Original subtitles

- I don't know any other athletes

that are in better condition

than Ric Flair and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- He had it.

He had the look.

I said "Give me a shot as a kid,

I'm telling you, he's got it."

- You work with Ric Flair,

that means you're going to make money.

I said, "Let's go for it."

- That's it pretty boy.

Now he's ugly.

[laughing]

- We're just gettin' goin' kid.

- Lifestyle wise, these guys were very different.

- Steamboat-

I don't care if you gotta kid-

This is wrestling.

- But they always created something special.

- You gotta believe in yourself.

You gotta have a positive attitude within yourself.

But then there's some athletes,

just carry it a little bit too far.

Flair would try to push me as much as I would try to push him.

You know, we were rivals.

- You can bet,

that this one fire breathing dragon

is going to be loaded to the gills with fire.

- The adrenaline has got to be flowin'.

- Steamboat and my dad.

It was a perfect recipe.

- This is where it all began, buddy.

- I could sit down and watch it all over again-

-to this day.

- We knew how good it was.

So did everybody else.

They're still talking about it.

- You're outta line.

- So much animosity

in this awesome rivalry.

- When two legends collide,

the rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

I'm Gabriel Iglesias

and this is

WWE Rivals.

- Each time that these two have met,

they've been monumental matches.

There's no doubt about that.

- Today we are talking about "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

and the rivalry he had with Ricky Steamboat.

These two superstars were polar opposites.

I mean, on one end you have profilin', kiss stealin',

wheelin' and dealin' Ric Flair woo on the complete other side,

he wasn't even "The Dragon" yet,

but he was already an amazing performer in ring.

- Flair comes to the ring with 50 women

and Ricky comes with his wife and son.

I mean, you know, it's just it's cut and dry as it is,

but they were physically really well matched.

- But it's like they were born to compete against each other.

- Yeah.

- Where it starts in the late 70's goes to the 80's

with this epic trilogy.

You know, at the time on the other channel was Hulkamania

and it was-it was unstoppable.

- Look at the Hulkster and Hulkamania.

It's alive and running well.

- These guys,

they were the counterbalance to what WWE was.

- Competition.

We thrive on it.

We love it.

We've got to have the best

in front of us each and every night.

- Flair was so over the top that you know, as much as he was

an attraction heel when he was bragging and showing off

and all that, you wanted to see him get his ass kicked.

- Hi wrestling fans,

welcome to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

- If you ever seen me looking finer , huh?

- It's a nice looking sport coat.

Yeah.

- The rings are bigger.

The cars are bigger.

- You had a good year.

- The women are prettier.

I had a great year.

- Mid-Atlantic was a territory

with an old southern way about it.

And here was Ric Flair,

in flashy colors and bleach blonde hair.

And he just shook the whole place up.

- Remember one thing,

diamonds are forever.

- He probably is one of the

biggest stars in wrestling today.

He knows it.

He's probably one of the biggest egotists.

- Ric Flair he would just have this

aura of being better than you.

And it drove wrestling fans crazy.

- I wanted to be over the top.

I wanted it to be the very best.

In all my greatness, in all my magnificence-

'Cause I've been wrestling a lot of great wrestlers

in the Carolinas,

I took it very seriously.

I wanted to be the best wrestler

and I wanted to have the best match.

- He was the man and he'd made his mark.

And by then he was the standard bearer of excellence

as far as wrestling goes.

- Ric Flair was one of the top guys in wrestling.

- You want to know who the

the biggest star in the world today, huh?

Right here.

- Ric Flair.

- Ricky at that time was pretty much an unknown.

- 228 pounds from Hawaii,

the challenger, Ricky Steamboat.

- When I first came to the Mid-Atlantic region,

basically, I was just happy to have a job.

I think I had a $50 a night guarantee.

- They just saw so much talent in the guy.

He had it.

He had the look.

And Ricky could wrestle from day one.

At that time, it was really hard.

The older guys didn't like young guys come along.

