Nature Boy Ric Flair vs. Ricky The Dragon Steamboat (Jan 1989 – May 1989)

Background

Ric Flair entered 1989 as NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a title he had held for over a year by the time Steamboat challenged for it.[6] The "Nature Boy" gimmick, with its limousines and robes that cost $8,000 to $10,000 apiece, wasn't really a costume Flair took off.[8] A 1989 newspaper profile caught him saying it plainly: "I make money. I spend money. I enjoy wearing the finest clothes, entertaining the most beautiful women in the world," and, more bluntly, "I make money with my personality. And I don't hug grandmothers and kiss kids."[8] He hinted at an income above a million dollars a year and said that if anyone in wrestling made more, it was Hulk Hogan.[8]

Ricky Steamboat's path ran the other way. Weeks after winning the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania III, he asked Vince McMahon for time off because his wife Bonnie was expecting their first son, and management, which had planned a long title run for him, had him drop the belt to The Honky Tonk Man on the June 15, 1987 edition of Superstars.[1] He came back for Survivor Series that November without a meaningful program, lost to Greg Valentine in the first round of the WrestleMania IV tournament in March 1988, and left the company shortly afterward.[1] Steamboat has said he stepped away to regroup because his attitude about the business "wasn't the attitude that had carried me forward for so many years."[7]

Flair has said he was the one who asked for him. "I requested to George Scott," Flair said, and the company gave Steamboat "a very lucrative deal for the three big shows and TV tapings in-between."[7] Steamboat's recollection is that nobody promised him a main-event run with Flair from the start, and that he was "just happy to work for a couple guys who would look after me."[7] The Observer reported in mid-January 1989 that Steamboat had finally agreed to terms and would come in for the Chi-Town Rumble pay-per-view in February.[22]

The two men went back further than the story WCW was telling. Steamboat first met Flair in 1977 in a Greenville, South Carolina locker room after coming to Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic territory; both had come through Verne Gagne's training camp, and Flair, by his own account, was "still learning" himself at that point.[7] Steamboat said they wrestled each other "so many times over the years that it just got to be very natural," including a one-hour draw over the NWA title in Greensboro in 1984.[7]

Build-up

Steamboat's return came as a surprise on screen. On the January 21 edition of World Championship Wrestling from the WTBS studio in Atlanta, he was revealed as "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert's mystery partner against Flair and Barry Windham, and he pinned the World Champion clean with a crossbody off the top.[1][9] The Observer reported that the original plan had Steamboat wrestle under a mask and unmask only after pinning Flair, until new booker George Scott changed it.[23] On the floor, J.J. Dillon could be heard yelling "NO NO NO NO NO NO" as Steamboat climbed the turnbuckles.[9]

Flair's reaction sold the moment as much as the pin did. One review called it "one of the greatest freak outs and/or mental collapses ever committed to film in pro wrestling," with Flair storming into the post-match interview to yell that millionaires don't get treated like this before insisting Steamboat would never get his title.[9] Steamboat demanded a title shot, and on the January 28 World Championship Wrestling the match was announced for Chi-Town Rumble.[2] The Observer reported that Gilbert got over so strongly in the angle that the company had wanted him in a featured spot on the pay-per-view.[23]

The two kept trading on TV. On the February 4 World Championship Wrestling, Steamboat press-slammed Flair and ripped his shirt off.[40] At Clash of the Champions V in Cleveland on February 15, Flair came out in a mink coat with Hiro Matsuda and a group of women, mocked Steamboat's family-man lifestyle, and told him to "help the Mrs. with the dishes."[40] Steamboat tore off Flair's suit jacket, shirt and pants, press-slammed him, hit a flying body press, then put on Flair's clothes and sunglasses and threw the shredded rest into the crowd.[40]

