In Defense of… 03.08.06: Scott Steiner (Part 1 of 2)

Posted by JP Prag on 03.08.2006

In Defense Of… is your hook up! Holla… if ya hear me!!

In Defense of…
By JP Prag

Issue #45

Scott Steiner (Part 1 of 2)

Intro

Hello everyone preparing for ten days on the road, and welcome back to In Defense Of…! We're on the upswing of crazy cases, and this is insane case number three of five, all leading up to our one-year spectacular. If there's a chance I could lose a case, it'll come up real soon. And what about our last case? What about the Ultimate Warrior (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3)?

No need for any more suspense. With 66.3% of the vote, the Ultimate Warrior has been found:

NOT GUILTY!

Oh…. Bwa hahahahhahahahahahhaha! Sorry, that was a major release. There were times when "Guilty" was winning by a big enough margin, but then people actually read the case and changed their minds. As further proof, the Ultimate Warrior and Goldberg were my two most voted on cases ever. Perhaps, then, Warrior has a point that a match between the two would be a huge draw?

More people than usual said it was my best case ever. I don't know, maybe. It was certainly the longest and probably the second-most researched (after Eric Bischoff). I also spent that week co-writing my normal Hidden Highlights, co-writing 411's Countdown to Wrestlemania 22: The Hidden Highlights of Wrestlemania, and another project that will be revealed soon. Actually, check out Hidden Highlights this Sunday to find out what it is!

Now, perhaps this is your first time clicking on In Defense Of…? Maybe you didn't read about the Ultimate Warrior, Vince McMahon in the Death of Owen Hart, Larry Zbyszko, Scott Hall, New Jack, the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Mike Awesome Leaving ECW, Sid Vicious, the Undertaker, the Sport of Professional Wrestling, Lex Luger, WCW Thunder, the Brand Extension, Goldberg, Vince not buying out WCW's contracts, Earl Hebner Screwing Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes: Head Booker, The Finger Poke of Doom, Kevin Nash, the Elimination Chamber, or even Eric Bischoff. It might be that you are you once were a freak for the Big Bad Booty Daddy. Well, for those new to the concept, this article has a pretty simple premise:

Certain people, events, organizations, and storylines in wrestling history have gotten a bum wrap. Some writers have presented overtly critical comments and outright lies as fact, and others have followed suit. Well no more! "In Defense of…" has one reason: to bring the truth to the wrestling fan!

And that's what I intend to do.

Me? I'm the One and Only JP, and I finally got my home unit for my Sirius s50. After three months, I can now listen to Howard in the morning, Bubba in the afternoon, and all those other stations like CNBC and Alternative Nation (What? That doesn't mix?) all the time. Except now I'm going on the road for work again, so I won't be able to enjoy it. Ah well…

Some dame walked into my office and said…

Around September I was thinking, "I really need a good two-part to help close out the year." Well, to my great surprise and happiness, Lester Romero came up with the answer:

How about something more difficult like Scott Steiner? It's a shame how many people forget how incredible he was and how he's mostly remembered for his later injury prone years.

Thus, I made it so!

Of course, our main fixer (#315) said:

You must have read my mind when I thought of another guy that needed defending: Scott Steiner.

Reading minds? Maybe…

But more than one person thought it would be a great defense. And more than one person thought I was out of my mind for agreeing to this case. Sounds like the perfect reason for me to take the case!

Why this?

For nearly twenty years, Scott Steiner has been a major figure in wrestling. But his career has been two-fold: one part helping to define the new tag team era, the other as the resurrection of the heel main eventer. Because Steiner has really been two, very distinct characters, his previous accomplishments are often forgotten. Not only that, but the more recent years have overshadowed even how much he accomplished in the second phase.

Instead of being recognized as a trendsetter and a major player, Steiner has become a joke. Instead of being recognized for his influence on the industry that is still prevalent to this day, Steiner has become just a bunch of quick one-liners.

Because some did not like his evolution, and others never knew him, and others yet only saw the worst he had to offer, Steiner has been buried. But here is a man whose career spans so much time and says so much; how can we sum it up with a laugh at his expense?

Before we get too far, though, we need to understand where we've been.

Scott Steiner Part 1 – Scott Steiner

On July 29, 1962, Rick Rechsteiner was surprised to find that he had a new baby brother. Of course, he didn't realized that he had a baby brother since he was just a year and half old, so the two grew up together. Their parents gave the new baby the name Scott.

