Ricky The Dragon Steamboat (WF019)

To have a personal profile tape this early in the Coliseum Video lineage, you have to be special. Discounting the god awful COUNTRY BOYS tape, the only ones who had personal profiles were the top stars ANDRE THE GIANT, Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan (THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LOU ALBANO doesn’t count because Lou was a manager). Steamboat getting his own tape was a testament to his amazing talent as he wasn’t a champion nor was he even in the WWF as long as Hogan, Andre and Piper were. Tito Santana was a two time IC champion and he didn’t have his own tape (or ever get one). Does Steamboat deserve it though? Absolutely. He had some classic matches in the NWA and seemed ready to break out as a top star but he was held back by Dusty Rhodes. Going to WWF meant more exposure for sure, but he also had to play second fiddle to Hogan like he had to play to Rhodes. Ah well, least he got his own tape in WWF. Let’s stoke it up. Cue the 1985 Opening…oh and props to 411mania to discovering the two guys in the black and white segment of the opening were Lou Thesz and Rikidozan. Thesz needs to introduction while Rikidozan was pretty much the Thesz of Japan. He was Japan’s top star until he turned the page to his top two students, Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba….yes, All-Japan and New Japan’s founders. Gorilla Monsoon is our host tonight and he brings up how Steamboat has only been around a year and yet has had amazing matches. He says Steamboat will take on The Hammer, Don Muraco and Randy “Not so Macho Man” Savage (Monsoon’s words). We go to our first match before he’s even done with the introduction, geez, someone’s in a hurry.

Match 1

Ricky Steamboat vs Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (with Jimmy Hart) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund
This match is from June 21, 1985 in Madison Square Garden and its joined in progress. Steamboat is in the long black tights and Greg is in the red trunks. Steamboat stalks Greg with a karate pose until Greg tries to scoop slam him. Ricky blocks it until Greg turns it into a takedown. Ricky switches into a single leg takedown and chops Valentine in the gut. Greg staggers to his feet and Ricky goes to work with chops until Greg bails. Hart screams “No karate!” and Gene scoffs “Whataya mean no karate?” Jimmy “Hey ref, watch that kung fu karate!” Greg goes for forearms in the corner but Ricky blocks all of them and  chops Greg all the way to the ropes where he snap mares him then does the Perfect neckbreaker all in two swift motions. Damn he’s good. He locks in a chinlock until Greg gets to his feet and turns it into an arm ringer. Ricky reverses it and drops the champ with a reverse crescent kick. Monsoon and Okerlund agree they’d love to stick Jimmy’s megaphone in his ear. A quick thrust kick and back elbow smash sends Valentine to the match. Ricky stalks Greg in the corner before landing 5 kicks to the jaw. A chop to the chest is met with a Gene Okerlund “Hiyah!” The first cover of the match gets a two count. Ricky ducks under a clothesline and lands a crossbody for 1….2…nope, referee was out of position and he didn’t hook the leg. Steamboat goes to the front headlock until Greg backs him in the corner. Greg pounds away on Ricky in the corner with forearms. Ricky falls to the apron and Valentine delivers two forearms to the chest. Ricky recovers with a shoulderblock and two chops to the forehead before going upstairs. He stuns Greg with a flying chop and he tackles him to the ground. Ricky covers for 1…2..no. A scoop slam by the Dragon is wasted as Valentine gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Greg drops a knee to the ribs and we TAPE EDIT. Valentine works on the leg and goes for the figure four, only for Ricky to counter it with a cradle for 1….2..and no. Ricky does something to stun Greg but we miss it due to an unnecessary shot of the crowd. Ricky goes for a scoop but Hammer lands on top of him for 1….2…nope. Valentine catches Ricky with a forearm to the rubs and Steamboat goes tumbling through the ropes and to the outside. Hart taunts Ricky until the Dragon gathers his bearings. He looks to the crowd for support who pops. Ricky gets fired up, pounds the mat then starts no selling Greg’s offense. They trade blows until Steamboat gets the upperhand with overhand and knife edge chops. Greg goes down and Ricky has the crowd in an uproar. Two more chops drop the champ and Monsoon says he won’t get the pin because he didn’t hook the leg. Once again the cover gets a two and an elbow drops the Hammer. Ricky goes upstairs and delivers his flying crossbody for 1….2….NOOOOO, foot on the ropes. Greg recovers and back suplexes the Dragon. Greg drops two running elbows and covers for a two count, failing to hook the leg. Valentine goes for a figure four but Ricky counters by kicking him into the corner. More chops are followed by a roundhouse kick that sends Greg over the top rope to the floor. Hart picks Greg up and throws him back in but the bell rings. Stemboat chops both Greg and Jimmy through the ropes as the Fink gets in the ring. Monsoon speculates Greg was DQ’d but Fink announces Steamboat has won by count out. That was a pretty quick count by Dick Woehrle since the announcers missed it as well as the fans and Steamboat himself. We go to the replay as Monsoon says the title does not change hands on a count-out. We end the match here and that was something else. Classic booking as Steamboat beat up Valentine six ways from Sunday yet Greg retained the belt. Was it a good match? Yes it was, the story being told was the methodical Hammer could barely keep pace with the speed of the Dragon. These two would meet again years later, but for now Ricky gets the duke.
Time of match: clipped

