We look forward to having Kevin attend and meeting up with old friends and fans of Professional Wrestling.

This year the CAC is honoring JUDY MARTIN.   She is one of the all time great rule breakers to ever step into a wrestling ring.  Her beginnings and early mat career broke most of the established “rules” as well.  By her own admission she was not a great natural athlete growing up.  “I played volleyball in school but was just average.” Judy recalls.  Nor was she a long time fan. “I had moved to Columbia, SC to live with my grandparents and was working as a waitress in my uncle’s restaurant.  I was bored one night and my cousin suggested we go to the matches.  I had never seen live wrestling before and figured, “why not?”   “The people just hated Blackjack Mulligan” remembers Judy.  “They were throwing stuff at him.  He got them really riled up.  I told my cousin that I didn’t think he could really be that mean. He didn’t look mean to me. After the matches we went around back where people hung out to get autographs and met Mulligan and Dick Murdock.  I asked Mulligan if there were girl wrestlers…I didn’t know. I’d never watched it.  He just kind of laughed and told me I don’t want to do it.  I kept thinking about it and when they came back to Columbia I went and asked Mulligan about it again.  He told me to squeeze his hand and I was squeezing as hard as I could and he just laughed at me and said I was too much of a wimp to wrestle.  I got kind of mad and he told me if I really wanted to see about wrestling that there was a school right there in Columbia, run by The Fabulous Moolah.” Judy went home and pulled out the phone book and gave Moolah a call.  Moolah was on the road and when she returned they met.  “She told me about the training and really “glammed up” the business. How much money I could make and the places I would travel to and all.”  The bug had bitten Judy but she asked her uncle to go and check it out with her just to be safe.  “Moolah told us the training was going to cost $500 and my uncle and I were both surprised as we figured it would be a lot more.  I don’t know if she needed girls or what was going on that she offered it so cheap,” chuckles Judy.  “My uncle asked if it was what I wanted to do and when I said yes he wrote her a check on the spot.  I asked him later why he did that and he said he wanted to do it before she changed her mind and asked for more money.” On Memorial Day of 1979 Judy began her training.  She worked mostly with Leilani Kai, Vickie Williams, and Joyce Grable. With only a couple weeks of actual in ring training under her belt she had her first match!  “Moolah told me we had a booking in NC and said it was a Battle Royal.  She said not to worry; she would take care of me and it would give me a chance to feel what it was like to be in front of a crowd. We went into the dressing room and there were no other girls.  Moolah told me they were probably in another dressing room and just get dressed and then she said go on out.  I went out to the ring and I asked the ref how many girls were in the Battle Royal.  He started laughing and said just two. Then he asked me what the finish was and I had no idea what he was talking about. He just said, “Damn, you are new.” and laughed some more.  Then Moolah came strutting down the aisle.  When she got into the ring she locked up with me and said “remember what you have learned” and I blanked.  I forgot everything.  I don’t remember anything about the match but Moolah said I did fine.  On the way back to Columbia it finally hit me and I got sick as a dog!   That first match with Moolah was for the woman’s world title and Judy didn’t even know it at the time.  I didn’t know anything.  She never told me the business was a work.  I was totally gullible back then.

