Ricky Steamboat has a legitimate reason why he didn’t want to participate in Ric Flair’s Last Match.
The Dragon spoke with Sportskeeda about the subject, where he revealed that the Nature Boy was wearing a pacemaker leading up to his final bout, a move that concerned Steamboat as he didn’t want to take part in the match if Flair’s health was at stake. Check out his full version of the story in the highlights below.
Says he was talking about being involved with Ric Flair’s last match:
Initially, you know, Conrad, who’s the promoter, we talked, we went to Nashville, and we had a sit down, and it was Conrad, his wife, and me and my wife, Sandy. I was still training pretty good and feeling pretty good. So I said okay, and we hadn’t signed or sealed the deal on the money part of it. But what put the nail in the coffin was a week after that when I found out Flair was wearing a pacemaker.
Says he didn’t want to do the match anymore after finding out Flair was wearing a pacemaker:
All these years, I never knew, and I immediately said I don’t think I wanna do this. I don’t want to my legacy to be, you know, I was in a ring with when he happened to pass away or something went wrong.
Says he took the blame for not being involved in the match so he didn’t have to throw Flair or Conrad under the bus:
So I have done some interviews after they found out that I said no, but you know, first time I’m coming public with this. I didn’t wanna throw Conrad or Flair under the bus. So I threw myself under the bus even when I was talking to you that I’m not the guy the fans remember me by. It’s like one of those old-timer boxers. They get in the ring, and after about the third round, the legs are gone. Everything’s sitting there and saying, ‘Man, you have remained retired.’ So I used myself as the reason.