Winner: Ricky Steamboat by count-out (Valentine retains)
Next up is a September 1985 interview on The Body Shop with Jesse Ventura. Ventura praises his own shades as he’s wearing jeans, cowboy boots and a yellow t-shirt with Manhattan written on it in the shape of NYC, clever. Ricky comes out in his black karate gi and takes a seat next to Jesse. Ventura asks how he’s doing and Ricky says pretty good. Jesse asks where the name Steamboat comes from and Ricky says he’s carrying on the family tradition. This is half true actually. When Ricky first started out he went under his real name, Richard Blood. Once he ended up in the Florida territory, Eddie Graham felt that the name sounded too heel like (compared to Dick Blood?) and decided to re-name him. Since he had Hawaian blood, Graham had him renamed Ricky Steamboat, the son of Hawaiian legend Sammy Steamboat. The funny part was nobody bothered to tell Ricky before he went to the ring the night he was renamed. The announcer referred to him as Ricky Steamboat, son of Sammy and Ricky tried to tell him that’s not his name, only for the announcer to mutter “shaddup, that’s your name now” or something like that. Ventura then says “so wait, your great great grandfather didn’t climb a coconut tree, see a steamboat and say that’s a good name for himself?” Ricky counters “No, he was standing on a volcano.” Ventura then goes into fashion mode asking what’s the deal with the outfit and says that kung fu he’s been using is illegal. Ricky “Illegal?” Ventura bitches that he’s going for the throat and Ricky says he’s checked the WWF rules and says he uses open hands, not fists like Jesse uses. Ventura “waiiiiiit a minute!” Ventura says “You don’t bend the rules?” Ricky answers no so Jesse gets bent out of shape and ends the show right then and there. Its funny because Ricky really never did bend the rules. There’s a very, very short list of guys that had a long, productive career that never worked heel. The three names I can think of are Tito Santana, Rey Mysterio Jr and Ricky Steamboat. That’s also why Ric Flair says Ricky is NOT the best wrestler of all time, because he never worked heel. It would have been interesting to see Ricky come out strutting with shades and telling the fans to stick it, but since he never did it, its hard to imagine that.
We go from an interview with Jesse to an infamous “training” segment. Once again Vince couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to give Ricky a “personality”. No he didn’t sing and dance on T.N.T. (that I know of) but he did have this “training” portion on the show. The segment is called “Becoming the dragon: the three moments of truth”. Gene Okerlund is on location with Ricky at the temple of Chang-Lao. They walk across a wooden bridge as Gene admires the scenery. Ricky says it wasn’t always serene and that it was the site of his first test: The Bridge of Serenity. We then cut to Ricky beating up ninjas in black masks…yes of course I’m serious. Now many say that the ninjas were midgets, but they’re not. They just happen to be a bit shorter than Ricky, but they’re not full fledged midgets. The object is to cross the bridge and Ricky does that after beating up the two ninjas. Some of the blows were definitely choreographed but at least they didn’t have any goofy sound effects. Back to Gene and Ricky and the Dragon says years of training saved him there. Gene and Ricky walk into the “Garden of Tranquility”. Its not really a garden as it is a stone walkway with rocks around. Ricky says this is where he went through his second test. He’s fighting ninjas again only with sticks. He dispatches them quickly as we go back to Gene and him. Gene brings us to the third test, “The Temple of Chang-Lao” where Ricky says it was the hardest one of all since he had to do it in front of all the monks. This time he’s attacked by four ninjas who he completely annihilates in short order. He bows to Chang Lao himself who presents him with a black belt for surviving the three tests. As silly as this sounds, it could have been a lot worse. It did show Steamboat beating the crap out of groups of ninjas by himself, and if he can do that, guys like Greg Valentine and Don Muraco stand no chance. Onto the next match.
Match 2