Scott and Rick spent their childhood in Bay City, MI. As brothers so close in age, they found themselves as their own best friends and worst enemies. Brothers fight, and brothers support each other no matter what. Neither growing up was a fan of professional wrestling, but both found a common interest in amateur wrestling. Their love of the mat-based sport and led both Rick and Scott to the University of Michigan where they met with much success. Scott himself, according to Obsessed with Wrestling:

[Received] 6th Place at the 1986 NCAA championships 190 lbs his senior year. He was also a 3x Big 10 Runner Up getting 2nd place his sophomore, Junior, and senior year.

Rick also met with similar success a little earlier, placing fourth in the NCAA Championship.

While in college, too, both got their full introduction to professional wrestling. Scott was not immediately drawn to the sport, but Rick was. After meeting with George "The Animal" Steele, Rick set himself to become a professional wrestler immediately after graduation. After training with Eddie Sharkey, Rick made his pro debut in 1983 and began a path that would eventually lead him to the NWA in 1988.

Meanwhile, Scott was still in school and was not sure of his direction. But, after watching his brother progress in wrestling up until that point (and listening to Rick go on about his new passion), and realizing that he could take his amateur career and turn it into a professional one, he felt it was a risk worth taking. Much like Kurt Angle, he realized that amateur and professional wrestling were two different worlds that required different skills, but still had the same route. In order to bring out his routes, he began to train in 1986 under one of the best ever: The Original Sheik.

Due to his amateur skills, Scott's training passed quickly and he made his debut in Indianapolis for the World Wrestling Association. His abilities and charisma, while severely subdued compared to later years, helped him win over the crowd and the WWA Championship. After winning the belt from Greg Wojokowski in August 1986, Steiner would go on to hold the belt for nearly nine months before losing it back to the former champ (I am not retyping that name!). From there, Steiner would go on to his tag team career. This began by teaming with Jerry Graham and winning the WWA Tag Team titles.

After a couple of runs, Steiner moved on to the AWA for a short bit before finding his way to CWA in Memphis. There, be won the tag team titles with both Billy Travis and Jeb Grundy between 1988 and 1989. All of his time spent in the tag team ranks had trained Scott to have a deep understanding and appreciation of tag team wrestling that is not truly prevalent in this day and age.

Finally the time had come to join his brother and shorten his name to just Steiner.

Rick had been in the NWA since 1988 and wanted to bring his brother in, but to no avail. From Brandon Truitt's recap of the Rick Steiner Shoot interview (July 2003):

Bringing Scott into the company- He tried to do it when Dusty was booking but couldn't even get a minute of his time. After his face turn, he pitched it to Flair and a few other guys who ended up bringing Scott in.

There are people that said Rick just used his influence to get Scott a free ride right to the top of the NWA. This, as you have seen, cannot be further from the truth. Scott spent three years on his own in the independents and large minor organizations, learning and honing his craft. At that, it took nearly a year and a change in booking power to even have his brother looked at. And so, Scott was brought in to see how the Steiners would do.

The Steiner Brothers debuted in June 1989 and quickly lost to Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan at Clash of the Champions VII. They impressed the office and the audience, though, and quickly for their win back at the Great American Bash a month later. Their feuds with Doom and the Freebirds led to the Steiner Brothers capturing the NWA Tag Team Championships on November 1, 1989, just five months after their debut. Part of that was Scott Steiner's unique finisher: the Frankensteiner. From IMDB:

Inventor of the "Frankensteiner", a wrestling maneuver that is more commonly used today by cruiserweight wrestlers. This move is now known as a "Hurricanrana".

While it is debatable whether Steiner "invented" the Frankensteiner, the point is that he popularized the move in North America and Japan, and paved the way for future cruiserweight wrestlers. One problem: Steiner was no cruiserweight. At the time, Steiner was around 245-255 lbs and was quite muscular (not as much as he was in later life), so the move was even more amazing when pulled off.

You see, Steiner realized that he could capture the audience through his look, his gimmicks, on the mic, and with his moves. He wanted to master of all of them, and this was just another step to prove how innovative he was. Steiner himself commented on keeping the move secret for a while. From Sean McCaffrey's review of the Scott Steiner Shoot Interview:

Scott talks about inventing the Frankensteiner. He talks about the origin of the move and how he waited to debut it in NWA because he didn't want people stealing it in Memphis.

Steiner understood the difference between the big show and the little show, and he did not want to give it all away when it would not be seen. This was a lesson that wrestlers like Nova (Simon Dean) never took to heart. The often lamented complaint in ECW was the moves that Nova did over the weekend were guaranteed to show up on Monday Night. And you know what? They were right. But that does not mean they were smart. Steiner was smart and understood the difference in his level, and understood he needed to save his best stuff for the biggest show in town.