- Ric Flair once said,

"You know, you get this new kid that's just come in.

I like what I see."

- Not that I had a lot to say back then,

but I said "Give me a shot at this kid.

I'm telling you, he's got it."

- I guess I was going through an anxiety moment

when I found out the number one heel

in the territory wanted to do an angle with me.

You work with Ric Flair, that means you're going

to make money and we're all in the business to make money.

I said, "Let's go for it."

- So the promotion put these two together for the

Television Championship, first match.

- Nature Boy is the Mid-Atlantic TV Champion,

and this is the first time this young punk

has ever had a main event.

- Yeah, but Ric Flair's backing up.

He's backing up.

- Hey, listen.

- Look at that.

- What about him?

- Ric, he had the rare quality of-

He could bring the best out of other wrestlers-

He could make other superstars-

Very rare quality.

- Steamboat off the ropes.

He got him.

- He got him.

- Ricky Steamboat the new

Mid-Atlantic TV Champion.

- They didn't even know Ricky.

From day one when these guys

walk into the ring when they come out their dressing room

and just something just clicked with them and the people.

I'd never seen nuttin' like it.

- And Ric Flair eyes are as big as saucers.

- I would think that Ric Flair saw a young,

super athletic adversary

for the villain that Ric Flair was,

and fans saw a lot, too.

- I was this young Hawaiian kid with long black hair, you know,

had a good look about me.

- Back in those days,

We'd try to get guys that look great because they're the ones

that the girls would go to the wrestlin'.

If the girls went to the wrestling,

then the guys would buy a ticket to go.

So Ricky really had all the ladies really loving him

with his look.

- He had that body beautiful man.

The skin, the hair, everything was perfect.

- Ricky had one more thing.

He had a kindness about him that the people seen.

He's just a good hearted man.

- Good versus bad, handsome, athletic, great body-

-the show off.

It's the perfect recipe.

- We wanted to create some interest between the two of us.

- Steamboat, where are you, punk?

I'm right here, baby doll

Get Steamboat out here.

- Flair being Flair brash and overconfident.

- Oh, I'm talking to you.

You listen to me, boy.

Everywhere I go, all they talk about is you beat me, huh?

You beat the Great one, huh?

- Flair was just all mouth and one of the best.

- Boy, get in the ring right now.

- Ric, he said get in the ring right now.

- Ric was a master at wanting to be the bad guy.

- He wants to wrestle me one on one.

- Maybe you didn't hear me.

I said get in there and wrestle the right man.

- Yeah.

He's serious.

- You got him.

- Doing gritty, physical stuff,

it only added to their story.

- He's trying to stomp him right at his head-

very hard.

- He's not giving Steamboat a chance to get into the ring.

I've never seen anybody handle that way with a man.

- He's out on the floor now.

- And here comes Flair after him.

- He took me down to the cement floor,

and started rubbing my face on the cement floor.

- Ric Flair has gone, man.

- He's draggin' him.

- Ric Flair, grinding Ricky's face into the cement,

added this realism.

A lot of times good guys in wrestling

are called babyfaces because they have a baby face.

There's a softness and a likability to their face.

It's what Ric Flair was ruining by grinding it into the cement.

- And there's your pretty boy.

Now he's ugly.

- Well, when Ricky got back to the back,

at that time said "He's not bruised enough."

They took sandpaper and rubbed the skin off of his face.

- We'd sandpaper his eye.

He didn't get the pigmentation back for two years.

This fruit looked like we killed them.

- Do you know how hard it is to sandpaper the eyebrow hair

off of your eyelid area?

That would garner the sympathy.

- I made the guy,

overnight.

I made him a big star.

He got lucky one night of his life, he beat me right there.

He was an instant star, and I destroyed him.

- It was either a week or two later on TV.

It's going to be a revenge time for Ricky.

It was a different type of angle.

- Hey check, check out the turkey girls.

- This was, uh, abusive.

- Check out the turkey, huh?

Huh?

