#119: Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, NWA Chi-Town Rumble (2/20/1989).
This is for Flair's NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
Very few series in wrestling are as revered as this one. When it comes to the conversation of great wrestlers, great matches, great feuds, etc., this is one that is consistently brought up. In fact, depending on what circle of wrestling fans you find yourself in, a riot could break out if this series isn’t brought up at least once. Unless your taste is Piranha Death Matches, this is a series that must be talked about when discussing the greats.
When the 1980s is discussed, no one is brought up as much as “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. He dominated the decade in the NWA, having a stranglehold on the Worlds Championship. He was also known for an incredible work rate in the ring. Of course, not to sound like a total mark, work rate isn’t everything. Good thing for Flair that he also looked the part, and could deliver one hell of a promo. All in all, Flair is widely considered to be the greatest wrestler who ever lived by a lot of people in the wrestling fandom.
Here, in 1989, he was set to embark on what would become a banner year for him. He had a series of matches with the legendary Terry Funk waiting for him in the later part of the year, but before that, he would first have to go through one of the most under appreciated workers in wrestling, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. By comparison, Steamboat represented everything that Flair was not, and that made the dichotomy of their feud work so damn well.
On one side, you have Flair – the definition of glitz and glamour in 80s wrestling. He had the suits, he had the accessories, and he had the women. When you think of what a World Champion looked like, Flair was who you thought of – unless you only watched the WWE, and then you probably thought of Hulk Hogan, which is quite unfortunate. On the flip side, you have Steamboat, who could be seen as one of the original “People’s Champions.”
Steamboat had a family, he had blue collar roots, and he busted his ass to get to the top. To many, Flair was who wrestling fans wanted to be, and Steamboat was the realization of what they actually were. On the January 21st episode of World Championship Wrestling, Steamboat made his return to the promotion and pinned Flair in a tag team match. By virtue of pinning the champion, Steamboat declared that he wanted a title shot. Soon after, the match was made official for Chi-Town Rumble.
A very simple story got us to this point, and now it was up to the competitors to deliver. Flair’s track record speaks for itself at this point – he had wrestled the best of the best throughout the 80s, from Harley Race to Dusty Rhodes – while Steamboat was famous for his WrestleMania III match in 1987 against Randy Savage that broke boundaries in wrestling for decades to come due to its heavy emphasis on workrate and not showmanship. This formula set the stage for what many believed would be a hell of a match. What happened instead would become one of the standards in how to do a pro wrestling match perfectly.
The bell sounds, and we are under way. They lock up, and Steamboat gets Flair in a side headlock. Flair sends him off the ropes, and he shoulder tackles Flair for a quick 2 count. Another lock up and Steamboat with another shoulder tackle, and then he goes right for the side headlock.
Flair flips him out of it, but Steamboat goes for a roll up attempt. Flair powders out of the ring, caught off guard already by what the Dragon is doing thus far. Back in the ring, they lock up and Flair gets Steamboat into the corner. He chops at his chest, but Steamboat unloads with chops of his own. He gives Flair a back body drop, and corners him. Flair pulls on the hair and corners him again with a chop. Steamboat explodes out of the corner with a chop that knocks Flair down.
Flair gets a side headlock in on Steamboat, then transitions to a hammerlock on the arm. Steamboat switches to a drop toe hold, and goes back to the side headlock, followed by a dropkick. He controls the head on the mat next. Flair tries to stand and send Steamboat into the corner, but Steamboat cat walks the apron and gets right back on the mat, head still firmly locked in. Flair finally breaks it and gets Steamboat in the corner with more chops. He irish whips Steamboat into the opposing corner, but the challenger explodes out with a hard chop that drops Flair.
The champion slips out of the ring once again, as Steamboat stands tall inside the ring. He gets back inside, and they lock up once again. Steamboat gets the side headlock applied, and Flair pushes him into the corner with another chop. Steamboat sends Flair off the ropes, and he tackles Steamboat down. He runs off the ropes now, but Steamboat catches him with another chop hard enough that sends him to the outside.
After shaking things off, Flair is back in the ring, and now he and Steamboat lock up. Flair pushes him into the corner and unloads with chops to the chest. He irish whips Steamboat into the opposing corner, and he runs up the buckles again and jumps over Flair. A nice hip toss from the Dragon, followed by a dropkick. Side headlock takedown is next, as Steamboat looks to control the pace. Flair escapes and chops away at Steamboat’s chest, followed by elbows to the top of the head.