The Observer noted that the brawl repeated the 1978 angle between the two that had first made Steamboat a star.[25] Earlier on the same broadcast, Bob Caudle interviewed Steamboat holding his 19-month-old son Richie.[40] The Clash drew a 4.6 rating on TBS.[18]

Chi-Town Rumble, on February 20 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, drew 8,000 fans and a 1.5 buyrate.[19] Flair came out with Matsuda; Steamboat had been interviewed backstage with Bonnie and Richie.[41] Late in the single-fall match, a Steamboat crossbody wiped out referee Tommy Young, Flair rolled him up with a handful of tights while Young was down, and then Steamboat missed a crossbody off the top.[41][2] When Flair went for the figure-four, Steamboat cradled him, and replacement referee Teddy Long counted the pin at 23:18 that made Steamboat NWA World Heavyweight Champion.[41][19]

Steamboat said later the finish was "the same ending that Randy Savage and I had."[7] Dave Meltzer flew to Chicago for the show and rated the match five stars, and the Observer reported that many people called it the best match they had ever seen, with the other wrestlers watching from the dressing room.[25] After watching it again, Meltzer called it the best match in pay-per-view history.[26] The business numbers were harder to read: the NWA claimed 220,000 buys and the WWF claimed fewer than 100,000.[27]

Jim Ross called all three matches. On the walk to ringside in Chicago, George Scott told him they were taking the belt off Flair that night, which annoyed Ross because he wanted the finish to be spontaneous; he has said the match was so good that he forgot what he'd been told.[5]

The new champion's next stop was Japan. Steamboat replaced Flair on an All Japan tour in March, and the Observer reported that Giant Baba refused to let his top stars lose to him, which left the NWA World Champion losing preliminary tag matches while Flair vacationed in Hawaii.[27][28] Steamboat did eventually main-event an All Japan show, pinning Tiger Mask to retain the title.[29][1] Back home, many house shows put Steamboat against Mike Rotunda instead of Flair, though the two did meet on the road, including a March 18 match in Landover, Maryland that Meltzer rated six stars (see House Shows).[29][6]

The televised rematch came on April 2 at Clash of the Champions VI. The NWA had first planned a pay-per-view opposite WrestleMania V, and TBS replaced it with a free Clash special from the Louisiana Superdome headlined by Flair and Steamboat.[23][24] The Observer reported that the NWA was barely mentioning the show on its own TV in the weeks before.[28] It drew 5,300 fans to the Superdome and a 4.3 rating.[18]

Terry Funk joined Jim Ross on commentary for the two-out-of-three-falls match, and Steamboat's two-year-old son was at ringside in a dragon costume.[43][7] Flair took the first fall at 19:35 by reversing a Steamboat cradle.[12][18] Steamboat dropped elbow after elbow on Flair's knee for a figure-four, then won the second fall at 35:01 with a superplex and a double chickenwing submission.[12][18]

In the third fall, Flair went after Steamboat's knee with the figure-four. Steamboat went for a second double chickenwing, his knee buckled, and both men went down with their shoulders on the mat, but Steamboat's shoulder came up and he got the pin at 55:32 to retain.[12][18] Meltzer rated it five stars and liked that it ended at 55:32 when everyone expected a 60-minute draw, though he thought Chicago had more magic.[30]

Afterward Steamboat declared the feud over, but a replay of the finish showed Flair's foot in the ropes, and Steamboat conceded that Flair deserved one last rematch.[12] The April 9 Main Event made it official for WrestleWar.[2] By late April the Observer reported that Flair was getting babyface reactions on the road while Steamboat was being booed.[32] The WWF also booked a house show in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium for the night before WrestleWar, in the same building.[31]

The Matches

WrestleWar '89: Music City Showdown closed the trilogy on May 7 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, in front of 5,200 fans, on a 1.3 buyrate that the Observer's early estimate put at about 150,000 buys.[20][34] Because the Clash match had run nearly an hour, the NWA seated three former world champions at ringside as judges, Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, and Terry Funk, to decide it if it went the full 60 minutes.[13][3] Flair walked out with an entourage of about forty women; Steamboat came out with Bonnie and Richie, who rode a pony.[42]