- There he goes.

- All right.

- I've never seen anybody handle that way-

- There was a time where you could see Ric Flair

get violent,

get nasty.

He could also bring it.

- It was a different level.

I mean, to actually grab sandpaper and go,

"No, man, we're gonna make this and sell this."

- That was part of the business back then was the legitimacy

of being in your character

24/7 and people seeing Ricky going,

"Ah, I saw him it, man."

- "Man he got you."

- My dad would always say it's good for business.

Ric wanted to do whatever he

could to make himself the bad guy,

so that Ricky would be able to get that comeuppance.

- Hey, check- check out the turkey girls.

Check out the turkey, huh?

Huh?

- Wait a minute.

It may be Ric Flair's time.

- That's right.

- He's got on one of his tailor made suits.

- A brand new suit, shirt, and all.

- That's right.

I tore his suit off of him, and that was Flair's idea.

He told me in the ring at the moment.

"Tear my suit up. Tear my suit up."

- And it's all Ricky Steamboat now.

- When Ricky got his hands on Flair,

he started ripping the expensive suit,

symbolically taking off the armor

that Ric Flair had built around himself,

and exposing him as just another man.

- Do you know who I am?

I'm the U.S.-

You think someone could do this to me on TV?

In front of my-

- People are like,

you know, looking at Flair in his underwear,

he cut this scathing promo afterwards.

- As God is my witness.

As God is my witness, Steamboat.

You-

You will pay, God Almighty-

[crowd chanting "Steamboat"]

Shut up.

- After that aired, we were selling out,

sold out everywhere.

- I just passed along my wisdom to him.

He-he just caught on so naturally.

You know what I mean?

- Well, the way Ricky would learn back in those days,

it was Flair was leading him around on a leash.

He was teaching him the art of wrestling.

- Ric Flair leads the match.

He calls it out there.

He does not plan things ahead of time.

He listens to the crowd.

Everything's instincts with him.

Everything he did meant something.

- Flair, it was like going to school every night in the match.

What to do in a match, how you do it, when you do it,

why you do it.

The psychology of doing things in the course of a match.

I know he wanted us to be successful.

I mean, he picked me.

- So Flair opened up the door, and said,

"Hey Ricky, yeah, you wanna do this, do that.

You want to jump off-jump- jump off the top rope.

You want to throw, chops throw, chops."

So he kind of gave Ricky that freedom.

- We wrestled hours all the time.

I know that everybody loved him.

It wasn't hard.

It's hard when a guy can't wrestle an hour.

He had no problem.

We've never had a bad one.

We didn't have off nights.

- They probably had the best matches that no one outside

those arenas ever saw.

Night after night, in towns all over the Carolinas.

Those guys went at it and they went at it full bore.

- Ric Flair being the number one heel for the company

at the time, made me, after a couple of years,

the number one babyface for the company.

When I started out making $3-$400 a week

and I was working with Ric Flair,

making $12-$1500-$2000 a week.

- We worked a Christmas weekend,

and we picked up a check for Christmas week.

It was $8,800 a piece for a week.

I said, "[bleep] Hey man, how cool is this?"

He goes,"Good, you know, I'm taking some time off.

I don't I don't feel like working this hard."

I said, "What the [bleep]?"

[laughing]

I go over to his house, it's Christmas day,

I said, "I don't want to hear you say that again.

Don't ever talk like that again.

"Taking the time off.

What the [bleep]?"

[laughing]

"We're just gettin' goin', kid."

[laughing]

[bleep] one week, yeah, $8,800.

Steamboat, that's one of my women right there, baby doll.

You see the one with the nice tan,

And the pretty blond hair,

I'm not talking about one of these fat ones

that come to cheer you.

I'm talking about that woman over there, you see.

- All of us felt that

the character of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair,

actually took over,

the guy of Richard Fliehr.

You gotta believe in yourself.

You gotta have a positive attitude within yourself.

But then there's some athletes

who just carry it a little bit too far.

