Post by CW .org .info .net on Mar 27, 2011 10:33:09 GMT -6
More with FCW superstar Richie Steamboat
By Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@MiamiHerald.com
FCW superstar Richie Steamboat is second generation, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, but the family tree can only take you so far in this business.
Ultimately, it’s up to him to climb it and make his mark.
So this former amateur wrestling standout is working hard toward that goal.
• Being second generation or having an amateur wrestling background, is one better than the other?
“I don’t think one is better than the other,” he said. “I think having the amateur background does give you a heads-up, an advantage as opposed to somebody who is not an athlete who comes into this business. It also gives you a little bit more mat skills.
“Being second generation is a double-edged sword. It has its positives and negatives. There are a lot of people who are going to say, ‘He doesn’t deserve to be here. He’s only here because of his last name,’ and there are other people who say, ‘You’ve got such big boots to fill. How are you ever going to do that? How are you going to live up to your father’s legacy?’”
Ricky Steamboat, a WWE Hall of Famer, was a WWF Intercontinental champ, an NWA champ, a four-time U.S. champ, a four-time WCW TV champ, a 12-time world tag team champ among others. Who could forget those classics with Ric Flair or epic WrestleMania III battle with Macho Man Randy Savage.
“My answer is always the same,” he continued. “I’m not going to try and fill my father’s boots. I’m just going to fill my own.”
Any thoughts to using your birth name instead of the Steamboat name?
“That idea was thrown around a little bit,” he said. “My last name is Blood, which is a pretty cool last name for wrestling, but we decided that the older fans would know the [Steamboat] name, and the newer fans would get to know the name. It’s a good thing.”
Is more expected of you?
“I believe so,” he said. “Being second generation and being the son of a WWE Hall of Famer like Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, there are high expectations from everyone.
“I’m going to be myself, and I’m going to add my own flavor, my style the way I do things, and I think the fans will embrace it. I hope in 20 years my father can say, ‘I’m very proud the way you were able to carry on the Steamboat name.’”
Will you learn from other second generation stars like the Rhodes, Orton, the DiBiases because they’ve gone through some of the things you’ll go through?
“Absolutely, everything that you can pick up from those guys,” he said, “all those guys are incredible athletes, and they’ve definitely lived up to the hype behind their fathers and their last names. They’ve all worked hard for the position that they’re in, and they deserve it.
“I think it’s much harder to be a second generation wrestler these days because there are so many negative people, nowadays, who just think it’s handed to guys, and it’s really not. It’s a lot of hard work.”
• This is Steamboat’s third year wrestling professionally, working to reach sports entertainment status. Prior to FCW, Steamboat trained with WWE Hall of Famer and former multi-time NWA champ Harley Race.
“He is a very unique guy,” he said. “He is one of the smartest wrestlers I’d ever met. Just being able to work with him on a daily basis, the different moves and styles that he has down to the stories that he tells, it’s so cool to know the history of the business.
“If there aren’t guys learning and listening from guys telling these stories, the past will get forgotten. This is the 21st Century. Things are changing. WWE is changing, evolving, a huge company. You have to change with the times, but you also have to remember where this all started and how it got started.
“Working with [Race] was amazing.”
Steamboat’s experiences vary.
“I wrestled on the independent scene for two years before WWE ever took interest in hiring me,” he said.
Steamboat spent three months living in the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in Japan. He traveled to Europe for a few months of training and wrestled in Puerto Rico.
“I’ve been very fortunate enough to travel and learn different styles,” he said. “So far it’s been a crazy ride. It’s been amazing. It’s great.”
• Steamboat remembers his first time.
“I was very intimidated when I stepped into the ring for the first time,” he said. “It was totally different from amateur wrestling. There are a lot of bumps you have to take, and there are a lot of things you don’t know that you learn. I learned so much my first year. I said, ‘I don’t know how much more I could learn,’ and then another year goes by, and you learn so much more. It’s a continuous learning process, and you keep learning and learning and learning. It never ends. It’s very cool and a unique business.”
Steamboat already has two years of college above his collar, studying International Business.
“I would love to go back and finish getting my degree, which I’m sure I will,” he said, “but right now with our schedule [at FCW], we work six, sometimes seven days a week. So we don’t get a lot of free time.”
