so he couldn't get invovled. Steamboat worked over Austin's head early with a headlock while taunting Dangerously before Austin targeted his ribs with slams & an abdominal stretch later on. They traded momentum throughout the match including a series of reversing the tombstone piledriver before Steamboat was able to take advantage of the No DQ rule by coming off the top rope to finally gain the WCW Television Championship in what would be the first in a long term series of matches against Austin for the rest of his WCW career over the Tag Teams & United States championships. It should be noted though that there was a small edit during this match as there was a moment where the announcers were heavily focused on advertising a poll they were doing on the WCW Hotline during the broadcast including putting the number on the screen for around a minute so that part is edited out of the match.
Steamboat & Striker did alternative commentary on this match as well discussing various subjects such as how Austin had "it", how he came up with the "skin the cat" move, and describing his flying crossbody block.
"Clash Of The Champions" Sept. '92
(Alternative Commentry With Ricky Steamboat & Matt Striker)
vs. Chris Jericho - After Steamboat's performance against Jericho being one of the top highlights of WrestleMania, he get an official singles match here between the two Chris Jericho. Just like WrestleMania, Steamboat looks like he didn't miss a step for being retired for 15 years. Solid match from beginning to end with both men playing off each other well. A great performance for any past fan of Steamboat & a great treat for those who are too young to see Steamboat in action during his time.
Backlash '09
In the end, I had to say that I was a bit disappointed with the documentry as it was only a little over an hour and did miss various points of his career such as his WCW feud against Rick Rude (which only got one line) while others like his feud with Roberts were focused on the DDT on the concrete but didn't really mention anything else about the feud such as involving their own set of animals such as Steamboat's lizard but overall they did a good job of covering his personal life along with the biggest feuds of his career against Randy Savage & Ric Flair. Outside of wanting to see a tag match match with Shane Douglas (gaining the titles against Windham & Rhodes or losing them to the Hollywood Blondes), the matches I can't really complain about because each one was quality in it's own right along with the fact that most of these matches haven't been previously released as I'm very pleased that a match from his feud against Rick Rude & against Austin for the TV title have finally made their way to DVD so this is definately a set that wasn't perfect but worth the wait & I recommend.
Description of Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon
Ricky ?The Dragon? Steamboat is one of the most legendary performers in the history of sports entertainment. The popular superstar made his name in the Carolina territory and went on to become a fan favorite in WCW and WWE. His battles with Ric Flair for the NWA Championship kept fans on the edge of their seats and his Intercontinental Championship match with ?Macho Man? Randy Savage is considered by many the greatest match in WrestleMania annals. Now for the first time ever on DVD, fans can relive the career of Ricky Steamboat. This 3-DVD set has a biographical documentary feature on Steamboat?s life, as well as some of the biggest matches of his career .Bestsellers in DVD
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