- Ric Flair became Ric Flair out of the ring.

A lot of us,

we left our business in the ring,

but he carried it wherever he went.

- Over the years, A lot of the fans have said that

I have a flair for buying nice clothes,

and a flair for buying fancy cars,

and a flair for wearing nice jewelry.

- Ricky would go all day or all night thinking about what to do.

Whereas a lot of time with Ric Flair,

he wasn't thinking about what do until he got to the building

because he was out being "The Nature Boy".

- He'd have the match, stay out all night,

make the plane to the next city, get out,

and then he'd go to the gym.

Sometimes, literally, we'd go three, four days at a time

without sleeping and wrestling every night

and going to the gym every day.

- And there was times we'd be at the gym together

at the same time, and we're trying to outdo each other.

But it was a good competitiveness.

It was a good rivalry.

It kept us sharp, you know, we were friends,

but then again, we were also rivals.

But I think that's a good combination.

- Spent money, had fun in the ring,

full time "Natch"

And that's how it was.

- These guys, you know, they-

they first went against each other in the late 70's,

and then they go on and they both have a fantastic

career before they go again against each other.

- Any time that him and I hooked up on the marquee in any city

in the Mid-Atlantic,

it was big business and it was good business.

But I've been here for almost eight years.

It's time for me to move on.

And then, of course, in '85,

when WWE started to go nationwide,

how would you like to wrestle 300 days a year and

you're wrestling in front of 15,000 every night.

- Coming down the aisle

ladies and gentlemen, Ricky Steamboat.

- Pretty much overnight, your income doubled.

- Top turnbuckle-

Gibbs on his feet-

High crossbody-

He hooks the leg-

He's going to get him.

[bell rings]

- Ricky Steamboat getting a big hand

from this capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden.

- At that time, we all went own ways I was happy for him.

- When WWE went national and really started to expand,

there was a lure of more money and becoming a much bigger star.

There was just so much more in WWE

that the territories didn't provide.

- He was a huge star, huge gift from Carolinas.

- WWE had this big feel to it.

And so when you saw Ricky go to WWE,

he really stepped up his game as far as his presentation as well.

Coming to WWE took Ricky to another level of stardom.

- One more time.

- Now you have speed.

- A huge turning point in his career,

was when he became "The Dragon".

Bruce Lee films were as popular

as anything could be at the time.

- Well, Ricky Steamboat,

this is, I understand, is the Bridge of Serenity.

- At one time, Gene, this area was not so serene.

I was a Bruce Lee fan,

Enter The Dragon movie,

and then that named "the Dragon",

that sort of boom, popped.

- Here at the Temple of Ching Lau.

We have been invited by Rick "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

- Calling him "The Dragon" it was such a great term

back then to do merchendise off of.

[yelling]

- Wrestling superstars they're for real.

- Flair wouldn't go.

He stayed with the company.

I don't know anybody else that had loyalty to the people.

Everybody left.

- I just couldn't get myself to leave the NWA.

I was just happy.

I was the champion,

and I was really loyal

To be the world champion back then was really-

you're talking about some really megastar talent.

'Cause I'm the world champion.

I'm the best there is and I can back up every word I say.

- He had the hair.

He had, you know, the ladies on each arm,

you know, the-the Rolex.

Ric Flair was the face of everything really in wrestling.

That wasn't WWE.

- Ric Flair dominated the wrestling scene.

If you look at the wrestling magazines,

there would be pictures of me,

and then two magazines of Ric Flair.

Picture of me,

and then three magazines of Ric Flair.

He was carrying the banner during the NWA days.

- So when WrestleMania 3 happened, Ric Flair was on top

of the world in the NWA.

Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man had this match at WrestleMania 3

which would let Ricky show his wares in front

of a huge audience.

- History will be made here this afternoon

in the Pontiac Silverdome.

- Wrestlemania 3,

by far the biggest thing that WWE had ever done.

- The day has finally come.

The minutes, the seconds,

we have reached our moment.