Flair said he agreed to take Steamboat's arm drags that night, which he never liked, because "we wore the headlock out in Chicago and New Orleans."[7] Steamboat controlled the early going with arm drags, chops, and a dropkick that sent Flair over the top rope.[42] Flair ground him down with knee drops, suplexes, and a vertical suplex on the floor. At one tally, O'Connor and Funk had Flair ahead while Thesz scored it for Steamboat.[42]

The turn came after Steamboat superplexed Flair and went for the double chickenwing; Flair hooked his feet in the ropes to escape.[42][3] Steamboat went up top again, Flair bumped into the ropes, and Steamboat crashed to the floor, hurting his left knee.[42][3] Flair suplexed him back in and locked on the figure-four, and Steamboat reached the ropes around the thirty-minute mark.[42]

He fought back with an enzuigiri, but when he tried to slam Flair, the knee gave out and Flair rolled through into an inside cradle for the pin at 31:37.[3][20][42] Steamboat raised Flair's arm, and the two shook hands.[42][3] In his interview with Jim Ross, Flair called Steamboat the greatest champion he had ever faced.[13] The Observer gave it five stars, with Meltzer writing that "five stars doesn't do the whole thing justice."[33]

Then Terry Funk climbed in wearing a tuxedo. He congratulated Flair, said he would have voted for him had it gone to the judges, and asked to be the first challenger for the title.[42][13] Flair told him that while he'd been in Hollywood with Sylvester Stallone, Flair had been World Champion, and that there was a top ten the champion was obligated to wrestle.[11]

Funk said he was "just kidding," and as they shook hands he punched Flair, threw him to the floor, rammed him into the table, and piledrove him onto it before hitting him with a chair.[42][10] Standing over Flair, Funk yelled at Ross: "Look at him! Look at the horse-toothed, banana-nosed jerk!"[13] The Observer reported the piledriver put Flair out for weeks.[33]

House Shows

The March 18 match in Landover, Maryland was never televised. Steamboat came out as champion to cheers and Flair to boos, and Dave Meltzer was in the crowd.[6] They went more than 30 minutes, trading figure-fours, with Steamboat dropping fourteen straight elbows on Flair's leg, before Steamboat small-packaged Flair out of a back body drop attempt to retain.[6]

Meltzer rated it six stars, the highest rating he had given any match up to that point. Because it wasn't televised, he called it unofficial, and the first official six-star match came five years later, Mitsuharu Misawa against Toshiaki Kawada in All Japan in 1994.[6] On other nights in March, many markets got Steamboat defending against Mike Rotunda rather than Flair.[29]

Aftermath

The NWA kept Flair off TV and off the road after WrestleWar to sell the piledriver, with Funk against Sting headlining the house shows in his place.[35] Flair came back to defend against Funk at the Great American Bash on July 23 in Baltimore, in front of 12,500, and pinned him at 17:23 by reversing a small package.[21][38] Their feud ran to an I Quit match at Clash of the Champions IX on November 15 in Troy, New York, where Funk quit in the figure-four at 18:33.[18][11] Flair held the title until Sting pinned him at the Great American Bash on July 7, 1990.[21]

Steamboat stayed the number one contender, which irked U.S. Champion Lex Luger.[1] At Clash of the Champions VII on June 14 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Steamboat beat Funk by disqualification when Funk hit him with a microphone, and after Luger made the save he turned on Steamboat, standing over him to say, "There lays your number one contender!"[3][1] The Observer rated Steamboat against Funk four and a quarter stars and praised Luger's turn.[36] Within weeks, the Observer reported, crowds were cheering Luger and turning on Steamboat.[37]