Steamboat takes the pace back though with a shoulder tackle. Flair is quick to come back with a back elbow to the head. Steamboat fights back with a chop that flips Flair over the ropes and to the outside. Flair goads Steamboat and pulls him to the outside. He chops Steamboat against the barricade, and then sends him against the steel. Flair is back in the ring, and he pulls Steamboat up onto the apron. Flair with a snap mare, followed by a knee drop right to the head of Steamboat.
A double arm suplex next, and that gets a quick nearfall. Flair gets Steamboat in the corner, and chops his chest. Steamboat comes back with chops of his own, and he irish whips Flair into the opposing corner. Flair does his trademark flip over the apron, and he runs to another corner. He scales it and comes down with a crossbody on Steamboat, who rolls through it and gets a close nearfall on the Worlds Champion. Steamboat stays on Flair, looking for elbows in the corner. Flair comes back with an inverted atomic drop, and goes right for the Figure Four Leglock submission. With the referee distracted, Flair grabs the ropes for extra advantage. The crowd is wild for Steamboat at this point. Steamboat tries to will himself out of the submission, but in a weird moment, it looks like he is straight up tapping out. Instead, he’s just pumping the crowd up with him. Steamboat pleads with the referee, as Flair continues to use the ropes to his advantage.
The referee catches Flair using the ropes, and he forces Flair to break the hold. Great move by the ref! Both men are back to their feet, and they unload on each other with chops and punches to the head. Flair runs the ropes and he dives right onto Steamboat, sending both men over the top rope and out to the floor. Flair sends Steamboat into the steel ring post. Jim Ross reminds us that this is indeed the NWA on commentary. I had no idea.
Flair suplexes Steamboat back into the ring from the apron, and he gets a nearfall off of that. Magnum TA, on commentary with Ross, sounds suspiciously like Bobby Heenan. I like it. Flair hits a back suplex for another nearfall. Flair is frustrated with the cadence of the counting, and he pushes the ref, who pushes him right back. A back breaker follows on Steamboat, and he uses his feet on the ropes to pin Steamboat, who is barely able to get his shoulders off the mat. Steamboat takes advantage of Flair yelling at the fans to get a roll up attempt on him.
Flair sends Steamboat into the corner, and he comes off the turnbuckle with a splash attempt, but Flair moves out of the way. Flair with a side headlock takedown, and Steamboat slips out of it with a double arm suplex, and Flair gets his foot on the bottom rope. Flair attempts a hip toss, but Steamboat reverses into a back slide pin attempt, which only gets 2. Flair with another chop to the chest, and Steamboat is right there with him, chopping and punching away. Steamboat explodes out of the corner with a hard clothesline. A judo chop to the head of the fallen champion, followed by an arm tackle is next.
Steamboat scales the top rope and comes down with a flying judo chop to the head. Steamboat is back on the top rope, and he comes down with a crossbody, which ends up taking both Flair and the referee down. Flair goes for a roll up, but the ref is still down. He rakes the eyes of Steamboat and checks on the ref. Steamboat goes to the top and comes down with a crossbody, which Flair avoids. He goes for the Figure Four, but Steamboat counters with an inside cradle, and he catches Flair for 3! Steamboat is the new NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion! Flair is pissed, as he walks off. Steamboat grabs the house mic and asks for his wife and child to come to the ring for the celebration.
The words of the day are “simplicity” and “fundementals.” I have to wonder, as someone who isn’t completely familiar with wrestling before the 1990s, if this is what made all of these matches so good. Between his matches with Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk, Ric Flair executes this style almost better than anyone, and he does it very well here in this fantastic Worlds Championship showdown. He sticks to a simple game plan and nearly pulls it off, but what he wasn’t prepared for was the explosiveness of the Dragon.
With every shot that Flair had, Steamboat countered with one of his own. He certainly kept Flair on his toes all match long, and that created a great dynamic as it went on as to who was going to do which move stronger. I think what gave Steamboat the overall advantage was his willingness to go the high flying route at times. Flair is more of a grounded wrestler, while Steamboat isn’t afraid to take to the heights.
Despite this not being the flashiest of matches, these two made up for that by having a simple but thrilling contest. Every move here matters, and leads to the next thing so effortlessly. There’s no high spots for the sake of it – just straight wrestling. Their chemistry is what pushes this to the annals of greatness. This is a fantastic example of how to elevate the basics of professional wrestling.