Richard Henry Blood Jr. (born July 7, 1987) is an American retired
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
, better known by his
ring name
A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
Richie Steamboat. He is known for wrestling in
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
's
developmental territories Florida Championship Wrestling
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until ...
and
NXT, and was the second
FCW Grand Slam Champion having won the
Florida Heavyweight Championship,
Florida Tag Team Championship, and
Jack Brisco 15 Championship.
Early life
Blood's father, Richard Blood Sr., is also a professional wrestler, known as
Ricky Steamboat
Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promo ...
.
His uncle,
Vic Steamboat, is also a professional wrestler. Blood began participating in
amateur wrestling
Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...
at the age of five.
Blood often competed against
Reid Fliehr in wrestling competitions during his
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
years. Blood won four state titles and two national titles in amateur wrestling, and was a member of the Ohio All-Star team.
He was offered a place on the Junior Olympic wrestling team, but turned it down.
Blood also played
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
in high school as a
linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...
and
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
, and played four years of varsity football at
Lake Norman High School.
Blood has completed two years of a college course in International Business, and plans to return to finish his degree.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (2008–2009)
As a child, under the gimmick name The Little Dragon, Blood appeared at
WrestleMania IV
WrestleMania IV was a 1988 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the fourth annual WrestleMania and took place on March 27, 1988, at the Atlantic City Convention Ha ...
, and later in
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...
, accompanying his father
Ricky Steamboat
Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promo ...
to the
ring
(The) Ring(s) may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV
* ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
.
When he was older, he trained with
George South in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
for several months.
He later trained with
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and trainer.
Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AW ...
for approximately four months.
Blood made his professional wrestling debut on July 25, 2008, using the
ring name
A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
'Ricky Steamboat Jr.', when he defeated George South Jr. at a Premiere Wrestling Showcase event. The following month, Steamboat debuted for the Exodus Wrestling Alliance, when he defeated Mr. Florida to win the EWA Florida Heavyweight Championship on August 9. Just under a month later, on September 4, Steamboat
vacated the championship. That same month, he debuted for Harley Race's
World League Wrestling
NWA World League Wrestling is a Troy, Missouri-based professional wrestling promotion affiliated with Harley Race's Wrestling Academy school. It was established in 1999 by former World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race. The promotion is part of ...
(WLW)
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
, teaming with
Naomichi Marufuji to defeat
Bao Nguyen and
Takeshi Morishima on September 19. He went on a winning streak in WLW, defeating Darin Waid and
Tommaso Ciampa
Tommaso Whitney (born May 8, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Tommaso Ciampa () and ...
, before defeating Terry Murdoch to win the EWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship at a WLW show on October 31. On November 15, Steamboat appeared at an
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
Independent Wrestling Association (IWA) Mid-South (also known as IWA Mid-South, IWA-MS, and IWA Mid South Wrestling) was an American Independent circuit, independent professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in J ...
show, where he lost to Prince Mustafa Ali. Steamboat defeated
Bobby Eaton to retain the EWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship on November 25, and defeated Eaton in a rematch later that night to win Eaton's EWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship, making him a double champion.
On December 5, Steamboat defeated South with a
roll-up in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
. The following night, he defeated Jake Manning at
Vance High School in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
. In January 2009, Steamboat vacated both the EWA Missouri Heavyweight and the EWA Georgia Heavyweight Championships in order to wrestle in Japan.
In April 2009, Steamboat began wrestling for NWA Charlotte. After suffering an injury the previous night that required fourteen stitches, he was unable to wrestle at ''Final Destination'' in April, but was challenged by
Vordell Walker. He lost the match to Walker on May 23 and teamed with Zack Salvation in a loss to The American Gangsters (Frank and Nicky) the following week.
On July 9, 2009, Steamboat was part of the WLW show held in conjunction with the Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The following day, Steamboat wrestled in a
three-way match
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...
for the
WLW Heavyweight Championship, but the match was won by Superstar Steve. On July 11, Steamboat wrestled on an
NWA Mid Atlantic card
Card or The Card may refer to:
Common uses
* Plastic cards of various types:
**Bank card
**Credit card
**Debit card
**Payment card
* Playing card, used in games
* Printed circuit board, or card
* Greeting card, given on special occasions
Arts an ...