Judy and Lellani Kai with the WWF tagteam belts

With only one match and barely a month of training behind her, Judy found herself on a two month long tour of Japan!  There were ten of us girls.  Vickie, Leilani, Joyce, Wynona Little Hart, Lillian and me and a couple girls from England.   Japan was a real culture shock for Judy and she hated  the food.  “I just didn’t eat and I lost a ton of weight.”  After Japan, Judy and Vickie Williams were booked in Mexico. “We were supposed to be there for 8 weeks but after a month the bookers asked Moolah to send someone with more experience and I headed home. Mexico was really rough. I was getting slammed on concrete and getting my head slammed into the ring post and just getting all beat up. And when they called spots they were long sequences that I had a hard time with.”   The frustration of being told she didn’t know what she was doing by the Mexican promoter lit a fire in Judy and she really started working hard to learn her craft.  It paid off for her in spades. She and Leilani Kai had a brief run as NWA womans tag champs in late 79.     1980 saw Judy return to Japan for two more tours as well as her first single  title.  In November, Judy defeated Princess Little Heart to become the NWA UNITED STATES  Womans Champ. It was around the same time Judy was working in TX, and ran into her old friends Dick Murdock and Blackjack Mulligan.  “Murdock saw me and said, “Damn, you really did it.”  He watched my match and told me that I worked like one of the guys.  I took that as a real compliment coming from him.  Mulligan told me to just keep doing what I was doing and once I got the psychology down I was going to do real good.” In 1982 Judy was once again in Japan and she captured the ALL PACIFIC WOMANS CHAMPIONSHIP. In August of 1985 Judy and long time tag partner Leilani Kai defeated Velvet Mcintire and Desiree Peterson to capture the WWF Womans tag titles for the first time. They defended the titles and left the WWF for Japan.  In 1987,  Leilani and Judy got together with Jimmy Hart who helped them repackage themselves as the GLAMOUR GIRLS.  The bleached blond duo appeared on the first ever SURVIVORS SERIES as part of TEAM MOOLAH . At the 1988 ROYAL RUMBLE they dropped the tag titles to the JUMPING BOMB ANGELS in a show stealing 2 out of 3 fall match.  “We loved working with those girls,” Judy recalls.  “We had worked with them in Japan alot and had worked out our signals.  They didn’t speak any english but we had no trouble calling spots in the ring. A scratch on the wrist meant XXX, a squeeze on the shoulder meant XXX a scratch on the back of the neck, etc.  No one could ever figure out how we communicated with each other and we never told.”  “Some of the guys hated working after us ’cause we worked hard and really gave the people a great show.  Even Hogan told Leilani we needed to slow down. We were making the others look bad.  Sometimes we ended up on the last match on house shows ’cause no one wanted to follow us.” The feud did great business but had to be cut short as the “ANGELS” had to return to Japan because of work visa limitations.  The GLAMOUR GIRLS followed them and continued the feud to huge crowds until, in June of 88 under highly unusual circumstances the titles changed hands.  “When we left for Japan, Pat (Patterson) told us that we would do the switch when the four of us came back to the states.  But then Moolah called and told us that we were supposed to take the titles before we came back.  I was not able to reach Pat and Moolah had also contacted the Japanese promoters and told them the same thing.  I knew something was wrong but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”  Perhaps the fact that Moolah and the girls had a big falling out when Judy and Leilani started handling their own bookings thus cutting Moolah out of the financial picture had something to do with it???  “When we got back with the titles, Pat was not happy.  He said that was not the plan and no one in the WWF had ordered it.” Judy worked a singles program with then WWF Womans champ, ROCKIN’ ROBIN.  They were featured on the 1989 ROYAL RUMBLE.  A few months later Vince phased out the girls and Judy headed to the AWA where she worked with AWA ladies champ Wendy Richter.  Then she battled Candy Devine for the vacant title.

The Glamour Girls reappeared in the newly formed  LPWA in 1991 where they dominated the tag team scene  as well as both being top contenders for the Womans singles title.  When the LPWA folded in 1992, Judy decided it was time to think about a more conventional career.  She went to work in law enforcement. “I was working as a guard in the jail and one of the woman complained that I beat her up.  They all knew I was a wrestler so they tried to say I was beating them up which just wasn’t true.”  After a short run as a guard Judy went into hospital security thinking it would be a safer place to be.  She continued to work part time wrestling for various indie promoters around the Carolinas.  Her final run was against SUSAN GREEN over the PGWA title.  In 1995 Judy gave up her law enforcement career and began working full time in the medical records department  of the local hospital.

Q; Who was your favorite person to work with? A; I loved working with Velvet Mcintire.  She wasn’t afraid to try new things in the ring and we both brought a lot back from Japan. We trusted each other and always had great matches.

Q; Was there anyone you just really hated to work with? A; A girl who worked as Corporal Kelly in GLOW.  She thought she was really great and just didn’t listen to anyone. I didn’t like working with most of  the girls that came out of GLOW.  They were used to having everything scripted so it was hard.

Q; Who was your favorite promoter to work for? A; Verne Gagne.  He was very generous.  A lot of the promoters were very tight with the money but if the show went well Verne took good care of the talent.

Q; Did you and Leilani ever work against each other? A; Only once.  We were booked to tag on an indie show and the other team didn’t show up.  So the promoter told us to go out and work each other.  It was funny, neither of us wanted to be the face so we decided to just let the fans decide.  They booed us both.

Q; What was the most unusual match you have ever worked in? A; Joyce and I were in a tournament in Atlanta and we won the right to go against two men in a tag match at the Omni.  We wrestled against Steve O and Jerry Roberts (later to be Jacques Rougue) and would you believe those people booed us?

Q; What is in Judy Martin’s future? A; I would love to be a part of the business.  I wouldn’t mind working as an agent .(Vince are you listening?)

A mega-event attracting some 120,000+ visitors is reportedly scheduled for the week of our reunion, and hotel space everywhere in Las Vegas will be at a premium. But if you book early at the Gold Coast, you’ll be right on-site for the reunion, and you won’t be stuck with high rates for a room that might be a mile or two away from the Gold Coast.

You can book your room NOW for the 2012 CAC Reunion!

Two options to chose from:
Option 1:
You can book your room online by going to www.goldcoastcasino.com/groups    and use the code ACAC412  to get the $36.00 or $50.00 rates. That is the most you will pay per night. They may even be cheaper!

Option 2:
You call call direct to reservations at 1-888-402-6278 same code
ACAC412.

