9 Old School Wrestling Champs That Could Make It In Today’s WWE

8. Ricky Steamboat

Ricky Steamboat was a born babyface, as well as being among the most naturally gifted athletes to ever wrestle professionally. During his prime, Steamboat excelled as an amateur wrestler, a bodybuilder (he was once crowned Mr. North Carolina) and, of course, a pro wrestler. Whilst Steamboat€™s fire-breathing gimmick and dragon getup will be especially fondly remembered by anyone who grew up with early 90€™s WWE, it is his in-ring work that most modern fans remember. The martial arts poses, chops and kicks were all just window dressing, of course, it was the arm drags, headscissor takedowns and midair drop kicks that were the real display pieces. Everything Steamboat did was crisp, clean and perfectly executed and, in the ring, he conjured up an intensity and fire about him that made it impossible not to root for him. Steamboat was also selfless and sold extremely generously, yet always managed to come out looking strong, whether he won or lost. The great injustice is that Steamboat really should have been WWE Champion at least twice. Sadly, a combination of the company pushing Hogan as Champ and Steamboat€™s request for time off to be with his wife as she gave birth, led to nothing like the success that he could have had. In the last vestiges of the old NWA, Steamboat had fared better, winning the World Championship from Ric Flair in a superb bout, one of many that the pair engaged in over the years. It was a relatively short run, by NWA standards, but it cemented Steamboat as an all-time great in anybody€™s book. If Ricky Steamboat showed up on NXT tomorrow, forget it, the dude would be pushed to Timbuktu and back. Steamboat€™s clean cut, hard working babyface persona would be a perfect fit for PG era WWE and his muscular physique and incredible athleticism between the ropes would see him being earmarked for a future main event slot. Let€™s put it another way: What would you pay to see The Dragon work against Cesaro?