Ricky Steamboat vs Brutus Beefcake (with Luscious Johnny V) in a Street Fight

Commentators: Jack Reynolds and Billy Red Lyons

May 26, 1985 in what appears to be the Maple Leaf Gardens saw Steamboat take on Brutus in what Monsoon in the overdub calls a No-DQ, No count-out affair. So it’s a street fight without actually calling it that…great. Steamboat is in the long black tigts and Brutus is in the long zebra striped tights. Beefcake attacks Steamboat from behind before he can take his gi off. He drags Steamboat to the apron where he pounds away with forearms to the chest. Once Ricky is outside, Brutus sends Ricky to the barriet and chokes him with his own black belt. The referee isn’t counting and I wonder why until the bell rings once Brutus sends Ricky inside. NOW the match has officially begun. Brutus sends Ricky off and clotheslines him. Billy says it was a mistake for Ricky to wear that outfit to the ring and Brutus drops the Dragon with a right hand. Brutus poses for the irate crowd and drops a boot off the second rope. A scoop slam is followed by more boots to the sternum. Brutus struts for the angry crowd before Ricky begins to rally with right hands. Karate chops from Ricky sends Brutus into the corner. Brutus reverses an irish whip and drops Ricky with a clothesline. Brutus drops a big forearm and covers, the referee takes forever 1…..2…no. Beefcake pulls the top part of the gi over ricky’s head hockey style and pounds away. Ricky finally sheds the gi and Jack finally calls it such after calling it a kimono up until this point. Guess Vince was in his ear in the production truck. Beefcake rams Ricky’s head into the buckle and pounds Ricky’s chest with forearms. Ricky just beat the crap out of four ninjas armed with weapons and now he can’t beat up Brutus Beefcake? Beefcake continues to pound away only now Ricky is no-selling it. Ricky blocks a turnbuckle attempt and rams Brutus’ head into it. Ricky chops Beefcake but falls on a scoop slam attempt. Brutus covers for 1….2….noooooo. Ricky kicks out just in time. Brutus lands a series of boxing jabs followed by two forearm smashes. Steamboat then blocks a series of forearms before sliding under Brutus’ legs. A chop stuns Brutus before a big chop drops him. Ricky rings the arm then crescent kicks Brutus three times until he drops. A knife edge chop to the throat staggers Brutus who swings and misses. A knee to the ribs stuns the Dragon but Ricky ducks under a haymaker. Ricky swings and misses himself and Brutus makes him pay with a clothesline that nearly decapitates the Dragon. We get a TAPE EDIT and now Steamboat is rallying. Brutus then counters a scoop slam with a back suplex then bridges for 1…2…..nope. Ricky gets the shoulder up at 2 3/4. Brutus kicks away at Ricky and taunts him. Brutus punches, kicks and stomps the Dragon. Beefcake goes to the outside, drags Ricky out and slams him on the cement floor. Beefcake gets in the ring but distracts the ref, allowing Johnny to attack…but he doesn’t. Ricky gathers his bearings but Beefcake reaches through the ropes and brings him back in the ring. Beefcake goes for the piledriver but Ricky counters with a backdrop. Reynolds reiterates that this is No count outs and no DQ. Ricky catches a foot and chops Brutus down. A running chop drops Brutus then Ricky does the swinging neckbreaker. More chops follow and a reverse atomic drop stagger Brutus. Beefcake goes upstairs and hits the flying crossbody. The cover gets 1…2…..no. The ref’s arm doesn’t drop for three but the fans and the announcers say Ricky has won it. The lights go on as well but there was no 3. Everyone was fooled on that one. The lights go back off as Ricky rallies in the corner. Brutus reverses an irish whip but misses the charge. Ricky goes for a scoop slam but Johnny holds the foot of the Dragon. Brutus falls ontop with Johnny still holding on…1…..2….3 its over. The lights go on but all of a sudden the ref for whatever reason waves off the pinfall. Brutus raises his arms in victory but the ref snaps it downas the lights go off again. He tells Beefcake that he saw Johnny holding the foot, which is the correct call but why did he count 3 to begin with? Brutus throws Ricky over the top rope and argues with the ref. Ricky skins the cat back in, runs and rolls up Brutus for 1…2…..3 and NOW its over. The lights go on for a final time as Johnny V jumps into the ring to protest. Johnny takes a swing at the ref as he exits the ring with the victorious Steamboat. Jack says the referee’s name is Frank Gore…no, not the San Fransisco Giants running back. We go to the replay to see the real pinfall and we cut here. That was a wild match that Brutus controlled for most of it. Ricky got the pinfall but he didn’t look too impressive during it. Not only that, it was a street fight that wasn’t even all that violent. Then again, not much Ricky can do with Brutus but get beat up and make the comeback. I’m just glad its over.
Time of match: 13:27

Winner: Ricky Steamboat by pinfall
To set up the next feud, we have to go to an episode of T.N.T. where Vince in a decent looking brown suit interviews Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji. Vince brings up Steamboat and Muraco says his actions speak louder than words. Vince, Fuji and Muraco look at footage of Muraco attacking Steamboat and hanging him. Don says King Curtis Iaukea was the only Hawaiian wrestler that he admired and he has no love for Ricky. Fuji and Muraco hang Steamboat and glad-hand each other on the TNT set. Muraco says that Ricky’s too soft and he’s in his world now. Muraco says he’s as far as he going to go and doesn’t need any more titles. Kind of stupid and Vince counters “Well if you’re on top, there’s only one way to go, down!” Muraco says he won’t go down, but he’ll spit down at people under him. Muraco says he’s got some fat broads for him and he’s having a heck of a time with Mr. Fuji.  So the dastardly Muraco fired the first shot and its now time for revenge one step at a time.

Match 3

Ricky Steamboat vs Mr. Fuji

Commentators: Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino

After being hung by Fuji and Muraco, Ricky vowed revenge. On August 20, 1985 he got Mr. Fuji first. Fuji is in the long red tights and Ricky the long black. Ricky sprints to the ring and attacks Fuji before the bell rings. Howard Finkel almost didn’t make it out of the way. Ricky chops Fuji, sends him off and chokes him with the black belt. Ricky strangles Fuji as Vince says its payback from before. Referee Dick Woehrle doesn’t even bother to make a 5 count. Ricky chops and punches Fuji before delivering an atomic drop. Ricky lands a double chop but Fuji counters with a punch to the gonads…ow. Ricky pounds the mat in frustration as Fuji drops Ricky with his own chops. A falling headbutt has the crowd chanting “Steamboat!” Fuji locks in a nerve hold but Ricky powers out of it with a chop to the head. Fuji retaliates with a chop of his own before reapplying the hold. Ricky once again powers out of it with chops and a leapfrog but Fuji alertly gets a knee to the ribs. Going back to the nerve hold, Vince calls Fuji a world class wrestler. Steamboat does the fade-then-revive routine. Ricky rakes the eyes and chops Fuji down. Ricky goes upstairs and catches Fuji with the flying crossbody for 1….2..nope, Fuji kicks out. Ricky goes for the big splash but Fuji gets the knees up. Bruno says that’s the first time he’s seen someone kick out of that and Vince says Ricky didn’t hook the leg. Ricky rolls through a back suplex, rolls up Fuji and gets the 1..2….3 to win the match. Steamboat beats a hasty retreat as Fuji is stunned in the ring. Decent crash style match but that made Steamboat look bad. They should have booked Steamboat to leave Fuji a bloody mess in the ring and say that Muraco is next. Instead he’s booked to barely beat Mr. Fuji the MANAGER! If he can barely beat Fuji, how’s he going to beat the former IC champion Muraco? Still, decent crash style match
Time of match: 4:06

Winner: Ricky Steamboat by pinfall

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! After the match, Muraco runs out and attacks Steamboat with a chair. He breaks the wooden thing over him and Fuji assists in stomping him. Muraco and Fuji leave to a chorus of boos as Vince puts over Muraco as a heel, calling him every name in the book. Vince goes to the replay of Muraco breaking the chair on Steamboat’s back. Bruno says the duo should be fined and suspended and we cut here. Muraco was building tremendous heat and you know the grudge match would come eventually.
Match 4

Ricky Steamboat vs Don “The Magnificent” Muraco (with Mr. Fuji)

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Alfred Hays

October 18, 1985 in the Capital Center saw the long awaited grudge match between Steamboat and Muraco. We’re joined in progress and Muraco is in standard gear with Steamboat in the….you guessed it…long black tights.  Muraco stands on the apron as Ricky gets bent out of the shape in the ring. Ricky ducks under two clotheslines, reverses a whip and drops Muraco with a big chop. A hiptoss is followed by a scoop slam. A knee lift sends Muraco to the floor and the ref has to hold Steamboat back. Monsoon scoffs at the ref for holding him back as Muraco regroups with Fuji. A test of strength is won by Muraco who pounds away at the Dragon in the corner. Ricky reverses a whip and backdrops Don before hip tossing him again. A scoop slam has Muraco sliding through the ropes onto Monsoon and Alfred’s announce table. Monsoon says Muraco is in their lap, literally. Gorilla taunts him as Muraco gets to his feet and says “Shut up you sonovabitch.” Muraco gathers his bearings and slowly makes his way into the ring. Don purposely stalls then lands a right hand to Steamboat’s head. Ricky rams Muraco’s head into the buckle and lands a right hand. He goes for another right hand but referee Dick Woehrle grabs his arm which allows Muraco to connect with a right hand. Monsoon gives Woehrle a tongue lashing as Steamboat staggers around. “You cannot do that!” Muraco gets a thumb to the throat and delivers a back suplex. Muraco drops a knee and snap mares him over. Muraco slingshots Ricky throat first onto the bottom rope. An atomic spike staggers Ricky and Muraco scoop slams him down. Another scoop slam is followed by a clothesline but Ricky keeps getting up. A slam and another clothesline sends Ricky over the top rope to the outside. Muraco reaches through the ropes to slam ricky’s head into the apron. Muraco slides outside and drops Ricky throat first onto the barrier. Alfred says Muraco should go for the piledriver as Ricky makes it to the apron. Muraco clotheslines him down as Ricky slides into the ring. Muraco whips Steamboat off but Ricky ducks under the right hand and executes a desperation clothesline. Muraco slides to the apron then goes upstairs. Ricky catches him and slams him off the top rope. Ricky scoop slams Don and caters to the crowd. ANOTHER scoop slam has Ricky fired up and he atomic drops Muraco, who catches his head in between the ropes. Ricky chops away at Muraco as Woehrle unties him. On the floor, Ricky sends Muraco into the side of the ring. Steamboat goes upstairs and chops Muraco on the apron, who falls off. On the floor again Ricky rams his head into the apron before sliding back into the ring. Ricky suplexes him into the ring and caters to the crowd. Sensing victory, Ricky chops Muraco twice before unloading with a series of right hands. Woehrle literally throws Ricky off of Muraco and Monsoon gets pissed. Dick does it twice more and Ricky goes upstairs, executing the big chop. Fuji hops up on the apron and Ricky grabs his cane. Woehrle tries to wrestle the cane away as Fuji reaches into his hat and hands a pair of brass knuckles to Muraco. Sure enough, Ricky sends Muraco off who eats a big chop. Ricky goes for another chop but Muraco sneaks a punch to the throat, then falls ontop of Steamboat for 1….2….3. Muraco wins it! Great match…but what the hell? Did Piper, Andre or Hogan lose on their profile tapes? No? So why did Steamboat? Wow, who the hell thought that was a good idea? We cut here so even if Ricky beat him up after the bell, we won’t see it. So Ricky gets hung and Muraco gets the last word? Wow….not a great booking job for this tape at all.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Don Muraco by pinfall

We now go to a special Piper’s Pit with Ricky in the rare blue trunks, a purple warm up jacket and white boots with “Cowboy” Bob Orton standing behind Roddy Piper (in standard Pit gear). Piper sarcastically calls Ricky a new heart-throb but Piper says he’s just as hot. Piper says Ricky hasn’t had a match longer than 5 minutes and wonders why he hasn’t wrestled anyone good yet. He also calls Ricky a cheater for using martial arts just like Ventura did earlier. Piper “You may be fooling them, but you’re not fooling me for a second.”  Ricky “Well I’m sorry about that RODNEY.” Piper gets pissed and says “My name is Roderick, short for Roderick the Conquerer” Ricky “Oh, I’m sorry Conker.” Piper “That’s Conquerer! My name is Roddy Piper!” Ricky “Well what is it, Roddy, Piper or Conker?” Piper “I’ll tell ya what it is!” Orton slowly makes his way over and he and Piper sandwich Steamboat while Piper taunts him. Ricky sheds his jacket and Piper looks ready to go….and we cut. OH COME ON!!! That looked to be heading somewhere but instead we cut HERE? We had to watch the ridiculous training video in its entirety but THIS got clipped? What the hell ever…on to the next match.
Match 5

