• Ricky Steamboat Explains Why He’s Coming Out Of Retirement This Sunday
WWF Legend Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat wrestled his last match in June of 2010, when he and his son Richie Steamboat defeated Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta at a Florida Championship Wrestling (WWE’s developmental brand, now known as NXT) LIVE event.
Steamboat is coming out of retirement for one more match. It will take place at a Big Time Wrestling event on November 27th at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The WWE Hall Of Famer will compete in a 6-man tag team match, where he will team up with AEW Tag Team FTR (who are the current IWGP, ROH & AAA Tag Team Champions) to take on the team of Jay Lethal, Brock Anderson (managed by his father Arn Anderson) and a mystery partner.
During an interview with Wrestlinginc, Steamboat was asked why he’s coming out of retirement.
Steamboat said that Raleigh, North Carolina holds a special place in his heart and he wants to wrestle again before he gets too old.
Below is what the former WWF Intercontinental Champion said:
“It was very difficult. And before I could give a final, this past month or so, I’ve been… Glenn Jacobs, that name ring any bells? Yeah. And Tom Pritchard, they have a wrestling school outside of Knoxville.
So for the past month or so, I’ve been venturing down to that school once or twice a week just to get some back. But I learned more so on my limitations.
But you asked why. I was thinking that the longer I wait, the less chance I will have. I’ll be 70 in February and Mother Nature does creep up on you and the older you get, it creeps up on you faster. And Raleigh’s Dorton Arena holds a special place in my heart.
So Raleigh holds a very dear and close wrestling memory out of all the places that I’ve been. You could go with me and Savage at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, at WrestleMania III.
But that match, it wasn’t filmed, it wasn’t televised, it was just what you call a regular house show match. But what a night it was for me to be in the ring with the champion and then go 60 minutes and hold my own with him.
So for that very reason, and a big thanks to all the fans in Raleigh that have come out over the years to support Mid-Atlantic. Jim Crockett was the promoter and I was there from ’77 to ’85. So 8 years of being in one territory back in the day was a pretty good stretch.”
For those who don’t know, Ric Flair approached Steamboat a few months back to compete in his Last Match on July 31st, but Steamboat turned down the offer.
WATCH: Nikki Bella Without Clothes (2022):
• Old School WWF Legend Would Have Celebrated His Birthday
Today would have been the 80th birthday of Old School WWF Legend Blackjack Mulligan (Real name: Robert Windham).
Blackjack Mulligan spent most of his career teaming with Blackjack Lanza as “The Blackjacks”.
Together they won multiple tag team championships, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation titles.
In 1986 Mulligan wrestled under a mask as the “Big Machine” and joined The Giant Machine (André) & Super Machine (Masked Superstar aka Demolition Ax) in a faction, called “The Machines”.
The Blackjacks were inducted into the 2006 class of the WWE Hall of Fame by their former manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY & † REST IN PEACE
November 25, 1942 – April 7, 2016
