WWE: Profiling Future Stars, Part 3—FCW Superstar Richie Steamboat

Over the next month and a half, I will be profiling Superstars from the WWE's Developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. This will not include guys who have been on WWE TV for an extended period of time, with the exception of WWE NXT.

These FCW Superstars have stood out from the rest of the pack, and many will become future WWE Superstars. You may have heard of many, but may not be familiar with others.

Today, I profile the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat: Richie Steamboat.

Richie grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and was raised by his famous father. Growing up, he would train with George South and Harley Race.

That's not a bad circle of wrestlers to be taught by.

This would obviously give Steamboat an edge over most wrestlers and make him a second-generation superstar. It also will give him added job support, as father Ricky still works backstage as an agent for the WWE.

Richie's training would help him open doors across the world, as he has competed in Japan, Puerto Rico and England. Over the process, he has picked up four championships, including being one half of the current FCW Tag Team Champions, along with Seth Rollins (yes, I will be profiling Rollins soon enough).

After competing across the world, Steamboat would be signed by Florida Championship Wrestling, losing his first match to current WWE Superstar Heath Slater. He's gone onto wrestle Derrick Bateman, Wade Barrett, Curt Hawkins, Alex Riley and Johnny Curtis. Do those names ring a bell?

After a nice showing against the guys listed above, Steamboat would suffer a knee injury that would sideline him for a number of months. Upon his return, he teamed up with his father (who, before his recent stroke, could still put on some pretty good matches) to defeat The Dudebusters. Yes, those Dudebusters.

After unsuccessfully challenging Mason Ryan for the FCW Championship, he would go on to another streak of facing WWE Superstars: Jinder Mahal (who debuted on SmackDown), Michael McGillicutty and NXT contestants Byron Saxton and Lucky Cannon.

Now obviously, by the laundry list of now WWE Superstars he's faced, the WWE has confidence in Richie. In fact, the only thing that Steamboat hasn't accomplished thus far is a reign as FCW Champion.

In my opinion, they should allow Steamboat a run as FCW Champion. The guy has all the in-ring skills (tremendous high flying in-ring work) and could benefit greatly from a championship run. After a strong reign as champion, Steamboat could roll into the WWE's Friday Night SmackDown and become an upper mid-carder almost immediately.

Another direction the WWE could go is to have him and IWC golden boy Seth Rollins (formerly known as Tyler Black in Ring of Honor) stay together and debut as a team. These two could, without a doubt, put on amazing matches that the tag team division currently lacks.

Maybe they could wrestle The Los Aviadores.

That has Percy Watson's approval!

Okay, okay, I'm finished plugging.

To close, as I've illustrated in this article, I believe Richie Steamboat has a bright future in the WWE. As a second-generation star and son of one of the most popular wrestlers ever, with amazing in-ring skill himself, Steamboat should make an immediate impact upon his WWE debut. 

So what do you think should happen with Richie Steamboat? Should he debut in a tag team with current partner Seth Rollins? Or perhaps you think he should go to SmackDown and fill the weak upper mid-card.

Whatever you think of Steamboat, I welcome your feedback.