At the Bash, Luger refused the no-disqualification stipulation, and Steamboat lost by disqualification at 10:26 after hitting Luger with a chair; the Observer gave that one four and a quarter stars too.[1][21][38] It was Steamboat's last match of note for the company in 1989.[1] His short-term contract ran out soon after, and the Observer reported that the two sides had been as close as $10,000 apart on a new deal.[39]

After leaving, Steamboat had surgery on his injured foot, then worked for the North American Wrestling Association in the Carolinas in 1990 and toured with New Japan that fall.[1] He returned to the WWF in 1991.[1] Flair and Steamboat didn't meet again in a big match until Spring Stampede 1994 in Chicago, which Flair said had "no buildup to it" and Steamboat said he worked carrying "that sour taste" from Nashville.[7]

Behind the Scenes

Flair and Steamboat's chemistry read as effortless because, by both men's accounts, it mostly was. Steamboat said that when they were booked to go long in their Mid-Atlantic years, they barely discussed the match: "We'd look at each other in the locker room, and he'd say, 'Ok, see you in the ring...'"[5] Even for New Orleans, he said, "we had our three finishes, and that was it – the rest we called in the ring."[5] He also said, "We never had any kind of locker room disputes or anything outside the ring."[5]

The respect ran both ways. Flair told Mike Mooneyham of The Post and Courier that "one of my greatest blessings was the day Ricky Steamboat walked into the office of Jimmy Crockett in Charlotte, North Carolina," and "I don't think I ever had a bad match with Steamboat. He was the best I ever wrestled against."[5] Steamboat said Flair "had great ears for listening to the crowd," and Flair said of Steamboat's conditioning, "He just never stopped, he was the Energizer Bunny."[7]

Off camera, the two lived the opposite lives their characters suggested, up to a point. Despite his playboy image, Flair in 1989 was married and the father of four.[8] Steamboat had married Bonnie in 1985, and their son Richie was born in 1987.[1] Flair has said they never did much together socially because Steamboat "didn't like partying on the road."[7]

Bonnie Steamboat was the sore spot. Flair has said that Bonnie insisted on coming to the ring and that "I never got along with Bonnie and she doesn't like me," adding that he kept telling Steamboat, "Leave 'em at home."[7] Steamboat himself came to doubt the presentation: "I don't feel that the family man image worked the way they wanted it to be," he said, calling it "a little bit too 'Howdy Doody.'"[7] Jim Cornette, in a shoot interview, said Bonnie was vocal behind the scenes and that fans didn't want Steamboat the family man next to Flair.[15]

The booking side was messier than the matches. The Observer reported that George Scott's hiring as booker in January drew a mixed reaction, and by March it was blasting his booking as stuck in the past.[23][26] Cornette has said Scott was "10 years behind the times," and believes Scott got the job partly because of his close ties to Steamboat from the Carolinas.[15]

Cornette's account of Clash VI is that Scott didn't want to promote the show because he thought it would kill house show business, which is why it drew about 5,300 fans in a stadium built for 70,000 and, in his telling, a bad rating.[15] Ross put it this way: "The Superdome [in New Orleans] was a lousy site for the second match between those guys."[5] The Observer reported that the show had sold only a few hundred tickets before showtime and that Scott was fired days later.[30]

Accounts of who took over differ. The Observer first reported a booking committee headed by Kevin Sullivan, then one of Ross, Sullivan, and Flair; Cornette remembers Jim Herd, Jim Barnett, Ross, Eddie Gilbert, and Jody Hamilton.[30][15]

Steamboat has said he knew nothing about the Funk angle until he turned around on his way up the aisle in Nashville. "It was like a stab in the back," he said; he had assumed there would be a fourth match, and "that never took place because of the outcome after my match."[7] He said Flair only ever mentioned it in passing, and wondered whether Flair "just didn't want to let me down."[7]

Steamboat's exit is told two ways. Ross, on his podcast, said WCW "didn't want to pay him what he believed he was worth" and called it "a bad move by us," adding that "if I had been negotiating contracts, he would not have left."[14] The Observer reported at the time that the gap was only about $10,000.[39]