Rates will be no more than $36 or $50 for larger room. They may even be cheaper. These are good from Sunday April 15th thru Thursday April 19th

For the early birds or late stayers, the Friday or Saturday before or after the reunion the Gold Coast has offered members a special rate of $70.00 and $85.00 ( regular week end $94 and $120)

Last year we had close to 100 members have to stay at other hotels because we had used up our block of 450 room night, they allowed 711, this year we have blocked 650 room nights.

CAC members will only be charged 1 nights deposit, to guarantee your room at the Gold Coast, this deposit is refundable up to 10 days prior to arrival.

There appears to be a trend that recent Cauliflower Alley Club honorees who receive the annual Lifetime Achievement Award have followed.   Jim Ross, the 2009 recipient, and Mick Foley, the 2010 CAC selection, both spoke eloquently when interviewed about their accomplishments in the wrestling industry, as well as their passions that lie elsewhere, those beyond the confines of the ring.   Both men graciously accepted the accolades, yet their eyes remained focused ahead.   Plans for the future, the goals yet to reach… their motors want to propel them forward, and their glance at the rear view mirror shows them a look at their admiring friends and peers, who remain inspired by their positive example.

It’s time to add another name to that list of forward-thinking award winners: Wendi Richter.  Upon her selection as the second woman to be chosen for the Lifetime Achievement Award (Penny Banner being the first), Richter echoed the sentiments of the preceding recipients by asking, “Can you only receive this award ONCE?!?”

For someone who continues to set new goals in life, and quips, “I’m only half done,” when looking back on her accomplishments to date, Wendi Richter will never be confused with someone who wonders, “What if?”    More likely, she will be overheard asking, “What’s next?”

The physical aspects required to master the mat game came naturally to Richter, a self-professed farm girl who was bitten by the wrestling bug in her teenage years.  While attending the local wrestling bouts with a friend, she was surprised to discover a women’s match on the card, a battle between The Fabulous Moolah and Vivian St. John.   At the time, Richter was attending business school, “…and I didn’t like it,”  Richter said.  “I couldn’t picture myself behind a desk.  I didn’t like the idea of being cooped up in an office; it seemed very boring to me. But I knew that if I had the proper training, I could wrestle and beat either one of those women.”

It wasn’t long before Richter was on her way to begin that training in South Carolina at the very same Fabulous Moolah’s wrestling school.    Richter was determined to improve, using her high school sports background as a cross-country, volleyball and track athlete in the 440 relay and discus as a solid base.   “I was always competitive,” Richter said.  After having shown quarter horses at rodeos and horse shows and done barrel racing, her arduous training sessions in wrestling camp were preparing Wendi for the next time she would appear before a live crowd.  “I was drawn to hearing those thousands of people cheering; it was so exciting.”

Richter’s pro wrestling debut came on Christmas night, 1979.  “It was a ten girl battle royal… and I got dumped fairly early!  I was very nervous that night,” Richter said.  Soon she was making tours of a variety of territories, including for the CAC’s own Executive Vice-President, Karl Lauer, out in California.  “I wasn’t out west too often, though.  I mainly worked on the East coast, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and parts of Canada.  The New York market was my favorite territory.  I loved to go shopping there!”    During the early years of Richter’s career, she faced some of her favorite opponents.  “I loved working with Joyce Grable; we were tag team champions in the early 80′s… and Judy Martin, who’s also getting an award this year.  She’s a tremendous wrestler.  I leaned a lot from them, as well as Leilani Kai, Princess Victoria, and Velvet McIntyre,” Richter said.

Wendi recalls her first trip to Japan as an eye-opening exercise in culture shock.  “I went with hardly any notice; I was sent in place of Joyce Grable who was having her appendix taken out.  I was only nineteen, and went to Japan like a babe in the woods.  My first match, the girl I wrestled knocked the breath out of me six times.  Scrappy (McGowan) was the referee and kept asking if I was all right.  I could only answer, ‘MFFFTT,” Richter laughs.  “After that I decided no more Goody-Two-Shoes!  I turned into the Tasmanian Devil.  I decided to learn their style, and bring it back to America. I was a rough babyface after that.”

In 1984, Wendi Richter’s profile in the wrestling business grew leaps and bounds, due to her involvement in the World Wrestling Federation’s “Brawl to Settle It All” shown on MTV.   Richter trained under the tutelage of Cyndi Lauper, the pop music star who managed opposite her arch-rival, Captain Lou Albano, who represented Fabulous Moolah as the World Women’s champion.   “I couldn’t believe it; this was a dream come true for me,” Richter remembers.  “At that time, my favorite song was Cyndi’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’… and I found her to be such a nice person, not at all like what I expected a rock star to be.”

