Top 91 Quotes & Sayings by Ricky Steamboat - Page 2

On my wish list, a guy I would have loved to work with in our prime would have been Shawn Michaels.

It's always great to meet and give back to the fans that had an opportunity to see me perform.

Look at the talent that has broken through. Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Cesaro. There are a number of talents there. Everyone wonders if you give them the ball, are they going to score or are they going to fumble? Obviously, all the names I mentioned have scored very well.

A lot of times we would feed off of the crowd. A lot of things that we were doing in the match was called on the fly. For example, Ric Flair and I would go into a match and have a couple of spots and moments set up. And then, of course, we would line up the finish. But the rest was called on the fly.

Before, there were only four pay per views throughout the whole year. Guys who were doing soap opera storylines could build them up week after week. We had longevity, and that is one of the main reasons why people remember.

Flair was a guy who 90 percent of your match was called on the fly, while Savage was a guy who had 90 percent of it set in stone before the match began.

It takes two guys to tell a story, paint a picture, so our audience can be entertained and brought into the match. You need to suck people in emotionally to a match, and it takes both parties to paint that picture.

The one thing I'll never forget is the fan base. Without them, there would be no WWE. There would be no wrestling.

Whenever two guys got together, you asked, 'What body part would you like to work?' In my case, it was the arm. Most guys wanted to feed me for that arm drag. We always believed in storytelling, so if I had the arm, the heel would get away for a moment - or heel his way away - and then I would get back to it.

Big moments, you've got to let it soak in. It actually adds to the drama so you don't throw away the move and the moment.

A memorable moment was when I got inducted into the hall of fame in 2009.

Part of my success was rooted in psychology.

I had a good run with the WWF. A lot of good matches, a lot of fun.

I would have to say Ric Flair and Randy Savage were two of my favorite guys to work with; I had some good main-event type matches with both.

I said we would have WrestleMania on Mars one day. I think that would be a match to see.

Who would have thought that Shane McMahon would have any kind of a chance versus Undertaker?

I know one thing, after the match with Savage at Wrestlemania III, I was gassed. I went back to the locker room and fell on the floor.

Whenever you do big stuff in the ring - a big move or a big hit - you have to let that moment breathe. That allows a moment to sink in for the fans so they can reflect on it.

A guy can do a stair-stepper for an hour or go out and run five miles, but there's a big difference between doing that and going out into the ring and being ready to go-go-go-go-go!

If you think of the guys that I was in the ring with, when I looked across the ring at the other guy, whether it be Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Rick Rude, Don Muraco or Jake Roberts, a carpenter is only as good as the tools he has to work with.

My back hurts real bad, every day. All those bumps took their toll. But life is good and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Flair and I would work with one another sometimes seven nights a week, and with four weeks in a month, we had to keep changing up the matches with fans following the circuit every night. It would always test me and Ric to do something different.

Coming up the ranks, I've got to see those who were sons of professional wrestlers get in the ring when they were five years old. I would wrestle around with them. Guys like The Rock and Randy Orton.

I had virtually a three-month layoff from an injury angle we ran so I didn't wrestle at all. I was worried the most about my cardio and I tried to stay in cardio shape using a Stairmaster and treadmill but there's nothing like being in ring shape.

I'm happy to see NXT grow. Everything they are doing, they are going in the right direction.

The old-timers taught me about psychology. Whatever body part, for instance, you decided to work on, well, you worked on. If you're working on someone's arm, you don't go to the head with headlocks. You don't go to the lower body. If you start with a body part, you stay with a body part.

For every 100 times you can nail a big move, it's that 101st time where you over-rotate and it can end your career.

Wrestling has been a very big part of my life.

I'm not suggesting that every moment in the match has to be huge, but you've got to space it out to have a couple of really outstanding moments.

The WWE has a great school in Orlando and most of the trainers are of my upbringing.

I can remember that my match with Savage at WM3 lasted less than 20 minutes.