Scott was extremely proud of the move and his tag team status. Said Steiner to the Wrestling Digest in June 2001 when asked about his biggest moments in wrestling:

"The first time my brother and I won the NWA world tag-team title on November 1, 1989, and the first time I won the world heavyweight title this past November. Those are the two top trophies in the sport. You can't get any bigger than that."

Do you see what I mean? Steiner considered the tag team championships that he won with his brother in 1989 just as important as the World Heavyweight Championship he won in 2000. There was a man who truly respected tag team wrestling, which is most likely why he and his brother became such a dominating tag team. Unlike many wrestlers (or more likely writers) in this era, they wanted to be a tag team and saw prestige in it. Steiner said earlier in the same interview:

The rest of my career, I have been focused on tag-team wrestling and winning tag-team championships. The world title really wasn't on my mind for the first part of my career.

The Steiner Brothers' tag team career continued, not only winning the NWA/WCW championships, but also holding the IWGP Tag Team titles as well. You see, Rick and Scott has also begun to make a name for themselves in Japan as well and became an international super team. For the first time ever, the WCW and IWGP tag team titles were unified (for four months) until Scott was injured.

After repeating this event in 1992, Rick left WCW to concentrate on Japan. Back in the States, Scott moved into singles competition for a while, even winning the Television Title. After the Steiner Bros. lost the IWGP tag team titles in November 1992, Scott vacated the WCW Television Title and the duo moved on to the WWF. From the previously mentioned interview in the Wrestling Digest:

WD: You and Rick spent some time in the WWF and captured the tag-team rifle. What are your thoughts on your time spent there?

SS: I have a lot of respect for Vince McMahon. He took a family business and made it bigger than it was. I am sure his son, Shane, will do the same thing. The time we were with them was a bad lime, because he was going through that steroid trial and wrestling was down. So, it was unfortunate for us that we picked that time to join the WWF. We still proved a point; we still won the tag rifle. At the end, we just got a better offer and went to Japan for a few years and made better money.

And also from Sean McCaffrey's review of Scott's Shoot Interview:

Scott says he wanted a change of scenery and wanted some stability in his career, and that's why the Steiners jumped to the WWF. He also said he should've never jumped to the WWF at the time, and said everyone was miserable there.

He says he left the WWF for Japan because the WWF was so depressing at the time.

You have to remember at that time in WCW, the boss was changing every few weeks. The organization was a mess and many people thought it was about to crumble. The Steiner Brothers hoped to find a more stable home in the WWF, but that was not to be. Due to the steroid trial, things were not going well. From the same review:

Scott talks about Vince and the steroid trial and how Vince thought he was going to jail.

That seems familiar… where have I seen that before? Oh right! It was exactly what Warrior said was happening and what Vince said. I like when guys that have nothing to do with each other separated by years back each other up.

But the Steiners made their point and won the straps a couple of times in just a year and a few months. The Steiners then went on to Japan and made sparing appearances for ECW. Japan was all about the money, as Steiner noted in his interview with Wrestling Digest:

I have always made it a point in my career to go where the money is.

ECW, though, was for different reasons. From the review of the Shoot Interview:

Scott talks about working in ECW for a cup of coffee, and how his main concern at the time was Japan.

What ECW was for Steiner was just something to do while he was stateside. His real concern (and money) was Japan. Scott was never fired from WCW or WWF and forced to work in ECW, he had chosen everywhere he wanted to go.

In 1996, WCW came calling and the Steiner Brothers left Japan to return to WCW full time. It was a different organization then, much more stable and about to grow. They began feuds with the Road Warriors and Harlem Heat, but the birth of the nWo changed everything. The Steiner Brothers became the penultimate force against the Outsiders, even winning the Tag Titles at Souled Out 1997 before having the decision reversed on them the next night.

Their feuds would continue through 1997, winning the Tag Team titles a couple of times en route. After losing the titles back to the nWo in January 1998, everything changed…

Scott Steiner Part 2 – The Big Bad Booty Daddy

From Accelerator3359:

This was when Scott's attitude began to change. He became less of a team player, and engaged in a "body" feud with "Buff" Bagwell over who could flex better. This did not stop the two brothers from becoming 6-time WCW Tag-Team Champs, as they beat the Outsiders in February. Although the Steiners seemed united again, it was not to last. On February 22nd, at Superbrawl VIII, Scott betrayed his brother to the nWo, practically giving the titles to the Outsiders. Scott had jumped to nWo.