, unsuccessfully challenging Ricky Nelson for the NWA Mid-Atlantic Junior Heavyweight Championship.
His made his final
independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...
appearance on November 13, defeating Jake Manning at a Northeast Wrestling show.
Overseas (2009)
Blood lived and trained at the
Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in Japan for three months, beginning in January 2009.
He made his Pro Wrestling Noah debut under the name 'Ricky Steamboat Jr.' on January 23, 2009, in a loss to
Makoto Hashi.
On February 15, Steamboat teamed with
Buchanan in a loss to
Akira Taue and
Taiji Ishimori
is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its List of Bullet Club members#War Dogs, War Dogs sub-group. Ishimori is a three-time IWGP Junio ...
. Three days later, Steamboat, Buchanan, and
Roderick Strong were defeated by
Kotaro Suzuki
, better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Gleat. He is best known for working for the Pro Wrestling Noah and All Japan Pro Wrestling promotions, where he was a four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Cha ...
,
Muhammad Yone, and
Takeshi Rikio.
On February 21, Naomichi Marufuji and
Atsushi Aoki defeated Steamboat and
Doug Williams, and the following night, Steamboat and Ippei Ota lost to
Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Kotaro Suzuki. His final appearance for Pro Wrestling Noah was on March 1, when he teamed with
Tamon Honda and
Jun Izumida in a loss to
Takuma Sano,
Kentaro Shiga, and
Kishin Kawabata at
Budokan Hall. On March 8, Steamboat wrestled at a
Kensuke Office show, where he teamed with Ippei Ota in a loss to
Katsuhiko Nakajima and Takashi Okita.
In mid-2009, Steamboat wrestled for the
World Wrestling Council
The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...
(WWC) in
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
.
He made his WWC debut on July 24, by defeating
Ricky Reyes. He went on to defeat
Tommy Diablo, before losing to
Orlando Colón on July 31. He then began to
feud
A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
with
Hiram Tua.
The pair exchanged victories in singles matches, before Steamboat teamed with his father
Ricky Steamboat
Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promo ...
to defeat Tua and Colón on August 15.
He also trained in Europe for a few months, and toured England with
All Star Wrestling (ASW) in October 2009.
He debuted in ASW on October 2, defeating
Mark Haskins. Victories over Karl Kramer and
Mikey Whiplash followed, and on October 18, Steamboat teamed with
Gladiator Goliath to defeat the team of Jamie Gardner and Steve Allison. Two wins over
Jimmy Jacobs
Christopher Scoville (born February 17, 1984) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He is best known for his 12-year career in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a List of ROH Wor ...
were followed by further victories over Mikey Whiplash, and tag team victories over Doug Williams and
Nick Aldis, and Gardner and Allison.
WWE (2009–2013)
Blood signed a contract with
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
(WWE) in December 2009, and was assigned to
Florida Championship Wrestling
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until ...
(FCW), WWE's
developmental territory.
Blood debuted in FCW on February 18, 2010, under the ring name Richie Steamboat and lost to
Heath Slater
Heath Wallace Miller (born July 15, 1983) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Heath Slater. He also performed in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Impact Wrestling ...
in his first match for the promotion.
His first victory in FCW came at the television taping on February 25, when he defeated
Donny Marlow.
He went on to wrestle against
Derrick Bateman,
Wade Barrett
Stuart Alexander Bennett (born 10 August 1980) is an English acting, actor and former professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Wade Barrett as a color commentator on the ''WWE Sma ...
,
Curt Hawkins,
Alex Riley
Kevin Robert Kiley Jr. (born April 28, 1981) is an American former professional wrestler and commentator. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, under the ring name Alex Riley, where he was a participant in the second season of '' NXT''.
Pr ...
, and
Johnny Curtis, before suffering a torn
Posterior cruciate ligament
The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the Medial condyl ...
in March, which sidelined him for several months.
Following his return, he teamed with his father to defeat The Dudebusters of
Trent Baretta and
Caylen Croft on June 20.
In August, he unsuccessfully challenged
Mason Ryan
Barri Griffiths (born 13 January 1982) is a Welsh stunt performer, actor, and former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with WWE, where he performed under the ring name Mason Ryan from 2009 to 2014. He j ...
for the
FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship.