Richter emerged victorious, ending Moolah’s stranglehold on the women’s title after nearly three decades.  With the World Wrestling Federation expanding to nationwide tours and abroad, the Richter and Lauper combo exemplified the “Rock and Wrestling Connection” that has come to define that mid-80s time period. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time…and was the best person to get that spot,” Richter said.  “I was very fortunate that I was chosen.”   Wendi went on to appear at the first WrestleMania super show on March 31, 1985, regaining the belt she had subsequently lost earlier in the year to Leilani Kai in the semi-main event.

Not wanting to focus on negative points over her career, Richter does look back to her big run for New York with an eye toward the tension between Fabulous Moolah and herself.  “I think there were hard feelings with her, due to the fact I was getting more and more attention back then,” Richter said.   These strained relations, along with monetary issues, eventually built to a point where the Women’s title belt was taken from Wendi and she left the World Wrestling Federation in late 1985.  “I think that things should have been handled differently,” Richter said.  “But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

For the next several years, Richter maintained an active wrestling schedule for a variety of promotions.  “At one time I held three women’s world titles at once.  There was the AWA title, and I worked a lot with Madusa Miceli.  I was also the Caribbean champion for Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico, and I also defended the NWF World title.  I booked my dates well in advance, so I could handle the schedule my way; as an independent contractor, I liked that,” Richter said.

By 1990, Richter was looking to the next stage in her life.  “That’s when I started college, while I was still wrestling.  It was yet another challenge I liked. I always knew that no matter what I did, I wanted to take the core curriculum,” Richter said.  Over a period of several years, during which time Wendi wound up getting on the Dean’s list, she earned a Associates of Science degree in Physical Therapy, and went on to her Master’s in Occupational Therapy.

“I like to joke with people that after years of putting people into hospitals, now I help them get OUT,” Richter said of her new line of work.  “I help people that have had strokes or cardiac issues… chronic heart failure, or maybe they’re recovering from a knee or hip replacement.  Some of them aren’t able to walk or feed themselves…or their goal is to play golf again, or just be safe and independent in their own homes.  I can come right their into home and be their personal trainer.  Whatever their goal is, it is so rewarding to watch them be able to realize it.  I really enjoy being able to work one on one with people.  And I am amazed that I make five times the money I did when I was wrestling.  Plus I get to be home every night, sleep in my own bed, and I get to have my animals: horses, goats, dogs and cats… I love my job, and my farm.”

Wendi Richter is ready to write a new chapter in her life.  “I am now a part of the Citrus County (Florida) Sheriff’s Posse,” Richter said.  “I am a new recruit, and it’s a volunteer group where both you and your own horse have to pass an obstacle course to be accepted.  I got my Tennessee walking horse a year ago; she is absolutely beautiful… and she passed without flaw.  I am so proud of her… she’s the love of my life!   This group is used to protect trails and help search for missing persons or weapons and evidence.  I have a goal to become the platoon leader, to be at the top of the Sheriff’s Posse.  I have the determination to make it happen!”

Based on these accomplishments and notable stories, the Cauliflower Alley has done it again; they have found a suitable candidate for the Lifetime Achievement Award that may have already achieved enough for an average wrestler’s lifetime, yet continues to strive for excellence in all aspects of life.  “The Lord has really blessed me,” Wendi Richter said.  “I’m in good shape with no diseases… I am of strong body and mind, and I still have so much to do.  My life’s exciting!  Wrestling was very good to me, but it’s just a drop in the bucket.”

By Eric Chmiel

Over the years, some of the greatest champions in the history of pro wrestling have been honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club.  With just a quick scan of the names—Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Nick Bockwinkel, Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Verne Gagne—you begin to realize just how difficult a task it is each year for the club to find other men and women who truly deserve to be included on such a stellar roster.   But this year, the CAC has found someone who is more than worthy to add his name to the above list of legends: Rick Steamboat, who is being honored with the 2012 Men’s Wrestling award at the annual CAC banquet in Las Vegas this April.  Without a doubt, he’ll fit right in with the other all-time greats the CAC has recognized before him.

On his career path to this honor, Steamboat has found success in wrestling at nearly every turn.  In fact, he displayed that “certain something” which set him apart from the pack back when he was just a teenager, even before he was involved in the pro wrestling business.  As an amateur high school wrestling star in Florida during the early 1970’s, Steamboat once found himself in a match vs. Mike Gossett, who wrestling fans would know as Mike Graham, son of the legendary Florida promoter Eddie Graham.

“I wrestled Mike Gossett in the finals of the district,” recalls Steamboat, who today resides in North Carolina.  “He was a senior and I was a sophomore, but I was able to stay with him.  In the front row was Eddie Graham, cheering his son on. Back then, I was a fan of Florida Championship Wrestling, so I knew who Eddie was.  He had bandages all over his head, because he’d been having a series of Russian chain matches at the time with Boris Malenko.  I put two and two together and figured out that Mike Gossett must have been Eddie’s son.  In between periods, I remember Eddie standing up and yelling to Mike, ‘You go get him, Mike!’ and all that kind of stuff.”