Scott's next appearance showed him as a bleached blonde, with various nicknames (the White Thunder one was dropped due to possible racial suggestions). He offered an nWo membership to Rick as well, but Rick refused. Scott then had feuds with his brother Rick, Lex Luger, and others. Scottie joined "Buff" Bagwell as the two became a team, since Bagwell couldn't wrestle due to his injury. The Steiner vs. Steiner feud then continued for months, with Rick winning the tag belts from his brother and the Giant.

It was a slow turn that left people saw coming but could not wait for. Nobody knew just quite what was going to happen and who Scott Steiner would become. From Tim Baines in the Ottawa Sun:

After being a "face" much of his career, Steiner suddenly became a heel in WCW.

"Eric (Bischoff) came up to me and asked if I wanted to be a heel," he [Scott Steiner] said. "I was ready for the change. I bleached my black hair blond.

"Eric didn't have much faith in the booking committee so he let me do my own thing ... say whatever popped into my mind."

In something you do not see today, Steiner was really in charge of creating his new character and his new story. And he came up with a true heel of the modern era, one who people loved to boo, but were captivated by. His catchphrases were numerous and interesting, but always pulled the audience in. From Wikipedia:

- "Say something nice and I'll make you scream twice!"
- "This goes out to all my freaks out there. Big Poppa Pump is your hookup; holler if you hear me!"
- "All my hoochies say: there's nothing finer than Scott Steiner!"
- "You know where to find me: I'll be flexin' my PEAKS, pleasin' my FREAKS... and when they say 'BOOM-shakalaka!', that's when you KNOW that I'm the Big Booty Daddy! So Big Poppa Pump is your hook-up--HOLLA if ya hear me!!"
- "Do you want to be [mesmerized] by the physical [phenomenon]?"
- "All I care about is my peaks, and my freaks, nation-wide!"

But it wasn't just the words and look, it was also the in-ring style. Steiner stopped using the roped and became more mat and power based. Many complained that it was because he bulked up so much that he could not pull off the moves he once did. That was not the case, though. Steiner chose to change his style because he was a whole new character. After a decade as the same guy, he wanted to be completely different. That also included changing his finished to the Steiner Recliner (a submission move: a sitting camel clutch).

Steiner's new character would cause controversy in and out of the ring (we'll get to it), but eventually led him from the Television to US and finally World Championship. In November 2000 at WCW Mayhem, Steiner defeated Booker T to win the WCW Championship for the first (and last) time. He would hold the title until the very last day of WCW, losing it back to Booker T in the opening contest of Night of Champions Nitro.

You have to realize that this was an extremely turbulent time in WCW, and that the fact that Steiner was able to stand out and find his way to the top is a testament to his career and dedication. It was also during this time that he established himself as top wrestlers with impressive wins over not only Sid and Kevin Nash, but also beat Goldberg in a match that made him look even more powerful than the unstoppable machine.

Also, his rise to the title was really meteoric. If you consider Big Poppa Pump and a whole new man, than it was a relatively short time. From the Wrestling Digest interview:

WRESTLING DIGEST: As of this interview [published three months later], you are WCW's world heavyweight champion. It was a long rime coming. What took you so long to get there?

SCOTT STEINER: I have heard that comment before, that it has taken me a long time to get there. Well, it hasn't taken me that long, maybe two-and-a-half years.

You see, Steiner was not looking to the top singles competitor in the world when he was with his brother, he wanted to be the best tag team. But once he concentrated on his single's success, he quickly found his way to the top.

But with the death of WCW, it would seem like he would be forgotten.

When and when not to go

Scott often gets criticized for not taking a buyout at the end of WCW and going directly to the (then) WWF. This, of course, led to him losing the title on the first match on Nitro. From the recap of Scott's Sheet Interview:

Scott talks about the final Nitro, and how he refused to take a buyout. He said he had an injury that he wanted to heal anyway.

And further from IMDB:

Steiner decided to take things easy for a while to recover from some back problems that he had been having, along with a severe nerve problem in his left leg.

So Scott stayed at home and got healed up (not heeled), what is wrong with that? The guy had been on the road for fifteen years at that point and had been in some brutal matches. He needed time to get healthy, and he was still a little sour from his last time in the WWF.

