Ricky Steamboat in Toronto - Maple Leaf Wrestling

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Toronto fans would get to know Ricky Steamboat on the first card featuring the Mid Atlantic stars - Oct 22 1978 - in a preview of the feud that may have saved Toronto. Steamboat along with Ric Flair would revitalize the scene with their epic battles over the crown of the M-A region, the U.S. Title. Steamboat, who had started out under the guise of being Sam Steamboat's son (Sam also wrestled here regularly - in the early 60's) was coming into his own by the late 70's, the feud with Flair setting the future for the young star with the fans in Toronto getting behind the upstart in his quest for the title.

The feud would take center stage on the next two cards - Nov 19 1978 & Dec 17 1978 (with Steamboat finally beating Flair for the coveted belt). Steamboat would also be seen on TV teaming with Canadian Champion Dino Bravo and working singles with Terry Yorkston, Steve Muslim (Travis), and a masked Mr X. The first card of 1979 would see Steamboat take the main event when Harley Race was unable to make it for an NWA Title defense against him. Ken Patera & John Studd would flip a coin to decide who would face Steamboat for his U.S. Title. Flair, also on the card (loss to Tiger Jeet Singh earlier in the night) would interrupt the proceedings coming out in street clothes to challenge Steamboat. It was to no avail though as Studd took the toss and go on to lose to the new champ.

In February 1979 Steamboat takes on Flair's tag partner Greg Valentine. The bout sees Flair running out to the ring to attack the champ earning Valentine a disqualification. Steamboat would then enlist Bravo to take on the hated team on the Mar 4 card before returning on Mar 25 in another successful singles challenge vs Flair. The 'Nature Boy' though, would finally catch up with Steamboat and take the belt on April 1 in Greensboro, NC. In Toronto NWA Champ Harley Race would return to make up for his missed defense and face Steamboat in an exciting bout ending in a draw. In May the Flair feud continues, with the young stars ceding the main event for a WWWF Title bout between Bob Backlund and Moose Morowski, Flair takes the bout with a pin.

June sees John Studd trying to collect on the $5000 bounty Flair had offered in a bid to injure his hated foe. Steamboat takes the bout with a pin and then enters into a mini feud with Ernie Ladd here while also beating Paul Jones for the M-A TV Title on June 10 in Ashville, NC. Steamboat would return to face former champ Jones on the Aug 19 card, and the next day in Oshawa, ON beating Studd yet again.

In September Frank Tunney put on a one-night tournament to decide a new Canadian champion after Bravo had abruptly left the area. In a lineup including Pedro Morale, Mad Dog Vachon and Greg Valentine, Steamboat would beat Brute Bernard in the first round and Jimmy Snuka in the second round, setting up a bout with Valentine. He would not continue however after injuring himself during the Snuka bout. Valentine would advance by forfeit and face eventual winner Dewey Robertson in the final.

Steamboat would return on the next card to face now U.S. champ Jimmy Snuka, these two had some wild bouts over the years, both agile high fliers who complemented each other very well. On Oct 24 in Raleigh, NC Steamboat would team with Jay Youngblood to win their first of many NWA Tag Titles and would be absent from Toronto for the next several months.

They would make their first appearance here together on Mar 30 1980 defending their belts against Valentine & Ray Stevens -even though Valentine/Stevens had won the belts the night before in Charlotte, NC. The bout had been advertised as such and as was the way back then the news of the title change would take a while to make it to Toronto. The good guys would 'retain their belts' when Youngblood (with help from Steamboat) pinned Valentine at 25:16 of the bout.

The popular duo would return again in May to face Stevens & Valentine and win on a dq when Stevens attacked ref Terry Yorkston. Again on the 'Japanese themed' card in a great bout vs new champs Stevens & Snuka that ended in a 33 minute curfew draw. Their feud would reach a peak with a cage match in Aug but we would not see Steamboat again in Toronto until Mar 1981 when he returns to beat Stevens at MLG.

Aug 81 sees Steamboat challenge M-A Champ Ivan Koloff in a losing cause and returning in November to team with Ron Bass to beat Koloff with Valentine. There would be another absence until Mar 1982 when Steamboat would return to compete in the Cadillac Tournament. He would beat Adrian Adonis in the first round, Roddy Piper in the second, but as in the Cdn Title tourny he would be unable to advance because of injury. Jimmy Valiant beats Jesse Ventura in the finals of the one-night tournament.

