In Defense of… 03.15.06: Scott Steiner (Part 2 of 2)
Posted by JP Prag on 03.15.2006
All the hoochies say: there’s nothing finer than an IWC writer.
In Defense of…
By JP Prag
Issue #46
Scott Steiner (Part 2 of 2)
Intro
Hello people who have arranged a client meeting in Florida during Spring Break, and welcome back to In Defense Of…! I'd say it's hot and sunny and all that, but I don't know, I'm writing this days ahead of time (to make Larry happy). But I'm sure you'd like to be down here anyway. For now, though, you should go back and read Part 1 of this case to keep yourself busy.
And to keep even more busy, start off by reading the soon to be sanctioned most positive article in the IWC, Hidden Highlights! Why do I say that? Because if you check the main page today you can also check out the first ever GREAT POSITIVITY DEBATE!!!! For months the cold war of who has the most positive article in the IWC has raged on between Hidden Highlights and MeeThinks. Well, it's time to show your true allegiance, and vote in something besides this case! JT and I appreciate your support.
In the meantime, let's get back to In Defense Of… (not the most positive, but part of the team). 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 recently learned that in the third quarter I can start using my Southwest points for a free flight to Hawaii. Awesome! I know where I'm taking my vacation!
Stenography
But before I go on vacation, we need to catch up. Stenographer, tell everyone what they already know.
You've never let me go on vacation. Well, last issue we started the case of the IWC vs. Scott Steiner. Our story began with Scott's older brother Rick (born Robert… and Rechsteiner… but that hardly matters) and the two of them getting involved in amateur wrestling as a kid. Placing well in high school, both went on to the University of Michigan and wrestled there as well, albeit at different times and to different rewards. And as they say, college is a time of exploration; a chance to learn more about yourself and try out… new things. What Rick ended up trying out was professional wrestling. Watching Rick's early success and Rick telling Scott about professional wrestling gave Scott an interest in the sport that he never had as a kid.
So, much like Kurt Angle, Scott saw the opportunity to take his skills he learned in amateur wrestling and parlay them into a career in professional wrestling, a highly different activity. After training under the Original Sheik (trainer of Sabu and RVD), Steiner began his career with the WWA. He quickly won over the crowd and the championship. After some time, though, Steiner found a calling as a tag team specialist. He would move on to the CWF and the AWA, winning tag team titles along the way. This would bring us to 1989.
Meanwhile, Rick by 1988 had found his way to the NWA, but he was not as successful getting his brother a position there. It would not be until halfway through 1989 before the NWA (or, more correctly, JCP) would give Scott a shot. You see, Rick did not just give his brother an automatic break in the industry. Scott had to pay his dues in the smaller promotions for years before he was even given a shot in the NWA, and a shot was never a guaranteed job. But the Steiner Brothers impressed everyone and won the NWA World Tag Team Championships just five months after they began teaming.
Scott also used this time to premier his signature move: the Frankensteiner. You see, no one had seen a move like this before. Steiner had been saving it special for his big time debut, and the move was incredible, especially for someone of Scott's size.
Despite premiering such an amazing move, Steiner still considered the tag team more important. Unlike many people today, he considered winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles just as important as when he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship eleven years later. He had no want of breaking up the team before they could accomplish everything, and that is what they did. The Steiner Brothers were the first team to hold both the NWA/WCW World Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships… at the same time no less! The Steiners had become an international super team, and yet that still was not enough.
After a brief stint in the WWF (and winning the Tag Team titles), the Steiner Brothers spent most of their time in Japan, although they made occasional appearances in ECW. They returned to WCW in 1996 just in time for the beginning of the nWo, and to be a huge part of the entire angle by fighting the Outsiders for well over a year.
By 1998, the Steiner Brothers as a team really had done it all. Eric Bischoff approached Steiner about turning heel, but Steiner really had car-blanche control over his new character and angles. And the character he came up with was Big Poppa Pump. From a unique physique, a new bleached look, rhyming promos, catch phrases about hoochies, and a mat-based submission style, this new Scott Steiner was a completely different character, yet still played homage to his own past.
In an extremely turbulent time in WCW history, Steiner was able to rise above the crop, hand out devastating loses to some of the biggest in the game (Sid, Nash, Goldberg), and make himself into a world champion in November of 2000. Look at it this way: Scott Steiner spent twelve years in the tag team division, but only two and half in the heavyweight division. And in just two and half years he had become champion of the world. That is meteoric rise. Sadly, with the death of WCW, Steiner lost the championship to Booker T on the last Nitro and Steiner took some time off.
