And More Ricky Steamboat

[posted 7/22/10 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]


Once again I’m pulling out as its own headlined item a comment added to this blog’s previous post by Keith Harris of Cageside Seats. Unlike the wrestling newsletter writers who pander far too much to fans who don’t want to hear how the sausage is made in the sausage factory, Harris processes the news like a sentient citizen of the real world.

Harris writes:

“The latest medical word is that it can’t be proven conclusively one way or another if the beating he took in the angle was or wasn’t related to his medical condition.” – Dave Meltzer, July 19th Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

A cynic would suggest that with Steamboat entering his fourth week in hospital and still in a great deal of pain, that WWE officials have stopped trying to downplay this disturbing incident to Dave and have decided instead that silence is the best policy.

I suppose this means Steamboat won’t be back in time to screw Nexus and cost them their match with John Cena’s team at SummerSlam (by the way, Bret Hart, yes the Bret Hart who had all those pesky concussion and stroke problems, was chosen for Steamboat’s spot in the match), as Bryan Alvarez flippantly suggested in his July 20th Figure Four Weekly Newsletter:

“You could also do a finish where the babyfaces win due to interference from another victim from NXT’s past, either Vince McMahon or Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat is still hospitalized and we don’t have a status report, but one would presume he’d be out within a month (and if he’s not, the situation is significantly worse than they are letting on). He could, for example, come down to the ring and trip up Justin Gabriel as he goes for his 450, leading to the babyface win and happy ending.”

Yes, let’s wheel Steamboat out and place him on TV ASAP, to prove to the naysayers that a burst capillary and bleeding on the brain is nothing serious to worry about. What a fairytale ending for WWE!


Irv Muchnick