Legacy

Dave Meltzer gave five stars to Chi-Town Rumble, Clash of the Champions VI, and WrestleWar, and six to the untelevised Landover match.[25][30][33][6] The Clash VI match was the Wrestling Observer's 1989 Match of the Year, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated gave its 1989 Match of the Year to WrestleWar.[16][17] The Flair and Funk feud that started in Nashville won both publications' Feud of the Year for 1989, and its I Quit match at Clash IX drew five stars as well.[16][17][4]

The series has kept its reputation. A WWE retrospective said that nearly every best-matches list "will laud at least one — if not all three — as the greatest ever," and it has been called the greatest series of matches of all time.[7][5] Flair has said it was ten years later "that people started saying, 'God, those are the best matches ever,'" and that he didn't watch them himself until his kids got into wrestling.[7]

The two men don't agree on which match was best. Steamboat called New Orleans "by far my favorite of the three" and put Nashville last; Flair thought New Orleans was only OK because the crowd was "brutal."[7] Flair waved off the reverence altogether: "I think they were really good, but I can tell you we had a thousand that were better."[7]

Asked whether the New Orleans match influenced later hour-long epics like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels' Iron Man Match, Steamboat said, "To be honest with you, I don't know," allowing only that "you've got to have a couple guys who know how to do it."[7] Flair has ranked him "No. 1 for sure" among his opponents and said, "I wish I could've wrestled Steamboat forever."[7]

Steamboat went into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 and wrestled at WrestleMania 25 that spring, his first match in nearly 15 years.[1] In 2022, at 69, he wrestled again in Raleigh, teaming with FTR.[1] Flair has said Steamboat "helped define my career, and we've been great friends after all these years."[7]