- It was tremendous, especially for the time.

It was a completely different match that large audiences

hadn't seen at that time.

- But the champions still in control, no,

a small package by "The Dragon".

He got him.

- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

- They tore the joint down.

They had a hell of a match.

It was phenomenal.

- I was getting national exposure on a national level.

What it did for all of us, the traveling was the downfall.

Then it started to wear on you the money I make,

and how much is that worth as compared to being away

from home for two months?

- The toll that being on the road takes on you is nothing

compared to what it takes on your family.

It's so unfair to be gone as much as we were.

- I think there was certainly a hunger for a potential rematch,

but we never got it and Ricky would disappear

from WWE TV for a while.

- Ricky left to go be with his family.

Rick didn't want to be on the road anymore.

Rick had been three years, I believe in WWE at that point

and to spend time with his family.

So he made the decision to leave.

- I already made my mind up.

I couldn't miss it.

If I was on the road, I would not be able to capture

what's going on right now with my son.

If I was on the road,

there would be things that I would regret.

- Money is great, but you know,

you get those moments one time.

- back then was running constant.

You know, we were running 250 300 nights a year.

Yeah, that's-that's literally

the reason why I didn't have children, you know,

because I was on the road 300 nights a year,

and I've saw so many guys have problems with their

children because the father was absent.

And I thought, I just can't do that to a kid.

So it was a real thing with Ricky to make a choice.

"I've done my thing in WWE.

I'm going to go home and take care of my family

and work close to home."

- And I'd say the choice,

it wasn't a big risk because he was going to be

plugged in with Ric Flair.

- I'm thinking back with the NWA,

there would be more time at home being based out of-

I was living in Charlotte,

lived there for a number of years.

There would be more frequent times that I would be home.

- World Championship Wrestling

bringing you great wrestling action,

sanctioned by the NWA.

- And we are set.

Ric Flair, Barry Windham against Eddie Gilbert

and you saw they said Mr. Ric.

- There's a lot of anticipation.

A lot of people are speculating who is going to be

Eddie Gilbert's mystery partner.

- Where's his partner?

Where's the big man, huh?

- And now he is back in NWA to kind of settle an old score.

- I don't believe what we're seeing here,

- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat has arrived.

- That [bleep] was on now.

- Ric Flair in disbelief.

Steamboat walking in here

to the studios of TBS has taken the confidence

and blown it right out of the water.

- You got no business in here pal.

Get outta here or get your ass kicked.

You got a problem with that?

- After all the notoriety that he built in his time in WWE,

now, it was like Ric and Ricky were seen as equals.

- And look at the strength.

He has got it all, the strength and the power that has made his

name synonymous with success in the squared circle.

Flair throws him off, nice tackle, what contact.

What impact on that football tackle.

- We did not miss a beat.

It'd been a few years had gone by and we just picked right up

where we left off.

- High crossbody off the top and he pinned him again.

[bell rings]

- Ricky Steamboat has now pinned

the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

- Every day that goes by,

I appreciate him even more because how difficult of a task

to be a clean cut, good guy, who doesn't finish last.

You have to have it really in ya,

and they have to recognize it.

- Ric Flair's got the belt, and that's one of the reasons

why I came back to this area,

to the National Wrestling Alliance.

Don't get me wrong, fans,

that's number one.

And the the other main reason is, is this,

let me bring him on right now.

Come on out.

Wrestling-

[crowd cheers]

You know-you know something, Tony?

I'm very, very proud of my family.

And this is one of the reasons why I've come back

in quest for the World Championship.

You know, had a beautiful wife.

Got a great looking little boy.

And the people are just going to swoon all over this.

- Steamboat.

I don't care if you got a kid and a wife.

This is wrestling.

Don't walk out here,

look at the public.

You're here for my belt,

and you aren't gonna get it.

Woo.

He-he was such a family guy, man,

the family dynamic,

I just insulted it.

It was horrible.

Come on out Steamboat.

Take your pick, huh?

