Ricky Steamboat Talks WWE Status, Ric Flair, and More

As we previously reported, Ricky Steamboat is still with WWE, despite previous reports of his release. The confusion generated from Steamboat being booked for independent wrestling promotions, which led some insiders and people within WWE to believe he was released.

“The Dragon” recently spoke with Mike Mooneyham of The Post and Courier. The two discussed many topics in regards to Steamboat’s career, in addition to his WWE status.

Steamboat, who surprisingly never worked as a heel in his runs in the industry, talked about suggesting the idea to Pat Patterson:

“I cannot come up with a main-event name who throughout their career didn’t work as a heel or a face at some point. Not that I didn’t try. Pat simply told me that it would probably ruin my career. I just wanted to experience what it felt like on the other side of the fence. As we all know, the heels have the most fun out there in the ring.”

“When you are a face for a long time and you turn heel, your stock value immediately goes up, especially if you’re able to pull it off in the ring and on the mic. Then you ride that horse as long as you can. When it starts to falter, and when attendance drops, then you can turn back babyface. And your stock value goes up again.”

Steamboat also discussed his respect for Ric Flair:

“I learned so much from Ric Flair … just listening to him guide me early in my career. I think one of the biggest attributes that helped me and other guys, too, during that era was the fact that we wrestled nearly every night back then. Monday night we’d be in Greenville and the next night we’d be in Columbia, so it’s only 90 miles.”

“What it made Flair and I do was to change our match. Flair and I would work with one another sometimes seven nights a week, and with four weeks in a month, we had to keep changing up the matches with fans following the circuit every night. It would always test me and Ric to do something different.”

The former WWF Intercontinental Champion confirmed he is still with WWE:

“I am under a Legends contract. I’m like a diplomat. I do appearances and autograph sessions and speak for the company. It’s a great gig for me. I’m glad I’m still able to do this and still have some notoriety, to keep this old dog going until it’s time to ride off into the sunset.”

Check out the entire interview, here.

Editor’s Note

It’s amazing how reports even surfaced that Steamboat left WWE. Nice to see him clear things up.