Wrestling legend Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat will be making his in-ring return on November 27, 2022, at 69 years old, for Big Time Wrestling. The show will emanate from Raleigh, North Carolina, and will be dubbed Return of the Dragon. The last time Steamboat was an active competitor was in early 2009 when he feuded with Chris Jericho, which saw Steamboat come back for 3 matches: a handicap match with Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka against Jericho, a Monday Night Raw tag match with CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, John Cena, and Rey Mysterio, and finally, a one on one bout with Jericho. He also wrestled several house show matches against Drew McIntyre and Jericho at this time and had a pair of tag matches with his son Richie Steamboat, then Ricky Steamboat Jr., with one taking place in World Wrestling Council for Puerto Rico, and the other in Florida Championship Wrestling nearly a year later.
This is extremely special.
RICKY THE DRAGON STEAMBOAT is STEPPING BACK INTO THE RING!
I’ve learned so much from this man. Truly one of the greatest of all time. He has helped so many wrestlers become better almost overnight with his wisdom.@BTWwrestling I might fly to this https://t.co/Ev1EmN5EL6
— dannydemanto (@dannydemanto) September 15, 2022
The In-Ring Return of Ricky Steamboat
The Retirement of the Dragon
Ricky Steamboat suffered an unfortunate, severe injury to his head and/or neck (the injury itself has never been officially revealed) when on June 28th, 2010, during a segment on Monday Night Raw during which heel team The Nexus was to beat down Steamboat, PJ Black, then wrestling as Justin Gabriel, landed awkwardly on Steamboat off of a 450 splash. Steamboat reportedly “felt legitimate pain in his neck and shoulders”, and was soon hospitalized.
The last we saw of Steamboat was at an episode of AEW Dynamite, where he served as the special timekeeper for a 2 Out of 3 Falls match between Daniel Garcia and Bryan Danielson. It is unknown as of now who Steamboat’s opponent will be at the event.
Co-owner of Big Time Wrestling Steve Perkins gave a comment to Sports Illustrated voicing his excitement for Steamboat’s return and said that ticket sales start today,” Ricky Steamboat is one of the greatest of all time and we’re excited to bring him back to the ring. Interest will be high, and ticket sales begin today.”
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
