Let’s talk about Dick Blood

Richard Henry Blood was born on February 28, 1953 in West Point, New York to an English father and Japanese mother. 

Young Dick took an interest in amateur wrestling. By high school he would be a state champion in wrestling. 

In 1976, after training with the Iron Sheik, Dick Blood would make his professional wrestling debut in the AWA wrestling promotion out of Minnesota  

Dick Blood would join Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1978, where legendary promoter Eddie Graham told him that Dick Blood was a good name for a heel (bad guy) but not a babyface (good guy). So, he changed his name to Ricky Steamboat. 

From there, Dick Blood would join the NWA wrestling promotion, where he had a legendary feud with Ric Flair

Dick Blood would win several mid-card championships while in the NWA. 

In 1986 Dick Blood would get his chance at the big time, when he was signed by the WWF. They would give him the Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat gimmick

 

As The Dragon, Dick Blood would wow crowds, winning the Intercontinental Championship. Also, sustaining a fractured skull thanks to Jake “The Snake” Roberts DDT on the concrete floor, and a crushed larynx when Macho Man Randy Savage hit him with the ring bell off the top turnbuckle. 

Dick Blood would return to the NWA in 1989, triumphantly beating his old rival Ric Flair for the World’s Heavyweight Championship. He would establish himself as one of the best to ever wrestle, eventually being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. 

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