Ricky Steamboat Reveals Original Plans For Return Match

12 years after his last match, Ricky Steamboat will return to the squared circle this weekend when he teams with FTR to take on "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal, Brock Anderson, and a mystery partner. The match will take place in Big Time Wrestling on Sunday, November 27. 

While he will team with FTR, the original plan was for Steamboat to clash with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler but the AEW team ended up turning babyface which forced a change to be made. 

"Well, let me tell you this. Like I said, this, for me to make a final, final decision was three or four months in the making. I just didn't jump on it the first time I was approached from Big Time Wrestling and I have an agent guy, Tony Hunter, who also works with Big Time Wrestling, and when I was first approached, but FTR, when I was first approached were heels," Steamboat told Wrestling Inc.

"They were going to be two guys on the other side of the ring that I was going to be wrestling. And AEW turned them babyfaces, turned them good guy. So they said, 'We can't have heels working against you, Ricky, you're a babyface. So what would you think if we had them as your partners?' And I thought it was great too because they were at the WWE school, back in the day when I was a trainer and I'd work with them in the ring and I know they're good hands and I'm glad how they've grown in the business with AEW. And so the adversaries, Jay Lethal and then old Arn Anderson's boy, Brock and they still got a mystery partner and I haven't been privy to the mystery partner. Can you believe this? It's coming up this week."

Ricky hasn't performed in the ring since he and son Richie defeated The Dudebusters at an FCW show in 2010.