Rock Region, Los Angeles Subregion, First Round:(8)Ricky Steamboat vs.(25) A. Del Rio

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the Rock Region, Los Angeles Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Target Center in Los Angeles, California.

#8. Ricky Steamboat

Vs.

#25. Alberto Del Rio

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[SSJPhenom]

This might sound like a joke but ADR has a chance here. Multiple time WHC and WWE Champion. United States Champion and IC Champion. And has beaten some fairly big names in the business including John Cena.

Idk which way to go. I could see an argument for both.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Alberto Del Rio's accomplishments seem to outweight those of Ricky Steamboat's.

However Del Rio became the WWE Champion during a period where WWE were desperate for new stars. Remember who were the stars of RAW back then? Cena, Punk, Del Rio, Miz and R-Truth. Talk about competition. I also cannot count Del Rio's WH Championship reigns as world title reigns. Del Rio became WH champion during a time when the title meant nothing. Del Rio just wasn't world champion material. He's great though, for the US and IC Championships. He would have made a great IC champ back then.

Ricky Steamboat was another career midcarder. However he became more of that. He was an amazing wrestler. 4 5-star matches prove that. He might have only held a world title once and for only 76 days, but you could say that he had paid his dues and desered that one reign. Steamboat also had something Del Rio never did: fan connection.

Del Rio, to me, is just somone that got pushed to soon, too quickly. He would have been much more, but WWE blew it.

You can't change the past though so for now, I'm leaning torwards Steamboat, until maybe another poster will change my mind.

Also, Steamboat will provide us with much more exciting matches down the road and is someone I can picture pulling a big upset. Del Rio.. not so much.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

This match has potential to be a very solid match. Steamboat would play the pure babyface, Del Rio the dastardly heel. I think Steamboat would win with a rollup after Del Rio missed one of his signature kicks.

Del Rio has the title edge, but most of his title reigns are very forgettable, and most of his bigger wins game in gimmick matches. Steamboat had the misfortune of being in his prime during the Hogan era, when most guys hit a glass ceiling. Had Hogan not been around, who knows what Ricky could have accomplished. Steamboat also had more memorable matches, so like I said, I think he takes it.

 

[NSL]

This might sound like a joke but ADR has a chance here. Multiple time WHC and WWE Champion. United States Champion and IC Champion. And has beaten some fairly big names in the business including John Cena.

Idk which way to go. I could see an argument for both.

Steamboat has his fair share of title wins too, including the NWA belt when it still mattered, and the IC, US, and TV titles. He also holds wins over big time opponents like Savage and Roberts.

I know Del Rio is better than most give him credit for, and I liked seeing him in Lucha Underground, but I don't think he could realistically beat Steamboat at his best. It would be a great fucking match, and very back and forth with some cool false finishes, but Steamboat gets his hand raised in the end.

 

[nightmare]

Steamboat has had a more memorable career. Del Rio has some belts and big wins to his name, but it does not really measure up. Hell, the biggest pop I remember him ever getting is when he came back to beat Cena when we all knew John was having to leave. He did very well in AAA and LU, but has fizzled since his return.


Steamboat had legendary matches with Flair and Savage. The guy is solid and one of the best face wrestlers ever. I see Alberto making a mistake and Ricky taking him out.

 

[enviousdominous]

Sometimes we have to ponder one of our old favorites before they reached a horribly emaciated physical state, and sometimes those old favorites stay in incredible shape for their age and we can keep marking out for them.

Ricky Steamboat stole the show at WrestleMania 25, 22 years after his epic encounter with Randy Savage. Alberto Del Rio has been desperately trying to accomplish anything noteworthy in his entire WWE run, losing Roberto Rodriguez didn't help his ability to get over either. Alberto got a nice win over Cena, but that win was quickly diminished after suffering (I think) three losses to Kalisto.