Though I have not seen this card substantiated, on July 27 1982 in Ottawa, On Steamboat faces Flair in an NWA Title bout before returning to Toronto with Youngblood to win the M-A Tag Titles from the Privates - Don Kernodle & Jim Nelson - on the Aug 22 card. In Jan 1983 the popular tag duo returns for the start of a 4 bout series vs NWA Tag champs Sgt Slaughter & Kernodle that culminates in a cage bout which sees the belts around the waists of the good guys. The bout on Mar 27 was actually a repeat of the win on Mar 12 in Greensboro - Steamboat and Youngblood had already won the belts - but again as the info took a lot longer to migrate across the wrestling world, the fans here thought it was as it seemed.

This bout was the talk of the town in Toronto and one of the highlights of the last years of the promotion. There was a huge buildup through the series and while Toronto had seen it's share of historic title changes, in the later years it was not common for a title change - outside of our regional titles - so was a big night for the wrestling faithful. It's hard to relay the excitement at the time unles you were there but title changes were a huge deal for the fans especially with a team as popular as Steamboat and Youngblood.

While the Gardens was being renovated in the summer of 1983 Promoter Jack Tunney put on a couple of big shows at Exhibition Stadium titled 'Night Of Champions & Return of the Champions The tag champs would appear on the first card facing Dory Funk Jr & Jake Roberts, then after losing the belts on June 18 in Greenville, SC, facing new champs Jack and Jerry Brisco on NOC II. The challengers would be disqualified when Steamboat judo chopped referee Tommy Young. This would mark Steamboat's last appearance in Toronto during the 'NWA' years until coming back with the WWF in Mar 1985 vs Matt Borne and thrilling a whole new audience with the same brand of no-nonsense grappling.

From Toronto Connection - First M-A Card 1978

The final match of the evening was a confrontation between Ric Flair and the sensational Ricky Steamboat. Both young wrestlers combined showmanship, brawling and scientific wrestling. In matches before capacity crowds in North Carolina and Virginia. the pair had aroused the passions of the fans with ultra-violence and intricate wrestling holds. Every battle in their war had been a classic, and this Toronto main event was to be no exception. Flair entered the ring wearing a sequined turquoise robe that was accentuated by his strutting across the runway antagonizing every fan as he completed his triumphant march to the ring. As Steamboat entered the ring, be was attacked by Flair. A few deadly chops to the forehead from Steamboat caused Flair to retreat to his comer. As the bell rang, both men jumped into mid-ring to begin the match. A series of Steamboat arm drags caused Flair to fall all over the ring. Flair countered with punches and eye gouges. Frustrated by his attempts to end the match early. Flair launched a new attack based on punches, elbow drops, and kneelifts to the stomach. Flair seized the temporarily weakened Steamboat in a vertical suplex, and tried for a pin. Steamboat threw him off, and began a counter-attack based on dropkicks, body slams, martial arts hand thrusts and chops to the throat.

After several two count pins by both men, the tide began to turn. Ric Flair could not break Steamboat's version of the figure-four leglock but he refused to submit to the hold. Slowly and painfully, he crawled into the ropes. Upon breaking the hold, Steamboat stepped back, then launched a series of body slams, suplexes, flying mares, and punches. Steamboat satisfied his cheering, stomping, whistling fans by beating Flair from one end of the ring to the other. In the midst of a series of body slams, Flair grabbed Steamboat in a cradle for the count of two. Steamboat reversed the cradle, applying an inside cradle that Flair broke by pulling hair.

Flair then threw Steamboat into the ropes and caught him in a high back body drop. When Flair tried the moved a second time, Steamboat caught him with a sunset flip cradle. When Flair broke the hold, each wrestler began to use kicks, elbow drops, chops, and punches, in a last ditch effort to destroy the other. Finally, Steamboat grabbed Flair in a sleeper hold which Flair broke by eye gouging. Steamboat went wild, using chops, kicks, and another flying sleeper hold to subdue Flair. The nearly unconscious Flair went for the ropes again. Steamboat responded by turning the sleeper into a stranglehold. When referee Tommy Young tried to break up the hold, he was thrown to the mat. The referee thus disqualified the enraged Steamboat. Bloody and nearly unconscious, Flair had won. The fans had witnessed a match that would never be forgotten.