Without Ricky Steamboat...

[IrishCanadian25]

Without Ricky Steamboat, there would be no Chris Jericho, Christian, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Lance Storm, Shawn Michaels.

Fact. Take it to the bank, friends. Without Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, their would be no place in pro wrestling for the names I listed. More specifically, without Steamboat's win at WrestleMania 3.

As I am sure you've guessed, I say this because it was Steamboat who (along with Savage's help) changed the landscape of professional wrestling forever, making it possible for smaller sized wrestlers to get over and become top drawing champions. Every professional wrestler under 6 feet tall and under 240 lbs owes Steamboat a debt of gratitude.

Don't get me wrong - the "little guys" would still have existed. But Shawn Michaels would have been stuck in a tag team or a mid-card role, Rey would have stayed in Mexico with the rest of the ECW and WCW imports, and Jericho would not have put his mind to training as a wrestler. Remember, it took Jericho asking Ricky at an autograph session "How big are you?" to make Jericho realize he wanted to be and could be a professional wrestler.

Dispute this fact, if you must, but without Steamboat, we're watching a different product than we are today.

 

[klunderbunker]

I could go with this. Savage was about the same size but wrestled an entirely different style. He wrestled like a heavyweight, much like a Jericho, minus the submissions. Steamboat like a lightweight. I watched that match again on Tuesday, and it easily holds up today. They showed how a guy can switch styles as Savage wrestled a faster style than he was used to, and Steamboat hung with a guy that was a heavyweight and there was a classic. I never even thought of Steamboat as a small guy, which is a compliment to him. He made people overlook it. That's almost impossible to do. That match and Steamboat broke a lot of molds, and there would be a different wrestling world today if he hadn't.

 

[Mr. TM]

Eh, it is hard to tell, I think that Ricky Steamboat had an amazing impact on professional wrestling. I am not sure if he opened the doors for little wrestlers into the main companies like WWE, nor do I think he created a wrestling scene for smaller guys. He was largely influential in the use of more little guys perhaps, but at the same time, there were already wrestlers who had made it big without being giants. Ric Flair was a small framed wrestler who was huge in the time period, yet in another company. If you are refering to Paul Heyman bringing in the wrestlers with smaller frames into ECW, I think that was more Heyman's view of wrestling in Japan and Mexico, and the fact that these wrestlers could be seen as entertainment.

Jericho did state, I believe in his book, that is was Steamboat that got him started. Well that is just Jericho, but I am ssure that Benoit, Storm, Mysterio, and others were all still destined to become wrestlers, and achieve the fame that they have. If anything, Steamboat may have inspired Jericho, and whoever Jericho has inspired. I will not give credit for much else to Steamboat.

 

[pyrusane]

I became a wrestling fan because of Steamboat, and specifically his feud with Savage leading up to WM3. Prior to that all I knew about wrestling was Hulk Hogan's Rock n Wrestling cartoon on Saturday mornings. But I decided to watch a WWF show one day because of that cartoon, and what still stands out in my mind, 22 years later, was a match between Savage and George the Animal Steele. They showed footage several times during the match of Savage crushing Steamboat's larynx with the ring bell. I was only like 10 or 11 at the time, so I bought this completely. (This was the 80's, remember, no internet, and kayfabe was in full force). Near the end of the match, Savage grabs the ring bell and goes to do the same thing to Steele. Out of nowhere, a fan jumps out of the crowd, rushes the ring, and starts tearing into Savage. It was, of course, Steamboat. I was an instant fan. I had never seen anything like that before.

Sure, these days I would expect it, its exactly how you would expect to see an angle play out leading up to a pay-per-view, but at the time, watching my very first non-NWA wrestling show...I was amazed. And from that moment on, I was a Steamboat fan...

 

[Shocky]

No, not at all. The Intercontinental title always started out with the "best wrestler" holding the title. Those guys were always a tad bit smaller then the heavyweights fighting over the WWF championship. Ricky Steamboat was just another guy that fit the mold of guys like Valentine or Savage, even Tito Santana. The Harts and the Bulldogs were tearing it up in the tag ranks as well. If anyone deserves credit, it is Savage first, for his entire careers body of work.

If Savage opened the door, then the guys that broke the door down were Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Hart and Michaels have more to do with the success of smaller wrestlers holding the World titles in the WWF then Ricky Steamboat, and I don't even think that is an arguable point.

If anything, Steamboat is probably the biggest contributor to the Smark effect of professional wrestling. While people paid to see Hogan and Andre, and most everyone remembers that match, the Smark effect was born with everyone and their mother insisting that Steamboat and Savage was the greatest match ever (I'm not disputing it's a great match). It's a shame, because it is a great match, but everyone measures a great match based on this match.