Now this is a point of contention. Many felt that Steiner should have taken the buyout from AOL-Time Warner and gone on to the WWF/E. But what is rarely mentioned is that Steiner was injured pretty badly and decided it was best to just take the ton of money from his original contract to heal up at home. Besides, he was not enamored with the WWF product (especially from his time there), and did not want to have to go there just for money.
The WWE contacted Steiner a number of times about coming into the organization, but he was not going to just come back for any amount of money. Finally the WWE offered him the right amount of money and Steiner agreed to come in. But the WWE's plan seemed to be to feed Steiner to Triple H and then forget about him. He had a horrible match (much due to ring rust and being shackled creatively), and was forgotten about. Yet, he got better when he was not forced into a role, and actually found someway to make an interesting long storyline with Test. Yet, the WWE elected to send him home and let him sit out his contract. So they signed him to a high-priced deal to send him home. Who looks to the wrong one there?
You see, for whatever reason, the WWE seem incapable of working with WCW characters. Whether out of spite, incompetence, or something else entirely, the WWE has lost the WCW audience. At the time of the last Nitro, the combined wrestling audience was giving the two shows a combined rating of AT LEAST 7.0 (and at one point was as high as 12.0). Yet, RAW is lucky today to have it's 4.0 rating. Just as with Goldberg, the WWE mismanaged a WCW character and drove away any hope of attracting the former WCW fans.
Steiner was gone from the WWE, yet that would not be the end of him.
Thanks Stenographer. And we know now Steiner still feels like he has more to add.
Have you seen my lost puppy?
For a while now, Steiner has been making sporadic appearances on the indy circuit, usually in organizations that he was asked to come to by friends and family (notably Buff Bagwell and Rick Steiner). But as it would happen, immediately after announcing this case, rumors began that Steiner was in talks with TNA.
And as of Destination X, it looks like Steiner has joined the company. For how long? For how much? As of the time of this writing, nothing is for sure. What we do know is that despite everything that happened in the WWE, interest in Steiner has remained high, and he has one last chance to prove what he is made of.
Of course, many have had a hard time understanding what Steiner is about.
Misunderstand this!
Throughout his Big Poppa Pump years, Steiner has been characterized as a loose cannon, someone who could go off at any second. But, much like New Jack, is Steiner just working us? Kevin Eck of the Wresting Digest seemed to think so in February 2003:
Steiner then reminded fans why he is known for being as dangerous with his mouth on live television as he is with his fists in the ring. "Give me the [expletive deleted] mike," he screamed.
Less than two minutes into his WWE comeback, he already had dropped his first "f-bomb."
That intensity and "loose cannon" quality are two of the reasons why fans find Steiner so fascinating. You never know what he's going to say or do; whether he's playing a role or is truly out of control.
And…
Steiner's publicized brushes with the law and backstage conflicts only served to give credibility to his volatile heel persona in WCW. With Steiner, the fans truly believed that he could snap and go off on someone for real at any moment.
And unlike almost every other wrestling star on the current scene, Steiner refuses to ever break character in magazine or Web site interviews or acknowledge that the business is a work.
"What happened outside the ring proved that what was going on in wrestling wasn't an act," Steiner told WCW Magazine in 2001. "It wasn't a character that was conjured up by someone in the back. I think the fans realize it is real with me."
Steiner is the ultimate "swork" character. We really do not know where the character ends and the man begins, and vice versa. Yet, he has let himself be pinned by everyone from Booker T at the last Nitro, Triple H, and even Test. So on one hand he seems to be all about himself, yet at other times he seems to be the ultimate professional.
Despite this, Steiner has been known to "go into business for himself". On two separate occasions on Nitro, Steiner actually went out with a live mic and ran down people he was not in a program with (Ric Flair and DDP, to be precise). Perhaps, though, he had good reason to act the way he did. Perhaps he was actually trying to vindicate someone. From Michael KopStick recap of Tammy Sytch's shoot interview:
Her ECW stint didn't end with a happy goodbye, either. The internet rumor about this firing was drugs; she says that Paul just wanted to make an example of her and Chris since everyone else was doing worse drugs than they were. The Extreme locker room featured drinking, pills, pot, heroine, coke, you name it. Tammy and Chris drank and did pills, nothing more, but that didn't mater to Paul. "He can be a jerk that way," Tammy shrugs. But it wasn't that much of a big deal since they were already in talks with ECW-raider WCW.