See Also

Sources & Further Listening

1. Ricky Steamboat — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Steamboat
2. Chi-Town Rumble — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi-Town_Rumble
3. WrestleWar '89: Music City Showdown — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleWar_%2789:_Music_City_Showdown
4. List of professional wrestling matches rated 5 or more stars by Dave Meltzer — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_wrestling_matches_rated_5_or_more_stars_by_Dave_Meltzer
5. "Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat - The Story Behind The Magic" (quoting Steamboat, Flair via The Post and Courier, and Jim Ross via Sporting News interviews) — Pro Wrestling Stories. https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/ric-flair-ricky-steamboat/
6. "One Ric Flair Match Was So Good, It Broke Dave Meltzer's 5-Star Rating" — Wrestling Inc. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1093756/one-ric-flair-match-was-so-good-it-broke-dave-meltzers-5-star-rating/
7. "The three best matches ... ever: Flair and Steamboat on their famous trilogy" (interviews with both men) — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/classics/wcw/ric-flair-ricky-steamboat-trilogy-interview
8. "Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive: Ric Flair Newspaper Profile from 1989" — Mid-Atlantic Gateway. https://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2015/12/ric-flair-profile-from-1989.html
9. "Ric Flair/Barry Windham vs. Ricky Steamboat/Eddie Gilbert, NWA World Championship Wrestling (1/21/1989)" — Handwerk Reviews. https://handwerkreviews.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/ric-flair-barry-windham-vs-ricky-steamboat-eddie-gilbert-nwa-world-championship-wrestling-1-21-1989/
10. "Terry Funk piledrives Ric Flair onto a table: WrestleWar 1989" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/videos/terry-funk-piledrives-ric-flair-onto-a-table-wrestlewar-1989
11. "Terry Funk's 1989 Heel Turn on Ric Flair" — The Signature Spot. https://www.thesignaturespot.com/articles/terryfunkricflair1989
12. "The SmarK Rant for Clash of Champions VI - 04.02.89" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2020/02/10/the-smark-rant-for-clash-of-champions-vi-04-02-89/
13. "The Summer of Funk" — The Ringer. https://www.theringer.com/2024/07/23/wwe/ric-flair-terry-funk-great-american-bash-1989-match-35th-anniversary
14. Grilling JR podcast: Jim Ross on WCW letting Ricky Steamboat go in 1989 — transcribed by 411Mania. https://411mania.com/wrestling/jim-ross-talks-wcw-letting-ricky-steamboat-go-in-1989-why-it-was-a-mistake/
15. Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline: 1989 WCW as told by Jim Cornette (shoot interview) — recap, Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2015/05/21/kayfabe-commentaries-timeline-series/
16. List of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wrestling_Observer_Newsletter_awards
17. List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated_awards
18. Clash of the Champions results (attendance, TV ratings, match times) — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/clash.html
19. Chi-Town Rumble 1989 results — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/miscppv.html
20. WrestleWar 1989 results — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/w-war.html
21. Great American Bash 1989 and 1990 results — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/gabash.html
22. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 01.16.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–01.16.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/04/wrestling-observer-flashback01-16-89/
23. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 01.30.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–01.30.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/06/wrestling-observer-flashback01-30-89/
24. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 02.13.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–02.13.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/08/wrestling-observer-flashback02-13-89/
25. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 03.01.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.01.89" (Chi-Town Rumble review), Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/11/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-01-89/
26. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 03.06.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.06.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/12/wrestling-observer-flashback03-06-89/
27. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 03.13.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.13.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/13/wrestling-observer-flashback03-13-89/
28. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 03.20.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.20.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/14/wrestling-observer-flashback03-20-89/
29. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 03.27.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.27.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/15/wrestling-observer-flashback03-27-89/
30. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 04.10.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.10.89" (Clash VI review), Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/17/wrestling-observer-flashback04-10-89/
31. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 04.17.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.17.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/18/wrestling-observer-flashback04-17-89/
32. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 05.01.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–05.01.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/20/wrestling-observer-flashback05-01-89/
33. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 05.15.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–05.15.89" (WrestleWar review), Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/22/wrestling-observer-flashback05-15-89/
34. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 05.22.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–05.22.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/23/wrestling-observer-flashback05-22-89/
35. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 05.29.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–05.29.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/24/wrestling-observer-flashback05-29-89/
36. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 06.26.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–06.26.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/28/wrestling-observer-flashback06-26-89/
37. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 07.03.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–07.03.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/03/29/wrestling-observer-flashback07-03-89/
38. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 07.31.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–07.31.89" (Great American Bash review), Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/04/02/wrestling-observer-flashback07-31-89/
39. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 08.07.89 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–08.07.89", Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/04/03/wrestling-observer-flashback08-07-89/
40. "Rock Star Gary Reflects on NWA Clash of the Champions V: St. Valentine's Massacre" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/10/25/rock-star-gary-reflects-on-nwa-clash-of-the-champions-v-st-valentines-massacre/
41. "Rock Star Gary Reflects on NWA Chi-Town Rumble '89" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/08/rock-star-gary-reflects-on-nwa-chi-town-rumble-89/
42. "Rock Star Gary Reflects on NWA WrestleWar '89" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/06/rock-star-gary-reflects-on-nwa-wrestlewar-89/
43. "Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon (Disc Three)" — PDRWrestling DVD review. https://pdrwrestling.net/2011/05/15/ricky-steamboat-the-life-story-of-the-dragon-disc-three/

Further Listening

• Ric Flair: To Be the Man (Ric Flair's autobiography) — Flair's own account of the Steamboat series and their friendship
• Grilling JR with Jim Ross — Ross's recollections of the 1989 NWA, the spoiled Chi-Town Rumble finish, and Steamboat's departure
• Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline: 1989 WCW as told by Jim Cornette — George Scott's booking and the Clash VI fallout
• Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon (WWE DVD) — Steamboat's career, including the 1989 trilogy