You gotta be bored sitting home every night.

Come on, buddy.

- You know something, Ric Flair?

The difference between you and me

is the fact that you represent

all the evil, materialistic things in this world.

more than the family unit.

- He understood.

You can't have a great babyface without a good bad guy, and you

can't have a good bad guy without a great babyface.

And he knew what his role was.

It was so simple, but so good.

- Hello everybody.

Welcome to the Chi-Town Rumble '89.

- In 1989,

the first match between the two was the Chi-Town Rumble,

which I know you remember very well.

- Chi-town Rumble-

is a special, special match.

- Well, the champion certainly travels in fast company.

- Perhaps we'll see history made here tonight.

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

certainly ready for this challenge.

- It's real to him.

And when it's real to Ricky and real to Ric Flair,

as it always was, you can't top it.

- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat 5'11", 235.

Ric Flair 6', 242.

[bell rings]

He has proved that he can beat the champion,

but can he do it with a belt on the line?

That is the question.

- They subvert expectations where they start hot and heavy,

they change the formula.

- Every move was crisp.

- Look at this maneuver.

Great dropkick, great quickness by

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- Every move was like poetry in motion.

- And Steamboat, look at this bridge.

- It is just hardcore wrestling.

We worked hard with each other and we were relentless.

- Flair the master of the Figure Four.

After the inverted Atomic Drop

has got it locked in

on the challenger.

- The promoter will tell, back in the day,

"I want you to hit him so hard

that the people in the cheap seat could hear it."

- I used to hit him as hard as I could.

He'd hit me back.

Hard as he can.

- Oh, he's upside down.

He goes down the apron.

"The Nature Boy's" on top.

Flying crossbody, but Steamboat reverses it.

One, two, and he kicks out.

My God that was-

we're talking about a few inches.

- No wrist holds, just-

boom boom boom.

- Let's turn the corner.

He twists the leg.

Inside-wait a minute.

Inside cradle.

Can he hold him?

Yes he can.

[bell rings]

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat has won the world title.

- It was a big moment for me.

I had tears in my eyes

when I realized I became a world champion

for the first time.

I was real happy that finally

they felt the nod to go in my direction.

It's hard for me to believe what I'm holding in my hands

after all these years, and I don't know how many

here comes the boys with the champagne.

- It's rarified air

to become world champion.

You want to be back in the locker room with them

and whoop it up and dump champagne on his head.

That's a lot of fun.

But it's also acknowledgment of what he's accomplished

and what he means.

- Not only does Ricky win the NWA championship,

but we didn't know his fans that this was the beginning of one

of the greatest trilogies in wrestling history.

- Inside cradle.

Can he hold him?

Yes he can.

[bell rings]

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat has won the world title.

- And you have these partnerships with a guy that

you've wrestled many times, or a lady that you wrestled many

times, get that bag of things you can pull out.

- They had so much stuff in the pocket,

you're almost bonded by battle.

- Ric Flair versus Ricky in 1989

is the Star Wars of Wrestling trilogies.

- Success of that first match was so overwhelming,

there was no doubt there was going to be a return.

- It's a great honor that Steamboat enjoys right now,

but the bottom line is, he is going to have the shortest reign

of any World Champion in the history of the NWA.

- You can bet that there's one fire breathing dragon,

that's going to be loaded to the gills with fire.

- Today, in a two out of three fall showdown

in the New Orleans Superdome,

the championship of the world once again will be on the line.

- The two out of three falls match the concept is first

competitor to beat the other guy two times.

They can be grueling, especially those hour long ones.

- This is the Clash of Champions 6, the Ragin Cajun Showdown.

- I think two of the most important things

in pro wrestling are storytelling and believability.

To be good at storytelling,

you have to have a believability,

- Flair, Steamboat sizing each other up.

- The biggest thing about Ricky was that he connected with the

fans to the point of they wanted him to win.

- And oh, he caught him.

- Their desire for him to win was so strong.