They were three for three, getting fired next from WCW. This one was reported to be drugs, too, but the story behind this, Tammy clarifies, is that Eric Bischoff called them aside and pulled out pills, saying that the other girls found them in a bathroom stall she was using. This was the worst concoted story ever on the part of the WCW females because these were bodybuilding pills. Tammy doesn't bodybuild! There were other girls on the roster that did like to bulk up, like Asia and Midaja, but not her. She immedietely offered to take a urine test, which WCW officials adminstered the next day, eager to prove the former Boddydonna wrong. She took it and was then told that the results will be known in three weeks. In the meantime, she was given a paid suspension…
When Scott Steiner heard what was going on, he got even angrier than Tammy was. He learned that Kimberly was behind the whole thing, ran into the female locker room, grabbed the Diamond Doll by her shirt, hoisted her down the hall with her bags, and threw her out the door, threatening that if she ever shows up again in WCW he'd kill her. That was the last WCW saw of Kimberly Falkenberg.
You see, Steiner was actually trying to help someone out, someone who got fired anyway. He has always had his reasons for acting the way he did, but being a private man who did not want to break kayfabe too much, he never let out why.
And yet after that he maintained his professionalism. Steiner and DDP worked together a number of times, including just two weeks before the end of WCW. No, despite personal feelings, Steiner was always one thing: a professional.
Now that's dedication
How far, though, would Steiner take his professionalism. We already covered that Steiner was not a fan of wrestling growing up, so that would have you believe that he would not have a dedication to do anything necessary. Steiner, though, took his job very seriously. From Brandon Truitt's recap of Rick Steiner's shoot interview:
Is it true Scott asked him to punch him in the face as part of an angle? Yes. Scott was supposed to have a black eye for one angle but it didn't look good enough. He asked Rick to pop him one to make it look better but not to hit him too hard.
Now if that doesn't show dedication to one's craft, I don't know what does!
The Awards
That dedication paid off with a string of awards. From Accelerator3359:
PWI Achievement Awards: (4 wins, 3 1st RUs, 3 2nd RUs, 3 3rd RUs)
- 1988 Rookie of the Year, 3rd Runner-Up
- 1989 Most Improved Wrestler
- 1990 Tag-Team of the Year (Steiners)
- 1991 Most Popular Wrestler, 3rd Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1991 Match of the Year (Steiners vs. Sting & Lex Luger)
- 1991 Tag-Team of the Year, 2nd Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1992 Tag-Team of the Year, 2nd Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1993 Match of the Year, 1st Runner-Up (Steiners vs. Heavenly Bodies)
- 1993 Tag-Team of the Year (Steiner Brothers)
- 1995 Tag-Team of the Year, 3rd Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1996 Tag-Team of the Year, 2nd Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1997 Tag-Team of the Year, 1st Runner-Up (Steiners)
- 1998 Feud of the Year, 1st Runner-Up (nWo Hollywood vs. nWo Wolfpac)
And of course there were a string of titles en route. Same site:
- WWA Heavyweight Champion (8/14/86 - 5/03/87)
- WWA Tag-Team Champion w/ Jerry Graham Jr (10/04/87 - 12/06/87)
- CWA Tag-Team Champion w/ Bill Travis (5/29/88 - 6/6/88)
- CWA Tag-Team Champion(2) w/ Bill Travis (6/27/88 - 8/15/88)
- CWA Tag-Team Champion(3) w/ Jed Grundy (2/18/89 - 2/25/89)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion w/ Rick Steiner (11/1/89 - 5/19/90)
- NWA United States Tag-Team Champion w/ Rick Steiner (8/24/90 - 2/20/91)
- PWA Tag-Team Champion w/ Rick Steiner (9/17/90 - 10/1/90)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion(2) w/ Rick Steiner (2/18/91 - 7/18/91)
- IWGP Tag-Team Champion w/ Rick Steiner (3/21/91 - 11/5/91)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion(3) w/ Rick Steiner (5/3/92 - 7/5/92)
- IWGP Tag-Team Champion(2) w/ Rick Steiner (6/26/92 - 11/22/92)
- WCW World Television Champion (9/29/92 - 11/92)
- WWF World Tag-Team Champion w/ Rick Steiner (6/14/93 - 6/16/93)
- WWF World Tag-Team Champion(2) w/ Rick Steiner (6/19/93 - 9/13/93)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion(4) w/ Rick Steiner (7/24/96 - 7/27/96)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion(5) w/ Rick Steiner (10/13/97 - 1/12/98)
- WCW World Tag-Team Champion(6) w/ Rick Steiner (2/9/98 - 2/22/98)
- WCW World Television Champion (2) (12/28/98 - 3/14/99)
- WCW United States Champion (4/11/99 - 7/5/99)
- WCW United States Champion (2) (4/16/00 - 7/9/00)
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion (11/26/00 - 3/26/01)
- WWA Heavyweight Champion (4/13/02 - 03)
- SSCW Heavyweight Champion (10/29/02 - 11/18/02)
Yes, Steiner has done it all in this industry. But has he done it with a little… "help"?
