69-year-old legend says he hardly beat Ric Flair despite wrestling him "400 times" (Exclusive)

Ric Flair is unanimously considered an all-time great of professional wrestling. However, he likely wouldn't have made it that far without incredible babyface challengers. One of his greatest foes, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, has recounted his record against Ric Flair.

Ricky Steamboat spoke to wrestling veteran Bill Apter in a Sportskeeda Wrestling exclusive. He was asked about the art of storytelling and went into detail about his priorities when approaching a match.

Steamboat said that his goal was always to have the match of the night and create unforgettable moments:

"I never had a problem doing the honors. My goal in every match, especially when I've made it to the main event status, the caliber of a main event guy, my goal was to have the match of the night. I found out earlier that when fans go home and they're riding in the car they go 'Oh! Ricky lost! Oh man, where's he going to go from here?' No - they talk about the moments of the match, 'Oh do you remember that part where Steamboat came off the top?', so if you get the match over, both guys win. That was always the goal." (0:36 - 1:26)

Referring to his iconic series of bouts against Ric Flair, he admitted that he could count his victories over The Nature Boy on one hand despite wrestling him "400 times."

"I can count on one hand, the number of times I've beaten [Ric] Flair. And we had wrestled each other 400 times. But it was the match that kept the fans coming back. It wasn't that he won, or I won. I can count on one hand how many times I've got my hand raised. You know, I don't know many 60-minute broadways but people always said, 'Ricky if you had one more minute you would have won'" (1:27 - 2:00)

You can watch the full video below:

Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat arguably had the greatest trilogy in wrestling history

Wrestling was a lot more than just WWE in the 1980s, and a couple of years before Ric Flair joined the company, he had an iconic series of bouts against Ricky Steamboat.

Their trilogy spanned from January 1989 to May 1989, first in the Chi-Town Rumble, where Steamboat won his sole world championship from Flair. Their second bout at the Clash of the Champions went on for an hour, and despite a non-finish, Steamboat was declared the winner.

Their third bout at Wrestlewar is regarded as one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, with Flair regaining the NWA World Championship from Steamboat.

If you have seen the matches, which of the three was your favorite? Voice your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

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