Throughout late 2010, he competed against wrestlers including
Jinder Mahal,
Roman Leakee,
Curtis Axel,
Lucky Cannon
Jonathon David Emminger (born November 8, 1983) is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Johnny Prime and Lucky Cannon. He is best known for his appearances for WWE, where he performed o ...
, and
Byron Saxton
Bryan Jesús Kelly (born August 20, 1981) is an American professional wrestling Sports commentator, commentator, ring announcer, and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he works as a backstage interviewer on ''WWE SmackDown, ...
.
In December 2010, Steamboat formed a
tag team
Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...
with
Seth Rollins
Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986), better known by the ring name Seth Rollins, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand and ...
, with the pair defeating
Jacob Novak and Mahal in their first match as a team.
On January 6, 2011, Steamboat and Rollins challenged
Titus O'Neill and
Damien Sandow for the
FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful.
At the Miami-Dade County Fair on March 25, Steamboat and Rollins defeated O'Neill and Sandow to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship.
They held the championship until May 12, when they
dropped it to the team of Calvin Raines and
Big E. Langston.
In late 2011, Steamboat interfered in a
fatal four-way match for the
FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, and accidentally
superkicked
Husky Harris. On the following episode of FCW television, Steamboat began a heel turn when he attacked Harris again, after finding him standing over
Aksana, and believing Harris had attacked her. As a result, Steamboat and Harris began feuding, with their first match ending in a
no contest.
Leo Kruger later defeated the pair in a triple threat match to retain the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, and the following week, Steamboat lost to Harris in a
No Hold Barred match. After the pair continued to attack each other backstage and during matches, both men were suspended for 30 days. Upon their return, Steamboat lost to Harris in a
Bullrope match to end their feud. On January 13, 2012, at the FCW television taping, Steamboat defeated
Damien Sandow by two falls to one to win the
FCW Jack Brisco 15 Championship.
On July 20, 2012, at a live event, Steamboat defeated
Rick Victor to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. He was the final FCW champion.
In mid-2012, WWE
rebranded
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
FCW into
NXT.
In June, Steamboat debuted for ''
NXT'' at the inaugural taping from
Full Sail University
Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center f ...
, defeating both
Rick Victor and Leo Kruger in separate matches. The latter match was a quarter-final in the Gold Rush tournament to determine the inaugural
NXT Champion. On the August 15 episode of ''NXT'', Steamboat was eliminated by
Jinder Mahal in the semi-finals. Steamboat then started a feud with
Kassius Ohno; Steamboat defeated Ohno twice, but Ohno conducted successful post-match assaults on Steamboat. Ohno then injured and pinned Steamboat during a six-man tag match while teaming with the Ascension against Steamboat and
the Usos
The Usos were a Samoan-American professional wrestling tag team which consisted of twin brothers Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso. They are signed to WWE, where Jey performs on the WWE Raw, Raw brand while Jimmy performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), Sma ...
on the October 17 episode of ''NXT''. Steamboat returned from injury and decisively pinned Ohno on the November 21, 2012 episode of ''NXT'' to end the feud.
This was his final televised match after suffering a back injury for which he required surgery. More than a year later in December 2013, it was reported Blood had been released from his WWE contract. This was contradicted by later reports, which stated he remained under contract. However, in April 2015, his father stated that due to the injury and subsequent surgery, he would be unable to wrestle again.
Personal life
Blood also raced
Legend Cars and
Bandoleros under his ring name for several years at
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...
in the annual Summer Shootout Series. In March 2023, Ricky revealed that Richie is married to his wife, Anna, a lawyer, and together, they have four children.
Championships and accomplishments
*Exodus Wrestling Alliance
**EWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**EWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**EWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*
Florida Championship Wrestling
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until ...
**
FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (
1 time)
**
FCW Jack Brisco 15 Championship (
1 time)
**
FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (
1 time) – with
Seth Rollins
Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986), better known by the ring name Seth Rollins, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand and ...
**
Second FCW Grand Slam
*''
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
''
**PWI ranked him 99 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the
PWI 500
''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
in 2012
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steamboat, Richie
1987 births
Living people
American people of English descent
American people of Japanese descent
American sportspeople of Japanese descent
American male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from Charlotte, North Carolina
FCW Florida Heavyweight Champions
FCW Jack Brisco 15 Champions
FCW Florida Tag Team Champions
21st-century male professional wrestlers
21st-century American professional wrestlers