- This one has been a real physical.

- And he did that by his art of selling

whatever the guy did to him.

- Sends Flair for the ride, but Flair just punted him.

- The art to this business is selling, getting sympathy.

- I sort of learned early on being a babyface

you had to be a salesman.

So whatever the heel was doing to you in a match,

you had to come across as being convincing.

- Flair's got him on his back.

- That's it, that's it.

- Ricky loses the first fall.

Everybody's on the edge of their seat,

waiting for what Ricky always does,

which is to mount that superhuman comeback,

where he finds it in himself and stays in the fight.

- He went to the well, and it was dry as they say.

- Main appeal was after you sell,

you fight from the bottom up.

You make that huge comeback.

The comeback didn't mean anything unless you got people

rumbling in their seats before he started coming up.

It's like a hero shot in the movie.

You know, this comeback was a hero shot.

- You can make people feel it.

It was that easy.

Then I got him down,

boy the crowd was roaring.

And then he'd came back on me,

and they were screaming.

- Steamboat with the advantage.

- Driving forearms, here's a double chicken wing.

Picks him up into the air right there.

That is a double chicken wing there.

Dislocates your shoulders pulls on your back at the same time.

- He's giving up, that's it.

[bell rings]

He's giving up.

A double chicken wing.

Flair has submitted to "The Dragon".

- and now we will go to the climactic third-

- and final fall.

In a time of 34 minutes, the winner of the second fall

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- Without any words spoken, Flair would try to push me as

much as I would try to push him.

- Oh, God.

- That expression in our business,

when somebody says they're blowed up,

that means they're out of gas.

That means they are fighting to catch breath.

And that was an underlining I know it.

- Beautiful backdrop.

- We would never say it to each other.

I'm going to try and blow you up tonight

that-that discussion would never take place.

But it was out there in the ring.

You knew it.

- Sends Flair for the ride upside down.

- Whoa, here he comes

- That's gotta-

Oh and he got me with a clothesline.

- You can't do what they were doing at that pace

without being super conditioned.

Both of them were meticulous about their conditioning.

- 15 minutes remain til time limit.

- They've wrestled 45 minutes, 15 minutes remain.

- It is a real roller coaster going that long.

It's not just a cardio thing, which is tough,

but it's a real roller coaster, mentally.

That's real art.

- Been out there so long

you got to do anything to get him to pop up.

- Vertical suplex.

Flair's got him high in the air.

- That hall with me and him there.

They're still talking about it.

- Here he comes off that top rope.

Flying body press.

- He beat him with this before.

And Flair barely got that shoulder up.

- They will not quit.

I love it, I love it.

What a tremendous match this here.

- The fine points, not just the the techniques of wrestling and

going through the moves, but the psychology.

- Double arm chicken wing.

The double arm chicken wing.

He's got him.

He fell back.

- He can't hold him.

- He's got Flair.

He's got-

He's got Steamboat.

Flair had Steamboat.

- When we finally get to that ending-

- Steamboat has won.

Steamboat had Flair's shoulders to the mat.

- Where Ricky did win,

but Ric Flair's foot is on the outside of the ropes.

- There's that imaginary line

that if any part of the body is on,

that rope breaks the hold, but you could get away with it.

So it left a gray area there.

- I think you really have to know your character.

And that's the one thing that my dad knew was his character

- He's complaining that his foot was there.

Look he's telling the referee his foot was on the bottom rope.

- Always continued the story no matter how they left off.

You wanted to see it again.

- As crooked as Ric Flair is, he's right.

He shouldn't have lost that match after two classics.

I'm hungry for a third Steamboat Flair match.

- The way I look at it is.

You gotta wrestle me one more time.

That means I gotta beat you,

no if, ands or buts.

- The big date is Sunday, May the 7th in Nashville.

The big pay per view spectacular,

the Music City Showdown.

And it will be settled.

- This third match would be the

epic ending to this fantastic rivalry between the two.

- This, without a doubt is going to be

my most important match.