• FCW, featuring current and future WWE superstars and divas, will be at the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair at 9 p.m. Friday, March 25.
For those who purchase the package, there will be a meet-n-greet from 7-8 p.m. with WWE Hall of Famer Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, Trent Baretta (WWE SmackDown), Ricardo Rodriguez (WWE SmackDown), Michael McGilicutty of Nexus (WWE Raw), Husky Harris of Nexus (WWE Raw) and Mason Ryan of Nexus (WWE Raw).
Matches: FCW champ Lucky Cannon vs. Hunico. Richie Steamboat vs. Seth Rollins. Brett DiBiase and Donny Marlow vs. Leo Kruger and Brad Maddox.
FCW Divas champ AJ vs. Aksana. Florida tag team champs Col. Damien Sandow and Titus O’Neill vs. Mike McGrath and Monty Lynch. Tito Colon vs. Ricardo Rodriguez. Bo Rotundo vs. Jinder Mahal. Leakee vs. South Florida’s own Conor O’Brian. Card subject to change.
FCW, under the tutelage and leadership of Florida wrestling legend Steve Gator Keirn (Skinner/The Fabulous Ones), also features Derrick Bateman, Wes Brisco, Brodus Clay, Johnny Curtis, Raquel Diaz, Epico, Kaitlyn, Maxine, Naomi, Byron Saxton, Michael Tarver, Percy Watson and Xavier Woods.
Current WWE superstars who trained with FCW include Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston Ted DiBiase, Primo Colon, Ezekiel Jackson, The Bella Twins, Evan Bourne, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Tyler Reks, Abraham Washington, Alicia Fox, Alberto Del Rio, Members of Nexus and the Corre, Drew McIntyre, Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith, Natalya and more.
Visit fcwwrestling.com.
The fair, opening at 3 p.m., is in Southwest Miami at the Fair Expo Center on Coral Way (SW 24th St) at 112th Avenue with free parking. Fair admission is $10, but they do offer some discounts online. Last year, there was a huge crowd for the FCW show.
Visit fairexpo.com/thefair/index.php.
By Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@MiamiHerald.com
FCW superstar Richie Steamboat is second generation, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, but the family tree can only take you so far in this business.
Ultimately, it’s up to him to climb it and make his mark.
So this former amateur wrestling standout is working hard toward that goal.
• Being second generation or having an amateur wrestling background, is one better than the other?
“I don’t think one is better than the other,” he said. “I think having the amateur background does give you a heads-up, an advantage as opposed to somebody who is not an athlete who comes into this business. It also gives you a little bit more mat skills.
“Being second generation is a double-edged sword. It has its positives and negatives. There are a lot of people who are going to say, ‘He doesn’t deserve to be here. He’s only here because of his last name,’ and there are other people who say, ‘You’ve got such big boots to fill. How are you ever going to do that? How are you going to live up to your father’s legacy?’”
Ricky Steamboat, a WWE Hall of Famer, was a WWF Intercontinental champ, an NWA champ, a four-time U.S. champ, a four-time WCW TV champ, a 12-time world tag team champ among others. Who could forget those classics with Ric Flair or epic WrestleMania III battle with Macho Man Randy Savage.
“My answer is always the same,” he continued. “I’m not going to try and fill my father’s boots. I’m just going to fill my own.”
Any thoughts to using your birth name instead of the Steamboat name?
“That idea was thrown around a little bit,” he said. “My last name is Blood, which is a pretty cool last name for wrestling, but we decided that the older fans would know the [Steamboat] name, and the newer fans would get to know the name. It’s a good thing.”
Is more expected of you?
“I believe so,” he said. “Being second generation and being the son of a WWE Hall of Famer like Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, there are high expectations from everyone.
“I’m going to be myself, and I’m going to add my own flavor, my style the way I do things, and I think the fans will embrace it. I hope in 20 years my father can say, ‘I’m very proud the way you were able to carry on the Steamboat name.’”
Will you learn from other second generation stars like the Rhodes, Orton, the DiBiases because they’ve gone through some of the things you’ll go through?
