Richie Steamboat

Richard Henry Blood Jr. (born July 7, 1987) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Richie Steamboat.

He is known for wrestling in WWE's developmental territories Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT, and was the second FCW Grand Slam Champion having won the Florida Heavyweight Championship, Florida Tag Team Championship, and Jack Brisco 15 Championship.

Blood's father, Richard Blood Sr., is also a professional wrestler, known as Ricky Steamboat.

His uncle, Vic Steamboat, is also a professional wrestler.

Blood began participating in amateur wrestling at the age of five.

Blood often competed against Reid Fliehr in wrestling competitions during his high school years.

Blood won four state titles and two national titles in amateur wrestling, and was a member of the Ohio All-Star team.

He was offered a place on the Junior Olympic wrestling team, but turned it down.

Blood also played football in high school as a linebacker and tight end, and played four years of varsity football at Lake Norman High School.

Blood has completed two years of a college course in International Business, and plans to return to finish his degree.

As a child, under the gimmick name The Little Dragon, Blood appeared at WrestleMania IV, and later in World Championship Wrestling, accompanying his father Ricky Steamboat to the ring.

When he was older, he trained with George South in Charlotte, North Carolina for several months.

He later trained with Harley Race for approximately four months.

Blood made his professional wrestling debut on July 25, 2008, using the ring name 'Ricky Steamboat Jr.', when he defeated George South Jr. at a Premiere Wrestling Showcase event.

The following month, Steamboat debuted for the Exodus Wrestling Alliance, when he defeated Mr. Florida to win the EWA Florida Heavyweight Championship on August 9.

Just under a month later, on September 4, Steamboat vacated the championship.

That same month, he debuted for Harley Race's World League Wrestling (WLW) promotion, teaming with Naomichi Marufuji to defeat Bao Nguyen and Takeshi Morishima on September 19.

He went on a winning streak in WLW, defeating Darin Waid and Tommaso Ciampa, before defeating Terry Murdoch to win the EWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship at a WLW show on October 31.

On November 15, Steamboat appeared at an Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South show, where he lost to Prince Mustafa Ali.

Steamboat defeated Bobby Eaton to retain the EWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship on November 25, and defeated Eaton in a rematch later that night to win Eaton's EWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship, making him a double champion.

On December 5, Steamboat defeated South with a roll-up in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The following night, he defeated Jake Manning at Vance High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In January 2009, Steamboat vacated both the EWA Missouri Heavyweight and the EWA Georgia Heavyweight Championships in order to wrestle in Japan.

In April 2009, Steamboat began wrestling for NWA Charlotte.

After suffering an injury the previous night that required fourteen stitches, he was unable to wrestle at Final Destination in April, but was challenged by Vordell Walker.

He lost the match to Walker on May 23 and teamed with Zack Salvation in a loss to The American Gangsters (Frank and Nicky) the following week.

On July 9, 2009, Steamboat was part of the WLW show held in conjunction with the Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The following day, Steamboat wrestled in a three-way match for the WLW Heavyweight Championship, but the match was won by Superstar Steve.

On July 11, Steamboat wrestled on an NWA Mid Atlantic card, unsuccessfully challenging Ricky Nelson for the NWA Mid-Atlantic Junior Heavyweight Championship.

His made his final independent circuit appearance on November 13, defeating Jake Manning at a Northeast Wrestling show.

Blood lived and trained at the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in Japan for three months, beginning in January 2009.

He made his Pro Wrestling Noah debut under the name 'Ricky Steamboat Jr.' on January 23, 2009, in a loss to Makoto Hashi.

On February 15, Steamboat teamed with Buchanan in a loss to Akira Taue and Taiji Ishimori.

Three days later, Steamboat, Buchanan, and Roderick Strong were defeated by Kotaro Suzuki, Muhammad Yone, and Takeshi Rikio.

On February 21, Naomichi Marufuji and Atsushi Aoki defeated Steamboat and Doug Williams, and the following night, Steamboat and Ippei Ota lost to Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Kotaro Suzuki.

His final appearance for Pro Wrestling Noah was on March 1, when he teamed with Tamon Honda and Jun Izumida in a loss to Takuma Sano, Kentaro Shiga, and Kishin Kawabata at Budokan Hall.

On March 8, Steamboat wrestled at a Kensuke Office show, where he teamed with Ippei Ota in a loss to Katsuhiko Nakajima and Takashi Okita.

In mid-2009, Steamboat wrestled for the World Wrestling Council (WWC) in Puerto Rico.

He made his WWC debut on July 24, by defeating Ricky Reyes.

He went on to defeat Tommy Diablo, before losing to Orlando Colón on July 31.