I could see Ricky Steamboat as he is today beating Alberto Del Rio as he was in his prime, vote Ricky Steamboat.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

This would be a highly entertaining match, in my opinion, as despite the sometimes overwhelming hate ADR gets, he's still quite strong inside the ring. We all know Steamboat can go as he's hailed as one of the best in-ring guys of all time. Neither guy is much on the mic, neither guy is especially charismatic apart from various mannerisms and expressions. Steamboat is a high flyer, Del Rio is a grappler and both have pretty good striking games. Both have scored big wins and won some big championships, though Steamboat has to get the advantage there due to the length of his career and some of the guys he beat like Flair and Savage.

I'm not really sure which way I'll go as, despite what some might want to believe, Del Rio has a real shot here. If he can go over John Cena clean, I see no reason why he can't go over Steamboat. I know it's fashionable to vote for Steamboat and I won't be at all surprised if he wins it here due to the nostalgia vote, but I'm leaning more towards Del Rio here as Steamboat isn't someone who had such overwhelming star power that it's ludicrous to even consider Del Rio could go over. I'm not just going to vote for Steamboat just because it's the fashionable thing to do given that he'll have the popularity on his side.

 

[NSL]

If he can go over John Cena clean, I see no reason why he can't go over Steamboat.

Del Rio's win over Cena, while Cena was on the way out, doesn't compare to Steamboat beating Savage, on the biggest stage, in what is often referred to as the greatest match of all-time.

I agree the match would be highly entertaining, and the build would be phenomenal, but this is a match Ricky wins in a main-event big match tournament setting.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Big ADR fan, and what this is gonna be, is a barn burner.

Cracker of a match and Ricky wins off the small package.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

People keeps saying this would be a good match and it would be technically very sound, but both these guys need someone extremely charismatic to bounce off of for the crowd to believe it: Del Rio's best work has come versus Cena, Punk and Christian. Steamboat's with Flair, Savage and Steve Austin. Neither of these two has that sort of charisma and thus the crowd would likely be lulled to sleep by such an outing.

In the end we've got to balance the facts here: one man has been involved in some of the best matches of all time, the other has not. One man is considered by his peers to be at the very pinnacle of wrestling talent, the other is not. One man is a bona-fide legend (in spite of his shortcomings), the other isn't. Its Steamboat's here all day everyday.

 

[Sean Valjean]

From a pure wrestling standpoint, this has the potential to be a real clinic. Interestingly enough, I always thought Del Rio's 2013 face run had shades of Steamboat as he was tearing it up with anyone and everyone and was as close to a pure hero as could be. However, there's no way Del Rio isn't heel here. And that's his downfall.

Steamboat is the ultimate face and heel Del Rio tends to lose big matches against big faces. Del Rio would turn up the viciousness to about 11 as is his custom, but would ultimately fall to Steamboat's triumphant comeback. This would be a great back and forth match though that I'd genuinely like to see.

 

[OYDK]

The saying "he can put on a 4 star match with a broomstick" was created for Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. Steamboat has pulled 4 star matches out of guys like Lex Luger, HTM, and Don friggin Muraco. At the height of his popularity, Steamboat was beating Ric Flair, Terry Funk, and Randy Savage. I would argue that Steamboat's one NWA title is worth more than all 4 of ADR's World titles combined given the context and the fact that two of ADR's title reigns were with a second rate, second tier, "World Heavyweight Championship".

Steamboat in his prime, with everything taken into account would not lose to the heel Del Rio in the first round of any tournament.

EDIT: Wow, wasn't expecting such a squash though.

 

[Tastycles]

I can understand why Steamboat is winning, but I really don't think he should be. Steamboat was better in the ring and certainly had more classic matches, but his career is defined by beating Flair in the first of a series of classic matches and Savage in the last of a series of classic matches. The fact is, he failed to win a lot more of those classic matches than he did win.

A similar story is true for Del Rio, but he has twice defeated John Cena to win championships and has spent a much greater portion of his career at the top of the card than Steamboat ever did. I get why the voting has gone the way it has, but I think if people considered things subjectively, they'd get an alternative conclusion.