The match went three periods and Gossett wound up winning by just a point.  But even in a losing effort, Steamboat, then still called by his real name of Richard Blood, unknowingly made quite an impression on the Florida promoter.  A couple years later, when Steamboat’s high school sweetheart was training in Minnesota to become a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines, she happened to room with Donna Gagne, the daughter of AWA promoter Verne Gagne.  The two aspiring flight attendants became friends, and one evening they found themselves having dinner at the Gagne residence.  During the meal, Steamboat’s girlfriend mentioned having a boyfriend back in Florida named Richard Blood.  Verne’s ears perked up, because he remembered being told by Eddie Graham about a kid named Richard Blood who made an impressive showing during a high school wrestling match against his son.

“The old-time promoters used to get together and talk,” relays Steamboat.  “Eddie Graham had said something to Verne about this kid named Blood who was doing well as an amateur in high school down in Florida.  Well, there aren’t too many folks named Blood out there, so that’s how Verne remembered my name.  So he had me send up a bio and some pictures.  He wrote back and told me to come on up to Minnesota to take part in a camp he was having that fall.”

Steamboat showed up at the camp and on the first day, a Friday, he began training with 15 other aspiring wrestlers. The camp was so tough that by the following Monday, there were only four guys left.  One of them was Steamboat.  The other three were the late Scott Irwin, who went on to stardom with his brother Bill as the tag team “The Long Riders;” Jan Nelson, a massive former powerlifter who worked as a journeyman in the ‘70’s; and Buck Zumhofe, who made a name for himself around the midwest and other spots in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.   Steamboat wound up completing the 10-week camp and, after briefly putting in some time in Gagne’s AWA promotion out of Minnesota, he found himself in his home state of Florida, working for Eddie Graham, the very same man who indirectly got him into the business by remarking on his amateur skills to Gagne.  Up to this point, Steamboat had been using his real name in the ring, but Graham decided that would no longer do.  He changed the young grappler’s moniker to Ricky Steamboat, in honor of the great Hawaiian star Sammy Steamboat, who had previously been a big name in the Sunshine State.  Steamboat was now being billed as Sammy’s nephew, and it helped him gain acceptance with the fans.  “When they’d announce me before, there would be a few claps,” chuckles Steamboat, “but when people thought I was Sammy Steamboat’s nephew, I found out what it was like when the fans actually start caring about you!” Soon enough, Steamboat was finding success teaming up with Florida favorites like Steve Keirn and, interestingly, his old high school mat rival Mike Graham.

After a year or so in Florida, Steamboat did 13 months working in the Georgia Championship Wrestling promotion out of Atlanta for booker Tom Renesto, who later was replaced by Ole Anderson.  In 1977, when it was time for the up-and-coming babyface to move on to a new territory, his trainer Gagne booked Steamboat to go up to Calgary for Stu Hart.  But after asking around, Steamboat found that business wasn’t that great in Calgary at the time, so he asked Anderson to try to find him another gig someplace else.  Anderson made some calls and found a spot for Steamboat working for Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic promotion in the Carolinas.  It was there that Steamboat got his first real break in the business.  As it turned out, it was the only break he’d ever need to become a superstar.  Steamboat defeated Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic television title, which at the time was considered a tremendous upset since Flair was the top heel in the territory and Steamboat was virtually unknown to fans in the area.

Today, Steamboat credits Flair with making his big break happen in the Mid-Atlantic territory. “That was all because of Ric Flair.  It really started my career rolling.  He was the one who went to the office and told Jim Crockett he wanted to do something with this young kid who had just come to the Carolinas.  At the time, both Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel wanted to do something with Flair, because Flair was the number one heel down there at the time.  But Flair wanted to work with me.  I have to give my thanks to him for that.”

As a result of his feud with Flair, Steamboat was immediately catapulted to main event status.  Within months, he was one of the hottest babyfaces in the country, drawing strong houses against Flair wherever they worked.  After their lengthy rivalry ended, Steamboat faced a “who’s who” of top heels in the final years of the ‘70’s, from Baron Von Raschke to Blackjack Mulligan to Roddy Piper to Greg Valentine.  He always did exceptional business with each of them.  While working for the Crocketts, title victories in singles competition became the norm for Steamboat, and he seemed to have a belt around his waist almost constantly.  He racked up two Mid-Atlantic titles and two Mid-Atlantic television titles.  He also scored a trio of United States title victories back when that belt was widely regarded as the second-to-top title in the old National Wrestling Alliance, behind only the NWA World title (a belt for which he was always considered a top contender).  All the while, Steamboat was building himself a reputation as one of the best in-ring workers in the entire world who, night after night, delivered the highest quality match on the card.  This was especially true whenever he was matched against the other great in-ring performers of the day, such as Flair, Valentine or Jimmy Snuka.  He also became one of the great babyfaces, combining good looks, a ripped physique and a charismatic charm that won fans over everywhere, including on his numerous tours of Japan.

