WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat made an appearance on the November 12 episode of AEW Dynamite, a special “Blood and Guts” show from Greensboro, North Carolina. Following his appearance, the legendary wrestler opened up about AEW’s creative direction in a recent interview with Bill Apter.
When asked by Apter about AEW’s storylines, Steamboat was straightforward about his concerns with the company’s product. “I do question some of the storylines that they like to bring forward,” he explained. “God bless those girls that was in that [Blood and Guts] match, but I didn’t care for didn’t care for it.”
Steamboat specifically pointed to the first-ever women’s Blood and Guts match, which took place on the show. The 12-woman match saw the team of TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, Megan Bayne, Marina Shafir, Thekla, Skye Blue, and Julia Hart defeat AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander, “Timeless” Toni Storm, Harley Cameron, Willow Nightingale, Mina Shirakawa, and Jamie Hayter.
His primary issue was the number of wrestlers involved in the two-ring steel cage. “I thought personally there were 16 girls in there or something like that. There’s just too much going on. You have this corner with two girls doing something, then two or three girls in the middle of the ring doing something else, then you go to the other ring and two or three more girls doing their own thing. You couldn’t focus on anything because there was just so much happening,” Steamboat explained.
The veteran felt the excessive action made it hard for him to connect with what was happening. The amount of blood spilled throughout the match also bothered him. The match notably saw Skye Blue “busted open early” and other weapons like broken glass used. Steamboat noted that he believed having more blood doesn’t automatically make a wrestling match better.
During his own appearance on the November 12 show, Steamboat was brought to the ring by Tony Schiavone to a large ovation from the Greensboro crowd. He began speaking about the city’s wrestling history when he was cut off by FTR, who came out with their manager, Stokely Hathaway. FTR insulted the Hall of Famer before attacking him in the ring.
Steamboat’s segment was also reportedly scheduled to feature “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who was advertised for the special. However, Flair was absent from the televised segment. A backstage report noted that Flair was in attendance and made an appearance for the live crowd but left the arena shortly after. He was said to be in “a ton of pain” due to a recent rotator cuff tear, which forced AEW to make last-minute creative changes to the segment involving Steamboat and FTR.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit a recent interview with Bill Apter with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
