ECW Toronto, Round 2, Match 3: #6 Ricky Steamboat vs. #38 Killer Kowalski

[Shocky]

The following match takes place in the ECW Region, under Extreme Rules. From Toronto, ON.

#6. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

vs.

#38. Killer Kowalski

​

 

[klunderbunker]

Dragon will get the shit kicked out of him, then make his comeback and win. It's what he's famous for and he'd do it here. Kowalski was great, but Steamboat is in the top ten of all time at worst. Dragon moves on.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The Dragon's a legend. So is Kowalski. The Killer has trained HHH, but he simply can't overcome the offense of the Dragon. Too much high flying for KK, and the Dragon will move on. Crossbody off the top rope finishes Kowalski in the tournament.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Steamboat is, arguably, the best all around pro wrestler in history. He had some power, he was very quick and agile and could go hold for hold with anybody. Kowalski was a rough, tough, stiff heel that could brawl with anybody.

This is a tough call for me, but I'm going to give it to Kowalski. I know he probably won't make it past this round, but..I mean...the guy handed Andre the Giant his first loss in North America. He beat Andre the Giant when Andre was in his prime. Steamboat couldn't do that.

 

[ZEUS]

The Dragon takes this one. I doubt that Kowalski could handle his wide range of offense, especially the speed and technical brilliance that Steamboat possessed. Kowlski would get some good offense in, and because it is ECW rules could score the win, but I think The Dragon has the edge here. Score another one for The Dragon.

 

[Tenta]

Mark my words here.... If Ricky Steamboat wins here, he's going to go all the way to face Shawn Michaels in the final four for this bracket. And quite frankly, I find his resume to be better than Shawn's.

Anyway, let's just take a long look at the legends that happen to be on Ricky Steamboat's list:

Ric Flair, The Iron Sheik, Ivan Koloff, Paul Orndorff, Steve Austin (yes, before he was Stone Cold), Jake Roberts.... And do I really need to throw out this little treasure right now....

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You know, I'm not completely sure about this, so don't jump down my throat if I'm wrong. But I believe that Ricky Steamboat is the lowest seed to have cleanly defeated two #1 seeds in this tournament.

I think the choice is fairly obvious here. Steamboat here. Steamboat to the elite eight. Steamboat to possibly upset Shawn Michaels.... Which would make for quite the interesting rematch in the Finals for a certain rattlesnake... Hmm....

 

[Tastycles]

Kowalski was a big power guy who would really sock it to Steamboat, but I think if a 60 year old Steamboat can look credible now, then in his prime he'd have been able to soak up the power pressure from Kowalski and eventually go over him.

There aren't very many people that I would have beating Kowalski with ease, but Steamboat is one of them, Kowalski would hit a few moves before Steamboat took over.

 

[Ptd]

I was the only one so far to go for the underdog, and I voted Kowalski. Don't get me wrong, I love Steamboat and think he is one hell of a worker, but this is ECW. Killer had a lot of strength that I'm sure he could use well to his advantage with weapons.

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Watch the strength Kowalski puts forth in this match against Gagne. Keep in mind the match if from 1953, so you need to adjust yourself to that era, then you can appreciate the amount of strength he displays in the match.

Vote killer.

 

[NSL]

Ricky wins this one, but it will definitely be a match for the ages. There's a good mix of styles, and this would be one of the ECW classics that requires no weapons, no rule breaking, and no interference. This one stays in the ring, and silences the crowd with amazement.

 

[Shocky]

I'm probably one of those guys that simply isn't old enough to fully understand and/or appreciate everything that Kowalski has done for the business. It's simply hard to properly contextualize his career. Ricky Steamboat on the otehr hand is one of the better pure baby faces of all time,a nd this is a custom Steamboat match. He gets beat up by the bigger nastier heel, yet in the end does something that puts the babyface over clean.