But it wasn’t just the singles division where Steamboat excelled.  Besides winning the local Mid-Atlantic tag team belts four separate times with partners that included Paul Jones and Dino Bravo, Steamboat also came to dominate the World tag team division.  He teamed up with the late Jay Youngblood to form a high-flying duo that tore off a record five NWA World tag team title wins and set the Carolinas on fire.  Although the team had classic feuds with duos like Jack and Jerry Brisco, Greg Valentine and Ray Stevens, and Ray Stevens and Jimmy Snuka, undoubtedly their finest moment was an epic battle with the team of Sgt Slaughter and Don Kernodle that raged throughout the territory in 1982-83.  Kernodle had previously been used largely as enhancement talent in the Carolinas, but he struck up a friendship with Slaughter, who wanted to use him as his tag team partner.  As Steamboat remembers it, “Kernodle was a good guy with a good personality, and a hard worker.  But he was a middle card guy who was always doing jobs on TV to put the main event guys over.  Sarge went to Jim Crockett with the idea that he’d take Kernodle under his wing like he was recruiting him, Marine-style, and would put him through a kind of basic training.  Then, eventually the two of them would team up and come after me and Jay for the World tag team championship.  At first, Jim Crockett thought it would never work because Kernodle had always been a job guy.  But me and Jay liked the idea, we liked Don, and we both had a lot of respect for Sarge.  So we told Crockett, ‘Let’s do the storyline, and you can leave it up to Jay and me to get Don over.’ The next thing you know, we were doing great business against them.”

The culmination of the Steamboat/Youngblood vs. Slaughter/Kernodle feud was a cage match on March 12, 1983 in Greensboro, NC.  “Sgt. Slaughter brought an attorney on TV,” Steamboat recalls, “and they made me and Jay sign a contract stating that if we do not win this cage match, we can never wrestle together as a tag team again. When we went into Greensboro and ended up winning that night, we did phenomenal business.”  Actually, the phrase “phenomenal business” may be an understatement.  The Steamboat/Youngblood vs. Slaughter/Kernodle cage match was an overwhelming blow-away success, filling the Greensboro Coliseum with 16,000 fans and turning away many thousands more.  The match did so well that it literally changed the course of pro wrestling history.  It was this epic battle that inspired Jim Crockett to develop the concept of a “super show” that would come back to Greensboro again on Thanksgiving night of 1983, with several different ongoing angles culminating at the event, much as the Steamboat/Youngblood vs. Slaughter/Kernodle feud had culminated earlier that spring.  Crockett called his creation “Starrcade,” and he again was able to sell out in Greensboro with it, along with doing strong business on closed circuit TV in several other cities around the territory.  The Starrcade concept was soon turned into an annual affair that became the lynchpin of the Carolinas wrestling calendar, always with Steamboat in a starring role.  It was such a strong idea, in fact, that Vince McMahon copied the concept, creating his own super show called “Wrestlemania.”  Of course, Wrestlemania today remains the Super Bowl of pro wrestling and stands as the biggest event in the business each year.

After eight years with the Crocketts, Steamboat got an offer to join the then-expanding WWE promotion.  It was a great chance for Steamboat to move his career to the next level, so of course he jumped at the opportunity.  In 1985, he arrived in WWE amid much fanfare, and he did not disappoint.  Now working with a new nickname as Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, he quickly established himself as one of the best in-ring performers in the company.  It was the very same charisma and athleticism that had won over the fans in the Mid-Atlantic territory that soon made him the second most popular wrestler in the company, behind only the merchandising juggernaut that was Hulk Hogan.  In some quarters, among the more hardcore devotees of WWE, Steamboat’s fan following even rivaled that of Hogan.  In 1985 and 1986, Steamboat had big money feuds with the top heels of the day, including Jake “The Snake” Roberts (whose ever-present python “Damien” was countered by Steamboat with his own menagerie that, at various times, included a giant monitor lizard and a small South American crocodile), Don “Magnificent” Muraco (a natural foe for Steamboat since both were billed as being from Hawaii, although in truth Steamboat actually is from Florida) and Randy “Macho Man” Savage.

By 1987, Wrestlemania had grown to the point where WWE booked the event into the enormous Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit, MI.  It was a gamble for WWE to plan an event in such a large venue, but it paid off.  An announced crowd of 93,000 fans packed the stadium, setting the record for the highest attendance ever at a pro wrestling show.  The card had several major matches, including Adrian Adonis putting his hair at stake vs. Roddy Piper, Honky Tonk Man vs. Jake Roberts, and of course the “Match of the Century” pitting Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant for Hogan’s WWE title.  But the match that wound up stealing the show featured Steamboat winning the WWE Intercontinental title from Randy Savage in a thrilling see-saw battle that is still remembered today as one of the greatest matches of all-time.  Weeks earlier, the set-up for the bout involved Savage injuring Steamboat’s throat, so the crowd was heated for the match even before it began.  But once Steamboat and Savage took to the ring, they put on a wild, action-packed masterpiece of a match that blew the roof off the place.  Once again, a Steamboat match played a pivotal role in determining the course of wrestling history, as the unusually large number of false finishes used in this bout (over 20 of them in just under 17 minutes) served to become the road map followed by subsequent generations of pro wrestlers when building their own matches for maximum emotional impact.  In fact, most main event matches today feature a number of false finishes as a matter of course, in order to add drama to the bout.  You can thank Steamboat and Savage for that.