“Absolutely, everything that you can pick up from those guys,” he said, “all those guys are incredible athletes, and they’ve definitely lived up to the hype behind their fathers and their last names. They’ve all worked hard for the position that they’re in, and they deserve it.
“I think it’s much harder to be a second generation wrestler these days because there are so many negative people, nowadays, who just think it’s handed to guys, and it’s really not. It’s a lot of hard work.”
• This is Steamboat’s third year wrestling professionally, working to reach sports entertainment status. Prior to FCW, Steamboat trained with WWE Hall of Famer and former multi-time NWA champ Harley Race.
“He is a very unique guy,” he said. “He is one of the smartest wrestlers I’d ever met. Just being able to work with him on a daily basis, the different moves and styles that he has down to the stories that he tells, it’s so cool to know the history of the business.
“If there aren’t guys learning and listening from guys telling these stories, the past will get forgotten. This is the 21st Century. Things are changing. WWE is changing, evolving, a huge company. You have to change with the times, but you also have to remember where this all started and how it got started.
“Working with [Race] was amazing.”
Steamboat’s experiences vary.
“I wrestled on the independent scene for two years before WWE ever took interest in hiring me,” he said.
Steamboat spent three months living in the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in Japan. He traveled to Europe for a few months of training and wrestled in Puerto Rico.
“I’ve been very fortunate enough to travel and learn different styles,” he said. “So far it’s been a crazy ride. It’s been amazing. It’s great.”
• Steamboat remembers his first time.
“I was very intimidated when I stepped into the ring for the first time,” he said. “It was totally different from amateur wrestling. There are a lot of bumps you have to take, and there are a lot of things you don’t know that you learn. I learned so much my first year. I said, ‘I don’t know how much more I could learn,’ and then another year goes by, and you learn so much more. It’s a continuous learning process, and you keep learning and learning and learning. It never ends. It’s very cool and a unique business.”
Steamboat already has two years of college above his collar, studying International Business.
“I would love to go back and finish getting my degree, which I’m sure I will,” he said, “but right now with our schedule [at FCW], we work six, sometimes seven days a week. So we don’t get a lot of free time.”
• FCW, featuring current and future WWE superstars and divas, will be at the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair at 9 p.m. Friday, March 25.
For those who purchase the package, there will be a meet-n-greet from 7-8 p.m. with WWE Hall of Famer Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, Trent Baretta (WWE SmackDown), Ricardo Rodriguez (WWE SmackDown), Michael McGilicutty of Nexus (WWE Raw), Husky Harris of Nexus (WWE Raw) and Mason Ryan of Nexus (WWE Raw).
Matches: FCW champ Lucky Cannon vs. Hunico. Richie Steamboat vs. Seth Rollins. Brett DiBiase and Donny Marlow vs. Leo Kruger and Brad Maddox.
FCW Divas champ AJ vs. Aksana. Florida tag team champs Col. Damien Sandow and Titus O’Neill vs. Mike McGrath and Monty Lynch. Tito Colon vs. Ricardo Rodriguez. Bo Rotundo vs. Jinder Mahal. Leakee vs. South Florida’s own Conor O’Brian. Card subject to change.
FCW, under the tutelage and leadership of Florida wrestling legend Steve Gator Keirn (Skinner/The Fabulous Ones), also features Derrick Bateman, Wes Brisco, Brodus Clay, Johnny Curtis, Raquel Diaz, Epico, Kaitlyn, Maxine, Naomi, Byron Saxton, Michael Tarver, Percy Watson and Xavier Woods.
Current WWE superstars who trained with FCW include Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston Ted DiBiase, Primo Colon, Ezekiel Jackson, The Bella Twins, Evan Bourne, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Tyler Reks, Abraham Washington, Alicia Fox, Alberto Del Rio, Members of Nexus and the Corre, Drew McIntyre, Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith, Natalya and more.
Visit fcwwrestling.com.
The fair, opening at 3 p.m., is in Southwest Miami at the Fair Expo Center on Coral Way (SW 24th St) at 112th Avenue with free parking. Fair admission is $10, but they do offer some discounts online. Last year, there was a huge crowd for the FCW show.
Visit fairexpo.com/thefair/index.php.