Best Two- Ricky Steamboat

[Marquis]

I will attempt to pick up where IC left off with his genius "Best Two" threads. I have a couple of best twos in mind, and decided to start off with Ricky Steamboat.

Ricky Steamboat has always been one of my favorite wrestlers. One of the all time greatest in-ring wrestlers. He has had a ton of good matches, but doesn't have too many spectacular matches in my opinion. Maybe due to the fact that he consistently puts on good matches it makes it hard to choose which stand out more then the others. Although it was hard, i managed to narrow down Ricky's great list of matches to two.

Ricky Steamboat Vs. Randy Savage, WreslteManiaIII

Great match. This match is Probably overshadowed by the rest of the matches on the card, but to me it was the best match on the WMIII card. Great back and forth match. I had a hard time choosing between this match, and his match with Austin at Clash of the Champions, but in the end i felt this match was slightly better. Due to fact that it was a showdown between two of the finest in-ring wrestlers and legends in the business.

[Youtube]Bmr8ZBOFKEM[/Youtube]

[Youtube]EkI_1Q-vFAA&feature=related[/Youtube]

Ricky Steamboat VS. Ric Flair, Music City Showdown

Definitely one of my top 3 favorite matches of all time. These two have had a couple of encounters, but this one no doubt stood out the most to me out of all of their encounters. From beginning to end this match was absolutely fantastic. Flair displayed great in ring psychology while Ricky did some of the best selling I've seen. Both men went at it non stop as if they had an unlimited amount of stamina. Sound technical wrestling along with some good spots only adds to how great this match was. The finish to the match though is hands down my favorite part. Never saw it coming.

So now i ask you. What matches do you consider Steamboat's best two?

 

[MattMoses]

For the sake of repetition, I won't bother with posting his matches with Flair or Savage, though I do feel they were his best opponents. While I do feel Steamboat was a tremendous worker, his in-ring work is overshadowed by his trilogy with Flair, perhaps rightly so. I had five or six matches in mind to post here and it took a while to narrow them down, but here they are.

Bret Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat

This would rank as my favourite Steamboat match outside of Flair/Savage, and probably my favourite Bret singles match from the 80's. I love the pacing here, and the momentum shifts were timed brilliantly. As you'd imagine, both men sold great, and I really like the finish with the ref bump. This match made people pay attention to how great Bret was and would eventually become as a singles star.

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u8r_lYoEwaY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u8r_lYoEwaY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fwfhNQtcXyE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fwfhNQtcXyE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Ricky Steamboat vs. "Stunning" Steve Austin - Clash of the Champions XXVIII for the US Title

Austin and Steamboat had a series of matches in 1994, this one being the best. This match showcases the best of both men's agility, speed and technical skill. The psychology here is top-notch, especially with Austin using the surroundings to his advantage at every opportunity. This match always kept my full attention with how well paced it was and the crowd being really into it. This is one of the most underrated matches of both mens careers, and without a doubt Austin at his best in WCW.

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yfq5ONhiBGw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yfq5ONhiBGw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rxkKM7vShY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rxkKM7vShY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

 

[Mr. TM]

Very interesting person to throw at us here. Ricky has been an icon, and a lot of his great matches has been outside of the WWE. Though his best match happened inside the WWE Brand, and that was of course:

Ricky "The Dragon" Dreamboat vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Wrestlemania III
Intercontinetal Championship

Most cinsider it one of the best matches of all times. Smooth like butter, at times faster than lightning and caught your eyes like fire flies, these men jumped all around the ring, and had false finishes after finishes. The star of the biggest Pay Per View of all times, the spotlight may have been on the main event, but I know that this match was special in its own rights.

I tried to youtube it for reference, but I cannot find it.
Wahoo McDaniel vs Ricky Steamboat
US title

Now I haven't seen this match in years, but I know it has to exist somewhere at my parents house. It was one of my first matches I ever saw of Ricky's, I found it around the time he was getting ready to leave wrstling, because I wanted to know more about him. I had totally forgotten about this match, then I watched a Wahoo McDaniel video on Youtube, and remembered the two of them fighting. I am sure that is the night that Steamboat lost the title, and went on to become a massive face. I pick the match due to the fact that is was one of the first matches of his I remember so I cherrish it.

 

[FlairFan2003]

My only problem w/ Steamboat/Savage is the story surrounding the actual physical match, that Savage literally made Steamboat come to house and practice the match move for move before WM. Supposedly he did the same thing for WM with Flair and Curt Henning. The best workers are not onlty great athletes and great at selling their opponents they are great at calling matches on the fly, responding to the crowd and movingthe crowd in a certain direction.

Therefore I'd pick Steamboat/Flair from Feb 89 (Steamboat wins the title) and the best of three falls, 54 minute Clash Of Champions re-match from April 89 as his two best. Watching that Clash match and knowing that nothing other than the finishes was worked out ahead of time is absolutley mind boggling. An awesome performance.