Old matches can be fun to watch for so many reasons, the least of which is how they fit into This Day in Wrestling History. There were so many awesome wrestlers we may not know a lot about because they weren’t in the WWE and we didn’t see them. Or we only saw them occasionally due to scheduling conflicts or availabilities of local television stations. Some of us were lucky enough to be introduced to our favorites through the WWE and are able to now learn more about them and watch their old matches.
Ricky Steamboat’s legend
One of those is a personal favorite, Ricky Steamboat. Before and between his WWE tenures as “The Dragon,” he’d had a highly successful career in the AWA (American Wrestling Alliance) and NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) where he won numerous championships. But none were more prestigious in the grand scheme of things than the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) World Heavyweight Championship.
The NWA is the oldest of the wrestling promotions with its origins dating back to 1948. Their championship, whether it’s Ten Pounds of Gold or the Big Gold Belt (as used in Jim Crockett Promotions that became the WCW championship belt), there’s a legacy with it that carries more weight than any other championship.
On February 20, 1989, it was Ricky Steamboat’s turn to win the title at NWA’s Chi-Town Rumble.
Winning this championship was the ultimate goal, and it led to some of the greatest matches in history, and Steamboat and Flair didn’t disappoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJF12vIbCEk&t=13s
Despite meeting several times for the championship, this is Steamboat’s only time he won the championship.
Since he entered the world of professional wrestling in 1976, Steamboat was one of the most polished wrestlers, exhibiting his amazing ability in the ring and made nearly every match one of, if not the best of the night.
From the beginning, he had a career long rivalry with Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic Television Championship (later became the WCW Television Championship) and the United States Championship, where some of the most memorable moment happened, like Flair dragging Steamboat’s face across the floor in an early match.
After leaving the NWA for the WWE in 1985, Steamboat had a decent career, with the highlight being part of one of the best WrestleMania matches against Randy Savage in WrestleMania 3.
Winning NWA’s World Heavyweight Championship
Ricky Steamboat returned to the NWA and he and Flair’s rivalry picked up where it let off ten years earlier.
With their feud going from championship to championship, it was only right that this time they’d focus on the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
One month into his NWA return, Steamboat faced Flair at the NWA sponsored Chi-Town Rumble. The match was one of the decade’s best and lasted for over twenty minutes. When the dust settled, Ricky Steamboat stood victorious with his first, and unfortunately only, world championship.
While Steamboat’s title reign would only last 76 days, it highlighted one of professional wrestling’s greatest feuds between two of the all-time greats. It was not only a testament to Steamboat and Flair’s skills as wrestlers and entertainers, but it also covered every championship (aside from the tag team’s) in the NWA.
As an added bonus, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat credit each other for being their best opponent, and their matches are clinics on what great wrestling should look like. Even better, they have remained good friends all of these years. If you have the chance, give their matches a watch. You won’t regret it. They definitely made plenty of this day in history moments.
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