Steamboat's star-making performance came when he pinned Flair after a double thrust off the top rope to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship at the WRAL-TV studios in Raleigh, North Carolina.

[27] In the opening round at WWF The Wrestling Classic, Steamboat faced Davey Boy Smith in a rare match pitting two fan favorites against each other.

The referee was distracted by Miss Elizabeth as Savage took advantage and pulled out brass knuckles from his tights and hit Steamboat before pinning him to win the match.

[28] After a victory over Hercules Hernandez at the Los Angeles portion of WrestleMania 2,[29] Steamboat began his next feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

[33] Their feud finally ended on the October 4 Saturday Night's Main Event VII, when Steamboat defeated Roberts in their Snake Pit rematch.

Several weeks after winning the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, Steamboat asked WWF owner Vince McMahon for some time off to be with his wife Bonnie, who was expecting the birth of their first son, Richard, Jr.

After defeating Ravishing Rick Rude by disqualification at 1988 Royal Rumble,[43] Steamboat was entered into the tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania IV in March 1988.

[45] This earned him a shot at the title at Chi-Town Rumble where Steamboat defeated Flair in the main event for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[6][46] He was also the last NWA World Champion to defend the belt in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in a match against Tiger Mask II.

[48] After losing the title, Steamboat remained the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, a fact that irked fellow babyface U.S. Champion Lex Luger.

This dispute culminated in Luger attacking Steamboat on the June 14 Clash of the Champions VII: Guts and Glory, thus turning heel.

In September and October 1990, he toured with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he faced high-profile stars like Hiroshi Hase and The Great Muta and teamed up with the likes of Owen Hart, Pegasus Kid, Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto, and Miguel Perez, Jr., and also having matches with aspiring stars Hiro Saito and Takayuki Iizuka.

Despite his previous success in the WWF as a one-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, Steamboat was mainly treated as a brand-new wrestler, save for the announcers occasionally making reference to his WrestleMania III match and former title reign.

He would also be victorious on televised Madison Square Garden events, defeating the likes of Haku, Demolition Smash, Paul Roma, Col. Mustafa, Pat Tanaka, and The Warlord.

[22] In November 1991 at Clash of the Champions XVII, Steamboat returned to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as the surprise tag team partner of Dustin Rhodes, substituting for an injured Barry Windham.

[54] Steamboat began feuding with the Dangerous Alliance at this point, facing them in a critically acclaimed WarGames match at WrestleWar, which received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

He unsuccessfully challenged Dangerous Alliance member and United States Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude for the title at SuperBrawl II.

[56] On the September 2, 1992 Clash of the Champions XX: 20th Anniversary, Steamboat defeated "Stunning" Steve Austin to win his first Television Championship under the WCW banner.

[11][60] On the March 27, 1993 edition of Power Hour, they lost the NWA and WCW titles to The Hollywood Blonds (Brian Pillman and Steve Austin).

[61][62] On the August 18 Clash of the Champions XXIV, he defeated Paul Orndorff to win his second and final WCW World Television Championship.

[65] Heading into 1994, Steamboat engaged in one last feud over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with longtime rival Ric Flair, which culminated in a match in the main event of Spring Stampede where the title was briefly held up due to both men's shoulders being pinned at the same time.

[70][72] In September 1994, Steamboat was fired by WCW President Eric Bischoff via Federal Express package (while injured), thus ending a nearly two decade relationship with the Crockett/Turner wrestling organization.

After an eight-year retirement, Steamboat played an important role in the genesis of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was the referee of the first Gauntlet for the Gold for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[79] In early 2006, Ricky Steamboat told WWE management that he would like to come out of retirement at WrestleMania 22 and work a match with Ric Flair, but the idea was nixed.

[1] Ricky Steamboat has been the special referee in main event matches between John Cena, Triple H, and/or Edge at WWE house shows.

[84] On August 15, 2009, he teamed up with his son Richie to defeat Hiram Tua and Orlando Colon for World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico.

[85] Steamboat's last WWE-related match was teaming with his son Richie, as they defeated Trent Barretta and Caylen Croft at Florida Championship Wrestling's Father's Day Salute on June 18, 2010.

[86] In a 2024 interview for Biography: WWE Legends, Steamboat stated that he was in the hospital for three weeks following that injury, due to bleeding between the hemispheres of his brain.

[88] On the February 25, 2019, episode of WWE Raw, Steamboat along with special guests Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle and Sting appeared during the main event segment to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ric Flair.

[89] In his first televised appearance on TBS since 1994, Steamboat was the guest timekeeper in a match between Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia on the August 17, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite.