[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rickysteamboat_3347.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:"Competition has always been good."]]

Richard Henry Blood, Sr. (born February 28, 1953) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name '''Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat'''. He has worked for brands like Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling, Wrestling/{{AWA}}, Wrestling/{{WCW}} and Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Known for being one of the few wrestlers to have stayed a {{Face}} for his entire twenty year career.

Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-tv.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Television Champion]], former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-tv.html WCW Television Champion]], former 5x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Tag Team Champion]] (3x with Wrestling/PaulJones, 1x with Dino Bravo and 1x with Jay Youngblood), former 6x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic/WCW) World Tag Team Champion]] (5x with Jay Youngblood and 1x with Paul Jones), former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag-Team Champion]] (1x with [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]] and 1x with Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html NWA United States Heavyweight Champion]], former 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWF United States Heavyweight Champion]], former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/ma-h.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) Heavyweight Champion]], former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWF/E Intercontinental Champion]] and former [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]]. He is been inducted into the George Tragos/Wrestling/LouThesz Professional Wrestling and to the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2009 as well as to the NWA Hall of Fame in 2012.
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!! "The Dragon's tropes will SCORCH YOUR BACK!":
* AnimalMotifs: Beginning in mid-eighties, of course.
* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/SgtSlaughter, [[Wrestling/DonMuraco "Magnificent" Don Muraco]], [[Wrestling/RandySavage "Macho Man" Randy Savage]], [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]], Wrestling/RickRude, Wrestling/RicFlair, [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stunning" Steve Austin]] and Wrestling/ChrisJericho.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: What he took to the ring in order to fight back Damien in his match against Roberts wasn't a "Komodo Dragon", but a baby crocodile.
* BashBrothers: With Jay Youngblood, Wrestling/PaulJones, [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]], Wrestling/ShaneDouglas (pre-ECW, of course)
* BewareTheNiceOnes: This mild-mannered, soft spoken lifetime babyface manages to scare his heel opponents shitless. He's that good.
* ButNotTooForeign: Steamboat is of mixed ascestry, having been born to an English father and a Japanese mother.
* CaptainErsatz: ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' '''Liu Kang'''... anyone? There's a very strong hint that he was based on The Dragon, to the point of actually transforming into one.
** Starting with the franchise's [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII second game]], Liu's attire begun to be every time more similar to that worn by Ricky.
* CombatCommentator: Served as one for the Pro Wrestling Syndicate
* DeathbringerTheAdorable: A man with the birth name Richard Blood was known as the kindest man in wrestling and spent his entire career as a face because he was too likeable to draw heat.
* TheDragon: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Besides of being his [[RedBaron moniker]], he never have gave any indication that he was serving as "second-in-command" for any BigBad.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Didn't use "The Dragon" RedBaron until his first WWF run, though he retained it for the rest of his career.
* EnemyMine: With The Prophecy vs The Second City Saints in Ring Of Honor. Then with the Second City Saints vs Generation Next. Then with Mick Foley vs The Carnage Crew.
* {{Expy}}[=/=]LegacyCharacter: Of Sam Steamboat. Eddie Graham actually made him pass as his nephew.
* {{Face}}: Spent his entire career as a good guy, which is almost unheard of in Professional Wrestling. TNA planned a storyline around his first-ever heel turn, basing it around Vince [=McMahon=] snubbing him years earlier, but Steamer never appeared on ''Impact'' again. (Smart man.)
** He actually wanted to turn heel a few times, but bookers were unconvinced that he fans would buy him as a bad guy. He was reportedly told that even if he went out there with a chainsaw and sawed Wrestling/HulkHogan's arms off, the fans ''still'' wouldn't buy it. In fact, he's so likable that his real name (Richard Blood), an easy to use ring name, was changed to match his personality.
* FinishingMove: ''Diving Crossbody''.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Originally nicknamed "The Dragon" due to his physical similarity to Creator/BruceLee.
** When he came back in 1991, he became an anthropomorphic dragon who breathed fire.
* HopeSpot: In American Pro Wrestling, this trope is most commonly referred to as '''"The Rule of the Baby Face"''', called later '''"The Law of Steamboat"''', after him. It states that even if all of your offensive power was completely ineffective, you'd always make sure to do something to at least let the people know you were still trying to win the match.
* IKnowKarate: Or UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} for that matter, only implied given his ring attire back in the day. [[note]]The unfortunate implications of this is the old, tired cliché of AllAsiansKnowMartialArts that came with the gimmick, though[[/note]]. [[{{Irony}} Oddly enough]], his ring style is more akin to a MaskedLuchador than to your average martial artist.