Steamboat still marvels at the influence his match with Savage has had on the business, even to this day. “It’s funny,” he muses, “that even the guys will still bring this match up to me.  Randy and I didn’t know it then—though I realize it now—but that match changed the blue print for how to build a match, with all the false finishes.  I think we had 21 false finishes.  But we had no idea it would endure for so long as one of Wrestlemania’s all-time great matches.  I never expected that kind of achievement.”  Although they had no idea they were about to put on an historic match, the two men did take to the ring that day aiming to have the best match on the card.  “We actually went out there with the intention of stealing the show,” says Steamboat.  “The big match was supposed to be Andre and Hogan, but Andre had a bad back from carrying 500 pounds all those years, and Hogan wasn’t as mobile as Randy and me.  They were going to work the whole match around a bearhug, which would be pretty uneventful, building to the moment when Hogan would get Andre up and slam him.  Well, knowing this, Randy and I worked our match full steam ahead, with me trying to exact revenge on him by taking his title.  That’s why I tried to pin his shoulders every chance I could get.  So with the false finishes and everything else, we had the idea to steal the show, and that’s what we did.”

Steamboat wrestled on and off throughout the remainder of 1987 and throughout 1988, sometimes taking long hiatuses to spend time with his family, which in the summer of 1987 saw a new addition: a son named Richard Jr.  In 1989, Steamboat ended his tenure with WWE and soon went back to the place where he had first become a star: the old Jim Crockett NWA promotion in the Carolinas.  However, during Steamboat’s years with WWE, Crockett’s company had changed so much that it was almost unrecognizable from its previous form.  The promotion had gone national, being seen each Saturday night on WTBS out of Atlanta, the town which had now become the headquarters for the front office.  And, the Crockett family sold out to media magnate Ted Turner, who changed the name of the company to World Championship Wrestling.  So when Steamboat made his return, he found himself on a national stage that now rivaled that of WWE.  Taking the bull by the horns, he quickly re-established his dominance as the top babyface in the company, re-igniting his rivalry with his old foe Ric Flair, who was then, just as when Steamboat had left, still the NWA World champion.  But it wouldn’t be long before Steamboat took that title away from Flair, finally becoming a World singles champion in his own right.  The two men came together for an astounding trio of hour-long televised bouts during the spring of ’89 that saw Steamboat win the NWA title from Flair on a pay-per-view event in Chicago, retain it on a free Clash of the Champions TV special in New Orleans, and lose it back to Flair on a pay-per-view event in Nashville.  All three of these matches are regarded as all-time classics by fans and historians alike, and all three rank among the greatest in-ring performances of the 1980’s.

“The entire nation had a chance to see us coast-to-coast in those matches,” Steamboat says of his 1989 bouts with The Nature Boy.  “But Flair and I had had a pretty good history of working together prior to that time.  I have to say, Flair was the most consistent guy, the most consistent heel that I ever worked with throughout all my years in the business.  He always gave me his best every time we worked.  I’d say we really pushed each other.  When it came right down to it, it was a personal pride between the two of us.”

Steamboat finished his tenure with World Championship Wrestling by working a feud with Lex Luger.  By all accounts, Steamboat led Luger to the best matches of the muscle-bound star’s career in that series.  Though he left WCW before 1989 had come to a close, Steamboat would continue to have success throughout the next two years, venturing to Japan for several big matches before briefly re-emerging in WWE in 1991.  He then returned to WCW later in 1991, and would stay there for the next three years.  During that time, he racked up even more championship glory, teaming with both Dustin Rhodes and Shane Douglas to win a pair of WCW World tag team titles, winning the WCW World television title twice (once from Steve Austin and once from Paul Orndorff) and also once again capturing the United States title (from Austin).  As was always the norm in previous years, a gold belt continued to be a fixture around Steamboat’s waist.