- It's Wrestle War '89.

- Steamboat

You are the greatest wrestler on the face of this Earth.

But pal, today you got to beat Ric Flair-

one more time.

But to be the man,

you got to beat the man.

And I'm saying, woo.

- All right fans, this is what we came to see.

- Has Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

got Ric Flair's number?

- The trilogy ended at Wrestle War in 1989.

- These matches kind of define Ric Flair

Later, as we just know of him as he's the greatest.

These were the matches that made you go

"That was it, that's why."

- And they always had that incredible timing

when they exchanged.

- Dragon shoots him off.

Football tackle by Flair,

high hip block tackle and a deep arm drag.

- Flair has been in the ring with the best of the best

and I have too.

- Steamboat back into the corner.

Slap.

Uh, oh.

- It's just something about our chemistry together.

You couldn't bottle it.

You couldn't write it down as a rule book to follow.

He would just give me a look, and I-I got it.

- Each man has taken the best that the other can dish out.

Flair sent for the ride.

High elevation.

Down on his back.

- Talk to other guys and they've had that kind of blend.

And then there's some guys that never have it,

or they never found it or never felt it.

I had it with Flair.

- And we just went to war, man, we had fun.

People could see it.

- I can sit down and watch it all over again-

-to this day.

It's that good.

- Here comes Steamboat.

And oh-

Flair shook the ropes.

Steamboat fell the way to the floor.

Steamboat's got him up.

A slam.

But, Flair an inside cradle, one, two.

He did it, he did it.

[bell rings]

- Steamboat's leg buckled.

And Flair has done it, Flair has done it.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the winner,

and for the sixth time

World Heavyweight Champion

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

- Something you don't see very often fans,

Two great competitors like this,

out in the center of the ring, both with tremendous

respect for each other.

- It's an interesting thing in wrestling,

even when you're a bad guy,

wrestling fans appreciate when you're good at what you do.

And there's nobody that's been better than Ric Flair.

- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat,

and Ric Flair both competed in one of the greatest matches,

that any of us have ever witnessed.

- He was in sync with the people.

He either knew how to make them boo,

or knew how to make them cheer.

And that's a gift.

- Not character for Ric Flair,

but Rick Steamboat

is the greatest champion I've ever faced,

and I'm proud to be here for a sixth time.

- That's how much I thought of him,

personally.

Nothing wrong with saying the truth.

- That was big time, you know, for him to say it.

I mean, they broke the mold when they made Ric Flair, right?

That, you know, for him to say it.

That meant we did something special.

- That's what it's all about.

It's hard to put up their body of work

and anyone compete with it.

It's very impressive.

- And this goes on to be one of

the greatest trilogies of all time.

- You're lucky when you're in your prime to have a class

competitor like that to make you better.

- It's Ric Flair going on to become, you know,

a mount Rushmore wrestler

- Woo.

- Ricky, for you and I,

was a producer and agent at WWE

just to get a little of the magic.

- There's duck suplex-

takes a swing and duck into that belly to back,

and you know, give it to him, boom.

- So many of the next generation were inspired by these two.

And you can go back and you can watch their matches.

They were way ahead of their time.

- And the Hall of Fame just brought everything full circle.

The level of respect between the two is amazing.

- I've been blessed by so many wonderful things over the years,

but tonight is a great moment too.

This time to induct my long time friend,

and my greatest wrestling opponent of all time,

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

- I just wanted to say thank you for doing something that I know

nobody else in the business has done.

He'll remain one of my favorite people of all time.

- Iconic type stuff.

The series of matches they had together.

Both regarded by the fans and by the guys inside wrestling

as two of the greatest ever.

- These are two of the greatest athletes,

bar none in the world today.

- They had stand the test of time.

And it's special.

- I spoke to Ric a month ago.

Even after 40 some years, we still-

talk about how great we were-

[laughing]

-back in the day, but.

- We knew how good it was.

So did everybody else.

The trilogy,

they're still talking about it.