Diamond Dallas Page had hailed Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat as the most underrated WWE Hall of Famer of all-time.
During a career which saw him become NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and one of the top stars in both WWE and WCW, Ricky Steamboat earned a reputation as one of the best workers in history.
His matches with the likes of Ric Flair and Macho Man Randy Savage are still revered to this day, and many modern stars speak fondly of “The Dragon’s” influence.
All of these accolades meant that Ricky Steamboat was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
However, despite a glittering career, Diamond Dallas Page believes that the star remains underrated. Speaking on his DDP Snake Pit podcast with Jake Roberts, the pair discussed the legend.
“I think he’s the most underrated Hall of Famer of all time,” DDP said. “The most underrated of all time.”
Continuing on, Page compared the star to Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, before breaking down what made him so impressive.
“I put Ricky, especially when it comes to selling and storytelling, in the same spot as Sylvester Stallone,” DDP said. “When you watch that first Rocky, you’re moving in the chair, like, when you’re feeling it.
I watched when Steamboat and Mach (Randy Savage) had that WrestleMania match. Me and Marc Mero were working together at the time, and for some reason, there was a period in wrestling where there weren’t a lot of false finishes. It pretty much went right into the finish, there was a couple ‘boom, bump’ and then the guy went over.
“I watched that match over and over again, and then I watched Steamboat and Flair. It was very much the same thing. The storytelling as they got into it, these guys worked together a thousand times. And that’s what Ricky had with the greats like Macho Man, and he had it with Ric Flair.
“But me and Mero were working together and if you go back to anything me and Mero did, I can’t remember if it was 95 or 96 (pretty sure it was 95 into 96), I watched those tapes. And I watch it and I watch it, and then I call Mero up. I’m like, ‘Marc, let’s watch this. Watch what they’re doing here.’ They (WCW) didn’t put us on Nitro. We’re doing the 6:05 show or 9:05 in the morning on Saturday or Sunday. But they let us — Terry Taylor would let us be the dark match.
So every night, every Monday, we’re on TV and we get to go. And there was some point in the time of us working together were all of a sudden you almost heard the whole crowd go ‘one, two, oh!!!!’ I looked up and I go ‘we got them!’ And I learned that from Steamboat. Me being the heel and trying to get Marc more of that babyface, and later, I stole that stuff and flipped it around and used it.”
Diamond Dallas Page also recently praised another former WCW star in Kevin Nash. The master of the Diamond Cutter claimed that Nash was the greatest ‘big man’ in history.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.