After his final WCW stint ended, Steamboat went into retirement and had very little to do with the wrestling industry for the next decade.  But although he wasn’t directly involved in the business, his influence was still being felt in the ring.  Each time a big pay-per-view main event in WCW or WWE culminated with a series of false finishes that came one after another at break-neck speed, it was impossible not to think back to Steamboat’s Wrestlemania bout with Savage.  Then, in 2004, Steamboat unexpectedly returned to the ring, but now in a non-wrestling capacity, working some main events as a referee for the TNA company.  Later, he appeared with the groundbreaking Ring of Honor independent promotion, where he feuded with Mick Foley.  Steamboat and Foley often managed opposing wrestlers against each other and would cut some of the best promos around during their time working together, but since both were in retirement, they never did face off one-on-one in an actual match.  Even so, they created so much excitement with their work that it seemed only a matter of time before Steamboat would land a new spot back in the big leagues.

Sure enough, in 2005, WWE came calling once again.  Steamboat returned to the company as a road agent that year.  Since a new generation of WWE wrestlers had come to have a high level of respect for Steamboat’s body of work, he was the perfect man to be put in charge of running the company’s live events.  “I was doing what Chief Jay Strongbow always did for Vince over the years,” he says.  “I’d oversee the live events, make sure everyone was there at the building, make sure to get everyone out there in the right order and on time, and at the end of the night I’d send in my report on how the matches went, telling the office who and what got over.  I did that for about four or five years.”  In 2009, Steamboat was inducted into the WWE Hall Fame, and deservedly so.  Very few men before or since have accumulated so many great performances and had such an impact on the direction of pro wrestling history.  But with someone as dynamic and talented as Steamboat in the fold again, the temptation for WWE to involve him in an on-air role proved too great to resist.  So when Steamboat was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee during an edition of WWE’s flagship national television program, Monday Night Raw, he was attacked by top heel Chris Jericho and had to be saved by other Hall of Famers, including his own former foes like Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka.  Surprisingly, this incident eventually led to Steamboat actually returning to the ring against Jericho.  In a 2010 match on RAW, Steamboat’s performance vs. Jericho was so strong that the fans began chanting “You’ve still got it” at him.  It was an incredible tribute, because at the time Steamboat had not had a wrestling match since 1994—some 16 years earlier!  And yet, he was still able to hang with the gifted Jericho, who himself is a high level performer in the ring.

Steamboat has since taken part in a few other matches and also has done some angles on WWE TV.  But his main job these days is working as a trainer at WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) subsidiary, where the company sends its up-and-coming talent to learn the business and, hopefully, eventually make it to the big roster.  In a job like this, where one must groom and advise young workers trying to improve their skills, it’s hard to think of anyone more qualified than Steamboat, given the incredibly high standard he set for himself—and achieved—as a performer. “I got hired by John Laurinaitis, who used to wrestle as Johnny Ace, to be a trainer,” Steamboat says of the man who now runs WWE’s training program.  “What I do is, I go down to FCW, which is run by Steve Keirn, Tom Pritchard, Norman Smiley and Joey Mercury, and I go down there and help teach young rookies the business.  I get in depth with them about the psychology of it.  You know, when and why you do something in the ring, and how to tell a story.  Not to mention, I still take some bumps.  That’s my role now.  I fly down to Tampa on Monday and fly back on Friday.  We’ve got about 50 or 60 guys down there now, and about 10 divas.  They’re all waiting for a slot to open up.”  In addition, for some time Steamboat’s son Richard Jr. has been training as a WWE hopeful in the FCW promotion, striving to someday emulate his father by making it to WWE TV.  “He’s been down there for about three years now,” the proud papa says, “but he’s really just one of the guys.”

For his two decades of excellence as a wrestler, the multitude of great memories he’s given millions of pro wrestling fans, and the selfless devotion to the business that he continues to show today, the Cauliflower Alley Club is proud to honor Ricky Steamboat this year in Las Vegas.  Indisputably, it’s an honor he richly deserves.

We will have a complete bio in the coming days on this outstanding superstar.

The Board of Directors of the CAC would like to congratulate Ricky on receiving this award.

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“Nothing could keep this old soldier away,” boomed the Sarge, “especially since I’ve got a very special and pleasant duty to perform.”

Presentation of CAC’s top honor is the main event of the awards banquet on Wednesday, April 18, the capstone of our three days in “The Ring of Friendship”.  It’s traditional for all previous winners of the honor in attendance to mount the stage to welcome the current year’s winner into their midst.  They’ll be led this time by Sgt. Slaughter, who will deliver introductory remarks in his inimitable style and formally present the Iron Mike award to the 2012 honoree.

The CAC is now accepting donations to help Terry out for this trip. If you would like to donate funds to this worthy cause please send your check or money order to:

Cauliflower Alley Club
383 Highway 00
Rolla, MO  65401

Make your payment out to:
Cauliflower Alley Club Benevolent Fund
In The Memo section write Terry Leavitt. Jr.
You will receive a letter thanking you for your contribution to the CAC. Which can be used for tax purposes.

Drawing By Mouth Donated to CAC From Terry Leavitt Jr. To Be Auctioned Off At This Years Reunion. CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Click On Image For Larger View

Lets make this trip for Terry a very special time!