What you loved:
- In-Ring - An elite level worker, ahead of his time, routinely put on 30+ minute matches, and rarely ever botched a move.
- Randy Savage Match - If you have somehow not seen his WrestleMania III match with the Macho Man, you're homework tonight is to slap yourself in the face, and then go watch it. Amazing how often it's talked about over 25 years later.
- Ric Flair Feud - Polar opposites in terms of personality, which helped setup a great feud. They were both obviously amazing in the ring as well, so this feud went to epic levels of awesomeness.
- Babyface - The ultimate babyface, possibly the best ever? He never went heel, ever, and was loved by fans everywhere he went, which is tough to pull off.
- Jericho Feud - In 2009, Ricky returned for a short run in which he had a match at Backlash against Chris Jericho. It was a great battle, and probably the most appropriate "you still got it!" chant ever for a wrestler.
My favorite comment comes from the satyr icon:
"I love that he was so pure in the ring, so clean. He was such a babyface that he was the Proto-Cena, in the sense that he was loved in every territory that he wrestled, but without the need/urge to go heel. While intense in the ring, the opposite out of the ring, that ‘blandness’; maybe Steamboat was working that old adage of ‘walk softly and carry a big stick’ with his stick being a kick-ass wrestler. Perfect foil for Ric Flair."
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What you loathed:
- Gimmick - A happy (sometimes family guy) babyface gimmick was blander than a $2 steak...wait, that's not how it goes. Well you get me point, Ricky did not set the world on fire with his personality
- Bridesmaid - He was always the #2 guy in any of his classic feuds, not the worst place to be, but he never was "the guy" or bride, if you will, in those feuds.
- Face Forever - The problem with being an amazing face, is he never got a chance to go heel. Not to say he would have been any good at it, but again it ties back to becoming stale over time. What I'm saying is he staler than a $2 steak...
- Dumb Gimmicks - Let's give him a Komodo dragon, no wait, let's make him the dragon! Just cliché gimmicks that had no depth.
- Promos - I honestly couldn't tell you one of his promos, not everyone is a great talker though.
My favorite comment comes via Beefio:
"Loathe: He didn’t actually turn into a dragon for his finisher, so wasn’t a Mortal Kombat character."
On to the poll! With 182 votes, Mr. Steamboat's average score is 4.4
Thanks, Cagesiders! Tomorrow's pick was a member of a squad.
Until then!