* LighterAndSofter: During his second run in the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] after his stint in the WWF, he was well known for having his wife and son at ringside with him during his matches, portraying himself as a settled family man. This arguably worked against him, as the idea of the happily staid babyface was becoming passe in the early 90s and he spent most of his tenure feuding with Wrestling/RicFlair, he of the fast cars and faster women, who despite being the heel had the far more entertaining gimmick.
* LightningBruiser[=/=]PintSizedPowerhouse: At 5'10''/235 lbs. he was both incredibly agile and strong.
* MartialArtsHeadband: For show mostly when doing promos, he just wrestled with it on from '86 to '90.
* PowerStable: in WWF:
** ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series '87]]'': with "Macho Man", Jake "The Snake", Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan and [[Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake]]. Managed by Wrestling/MissElizabeth.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: In TNA, he was hired with the hopes he would be a reasonable one after a successive string of {{bad boss}}es and [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs attempted company takeovers]]. He ended up being perhaps ''too'' nice.
* RecycledSoundtrack: "Dragon", the theme he's used since returning in 2009, was originally used by the Wrestling/UltimoDragon during his forgettable WWE run.
* RetiredBadass (In 2009, ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome And How]]''!)
* TheReveal: Would often enter a territory as someone's unannounced tag team partner. Most notably, his classic 1989 series of matches with Wrestling/RicFlair started when Steamboat (billed as "Mr. X") teamed with Eddie Gilbert against Flair and Windham at a TV taping. Flair's surprise at seeing his former archrival was a classic Nature Boy meltdown.
* RingOldies: Wrestled up to the age of 56, though he took a 15-year break before then.
* TheRival
** His Wrestlemana III match with Randy Savage is still widely considered one of the best technical wrestling matches of all time, and was meticulously planned, spot to spot, by both men over the course of ''three months''.
** Wrestling/RicFlair and Steamboat had a series of matches known as the "holy trilogy" both for how good they were and how much they drew in 1989. Of course, he and Ric Flair had feuded before that too.
** To Wrestling/MickFoley in Wrestling/RingOfHonor, on whether the promotion should be showcasing more "pure wrestling" or "{{Garbage Wrestl|er}}ing".
* SignatureMove: A LOT:
** Several ''chop'' variants, prominently the ''Mongolian'', ''Knife-edge'' and top-rope ''Overhead'' ones. Also ''kicks'', being the ''Dropkick'' his most famous.
** ''Atomic drop/roll over'' and ''Arm drag/armbar'' transition combos.
** The ''Sleeper hold.''
** He also has a tendency to arch his back ''really'' high when he was dropped on it.
** An evade called ''Skin the Cat'', when flipped outside over the top-rope, gripping it hard both hands, and "slinking" back to the ring without touching the ground.
** The maneuver that highlights amongst the others was his ''Elevated double chicken-wing'', so unique to him even back in the day, that it's still a move you don't see too often outside the indy shows.
* StillGotIt: Steamboat made a return to active competition in 2009 when he feuded with Wrestling/ChrisJericho, facing him at ''Wrestling/{{Wrestlemania}} 25'' and ''Wrestling/{{Backlash}}.'' And damn if he wasn't still able to impress and give [=Y2J=] a ''serious'' run for his money!
* SummonBiggerFish: He used his "Komodo Dragon" to chase off Jake Roberts and Damien.
* TagTeam:
** The South Pacific Connection, with Wrestling/JimmySnuka in WWE.
** CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown: Los Dos Hombres, in mid-1993 WCW. It was supposed to have been Steamboat and Douglas under masks against the Hollywood Blondes ("Stunning" Steve Austin and [[Wrestling/BrianPillman "Flyin'" Brian Pillman]]), but Douglas had left/quit/been fired and Wrestling/BradArmstrong was the second guy. For the cage match at ''WCW [=Slamboree=] 93'', it was Wrestling/TomZenk.
* TakeThat: He had an issue with Wrestling/RonKillings in TNA, but when Ricky Steamboat tried to put Killings in his place, Ron Killings instead ran down Ricky Steamboat's WWF career and stated based on his wrestling ability alone Steamboat should have been WWF Champion but was held back for things he could not help.(basically, being an Asian man) In response to this, Steamboat gave Killings a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
* UnderwearOfPower: Before switching to long tights in the mid-1980's.
* WorthyOpponent: Wrestling/CMPunk, Wrestling/ColtCabana and Ace Steel, the Second City Saints. It did not start out that way, Punk trying to make history at Steamboat's expense but they eventually reach the point where they teamed up together against Generation Next in Ring Of Honor.
* WrestlingFamily: His brother Vic was also a professional wrestler. His [[Wrestling/RichieSteamboat son]] was a wrestler in WWE's developmental territory of FCW until a back injury forced him into early retirement.