Ricky Steamboat vs Davey Boy Smith

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

If cutting Piper’s Pit wasn’t bad enough, we’re ending the tape with two matches we’ve already seen. Steamboat’s two matches from WRESTLING CLASSIC. So yes, another loss is coming up. First he goes up against Davey Boy in the first round. I’ll just re-post from the earlier Classic post. Davey is in the long red tights while Steamboat is in the long black. They shake hands to start the match then go through standard go-behinds. Davey hiplocks Steamboat to the ground. Davey Boy back drops Ricky in a pinfall position for 1….2…nope, Dragon bridges out of it and turns it into a backslide for 1…nah. Steamboat runs off the ropes into a overhead press slam. Davey covers for a near fall then applies a front headlock as Ventura says Stemboat’s giving up a lot of strength to Bulldog. Davey hits another overhead press slam for another 2 count as Monsoon scoffs at Davey for not hooking the leg. Davey goes for a suplex but Steamboat counters with a delayed suplex of his own…..Davey Boy’s trademark. Ricky goes for a splash but Bulldog gets the knees up to counter. Davey Boy executes two standing dropkicks which send Steamboat into the ropes. Bulldog goes for a third dropkick but Ricky moves out of the way and Davey Boy crotches himself on the top rope. The ref runs over, checks on Davey and calls for the bell……what the hell? Steamboat also goes and checks on Davey Boy as the ref awards the match to Dragon…..first and last time I’ve ever seen a match end this way. Cheap ending but it was a good match for a 3 minute crash style. Monsoon says Ricky didn’t want to win this way and Ventura scoffs. We go to the replay and Ventura calls what we just saw.

Time of match: 2:54

Winner: Ricky Steamboat by stoppage
We don’t bother with a segue, onto the final match of the tape.

Match 6

Ricky Steamboat vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage (with Elizabeth)

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

Once again I have no idea we’re ending the tape with another loss but what the hell. I’ll go with another re-post. Randy comes out to Pomp and Circumstance and the purple trunks. Ricky is in the long black tights. Before the match Savage sticks a finger into Ricky’s face who slaps it away then Savage runs and hides behind Elizabeth, heh what a heel. Stemboat turns his back so Savage attacks him from behind while still wearing his headband and cape. Steamboat slides under Savage and chops him through the ropes to the outside. Randy pulls Ricky out and brawls with him outside before they roll back in. Savage takes over on offense with right hands in the corner until Steamboat counters with a head scissors over the top rope to the floor.  Steamboat chops Savage on the floor then atomic drops him to the concrete. Ricky throws him inside then hits his karate chop to the chest of a running Macho Man. Savage ducks under a second chop and delivers a back suplex as Ventura makes his way back to the commentating table. Savage goes upstairs but Ricky catches him in the gut with a right hand then delivers a knee lift. Steamboat unloads with a series of fists drops then suplexes Savage halfway across the ring. Steamboat goes upstairs and hits THE FLYING CROSSBODY for 1…2…thre…no wait, Savage kicked out at 2. Ventura is openly cheering for Savage and Steamboat chops and punches Savage to the ring apron. Savage reaches into his tights for a Foreign Object and when Steamboat goes for a back suplex, Savage nails Ricky with whatever he had. Savage covers for 1….2…THREE???? You gotta be kidding, that was WAY too short for 2 guys as talented as they were. It was going good too, damn…..should have been much longer. Monsoon says that Ventura gave Savage brass knuckles in the back as Ventura scoffs.
Time of match: an unacceptable 3:26

Winner: Randy Savage by pinfall

We end the tape with the credits and the previews but I don’t care. I still don’t understand why in a 6 match tape, 2 losses were included. You didn’t see Piper, Andre or Hogan losing so why did Steamboat get the shaft? Guess Vince was once again trying to make the NWA look bad by having one of their top stars look inferior to Hogan and Andre. Still, the immense talent of Steamboat saved him from obscurity, even after Randy Savage appeared from Memphis and took the IC title away from Tito Santana. As sad as it sounds, Steamboat’s tape came out in early 1986 and he’d still have 2 years worth of good matches (including one special) still to come. Did I like the tape? For the most part yes, but again, you want to make your stars look as good as possible…YOU DON’T SHOW THEM LOSING! I mean, everyone has to lose at some point to put someone else over, and Steamboat had no problem with that…but there’s a time and a place for that. I give this tape 3 stars out of 5….1 point off for the losses and 1 point off for it only being 80 minutes long. They could have squeezed 10 more minutes of footage in there. The next tape after this is BEST OF THE WWF VOLUME 6, hopefully Steamboat will have better luck on that one.