Even though he made a few independent appearances and did some shows for the WWE tour at the end of his Time-Warner contract, Steiner was not desperate for work. Wrestling was his career, but he was still well off. Back to the recap of Scott's Shoot interview:

Scott talks about joining the WWE, and how he was offered to join several times before he eventually accepted. Scott said he wanted the right amount of money to come back to wrestle, since he was financially set. He said the WWE product was some brutal shit at the time, so he wasn't in no hurry to join WWE.

Scott talks about how he was basically brought in just to put over Hunter. Scott says that Vince didn't know how to use any of the WCW guys right. Scott says it was brutal to work for Vince.

Scott talks about Hunter tries to make people look bad. Scott said he didn't care about being buried because he was getting paid no matter what.

Scott did not need the money of the WWE, but that does not mean he would not accept it. From Scott's interview with UCW's Steven Goforth:

Steven: I must say that I was very disappointed with the way WWE used you during your recent time there. How did you feel about your time spent in the WWE?

Steiner: I wasn't very happy either. I had heard rumors that the only reason they brought me in was to work Triple H. But they signed me for 3 years so I got paid regardless, so who looks stupid, not me. It is there fault they didn't use me correctly. They never used or had good spots for any of the WCW guys. GOLDBERG didn't get used like he should have either. Vince never won over or got the WCW fan base.

Steven: Why did WWE choose not to be more creative with your character and let you be involved in storylines with more wrestlers?

Steiner: When you go up there, they make you into a robot, they even wrote my interviews, and that never happened in WCW. The same four people wrote everything for all the guys, so no one has very much personality that's different. But I don't think anyone on WWE now has much character.

And from Tim Baines' article in the Ottawa Sun:

"I had a feeling they weren't going to do much with me," said Steiner (real name, Scott Rechsteiner) over the phone. "But it wasn't the first time they treated a guy from WCW like that. They seemed to s--t on the guys from WCW.

Steiner said it right. The WWE intentionally mismanaged his character because (1) they just wanted to use him to put over Triple H and (2) because there is no understanding of the WCW audience. Last week RAW scored a 4.0 ratings. Even during the low times of Nitro, the combined audience for RAW and Nitro was usually in the 7.0 range. Where are the other 3.0 ratings of people? Lost forever because Vince buried WCW.

Of course, there will be those who say that Steiner was ruined by his wrestling, especially Royal Rumble 2003. And let me tell you, that was an awful match to watch. How do I know? I was there live.

The match basically consisted of Steiner throwing the same two suplexes over and over for twenty minutes until Triple H hit him with a sledgehammer. To say the crowd turned against Steiner would be an understatement. Why, though, would the WWE put Steiner in such a position? He had a lot of ring rust and was told in the back how he should wrestle his match. And then to put him out there for twenty minutes?

Also, he had been a heel for five years, yet the WWE wanted him as a watered down face (sound like a similar practice to, oh, John Cena? And to similar result, no doubt.).

No, that reeks of being set up for failure. That is like putting the female winner of Tough Enough in the ring a week after winning the competition and then blaming her because the match was bad. How can you do that? That is being intentionally set up to lose.

And if you watch Steiner's later matches, especially those with/against Test, he was able to shake off the ring rust and bring back his style. Those matches were often some of the most solid on the show, even though Test is not considered much of a worker either.

After December 2003, the WWE elected to just let Steiner's contract run out, again proving they had mismanaged him and could find nothing to do with him. The WWE somehow finds ways to use Mark Henry (nothing against Mark Henry, he's just been around for ten years), but could find no way to use Scott Steiner. Seems quite peculiar.

Of course, this would not be the end of Scott Steiner. He would be heard from just shortly after announcing this case…

RECESS!

I was actually planning on going further with this, but the points would be really noncontiguous if I used them now. With that in mind, when we return it's a question of what is Scott Steiner up to today, highlighting some controversial moments (include a great surprise witness in Tammy Sytch), a look at Steiner's commitment to the business (from another witness), checking out some of the awards Steiner has received, and (of course) STEROIDS!!!

So tune in next week for our totally roid ragin' conclusion of In Defense of… Scott Steiner (Part 2 of 2)!!

Be sure to check out Hidden Highlights in the meantime! Don't forget to send JT and I your Hidden Highlights for RAW, SmackDown!, Heat, Velocity, Impact, or any other show you saw this week (that includes house shows and indy events, you know)!

Until then, the defense rests!




Know a particular person, event, organization, storyline, etc… in wrestling history that needs a defense? E-mail the One and Only JP at [e-mail], and I'll be glad to hear your case.