Mmmmm… drugs…
For years the speculation has been that Scott Steiner is not genetic freak, but a totally drugged up pusher. This speculation has run rampant even before the Big Poppa Pump gimmick. Yet, I could not find one wrestler or associate who said they saw Steiner do Steroids. I found several that said they had no problem with steroids, but none as witnesses. A few people even said that they never saw Steiner do steroids, but they just assumed.
Well great, Steiner's own peers are assuming that he did steroids and perpetuating the rumors about him. Yet, everything available tells us otherwise.
From the Wrestling Digest in October 2000:
BA: Do you take steroids?
SS: If I was on steroids, how could I pass the drug test? We're tested randomly once or twice a month. If I did steroids I would be out of WCW. They are pretty strict on enforcing the drug tests. People are jealous. They could never look like me because I am a genetic freak. It pisses them off so they try to cut me down by saying things like I take steroids.
I weigh 265 now, and I used to weigh around 280. I changed my diet, cut down on the carbohydrates. I'm on a really strict diet, which makes you leaner and makes your muscles stick out more. I had to get my upper body lighter just to take the pressure off my back since I had some back problems. I'm a lot leaner, and I feel a lot better.
And from the same magazine in June 2001:
PEOPLE WHO THINK I USE STEROIDS CAN:
"Kiss my ass. I have never failed a drug test in WCW or the WWF."
Also, from Sean McCaffrey's review of Scott Steiner's shoot interview:
Scott talks about his rumored steroid abuse. Scott says he never failed a drug test. Scott tells a story about how WWE wanted to test him and Scott says ok, he'll take the test with Hunter, and that was the last time the WWE ever asked him to take a drug test again.
Steiner seems pretty adamant that he's never taken steroids, and he seems to have proof, yet everyone still doubts him. Perhaps I should bring in an expert? From Bodybuilding.com:
Q: Do you think Scott Steiner's arms are real or do you think they are synthol?
A: Thing is that Scott's arms were huge long before synthol was ever around. So to answer your question Steiner's arms are as real as Monica Brandt's ass! Now Gregg Valentino is another story. Here is a man with so much oil in his arms he could run NASCAR pit crews for a year.
You see, Scott's physique is possible with a ton of hard work. Even if he was talking steroids, he would still have to work just as hard (if not harder) to sculpt his body in that way. I would try to explain Scott Steiner's work out program, but I don't have fifty pages, so feel free to check it out here.
And as for the supposed "'roid rage" incidents, Steiner has always been characterized as a malcontent. He truly does have a disdain for the human condition, and he has felt that way since he was young. Sure, Steiner is not your happy-go-lucky type of wrestler, but does that mean that he is a destructive force. TNA again seems to think he has something to add, and whose to say that he can't give back one more time?
To all my freaks out there…
Scott Steiner is a misunderstood man. He is a man who has had a bi-polar career, who has been viewed as the best and the worst. His last major appearance left a sour taste in many people's mouths and demolished a legacy spanning two decades. But Steiner is a man who was dedicated to the tag team ranks and did everything from invent a prominent move to win simultaneous international championships. He was able to completely change who he was and become one of the top people in the turbulent end of WCW. Yet, being very closed and a believer in kayfabe, many misunderstand where the character ends and the man begins. Controversy follows Scott Steiner like a dog follows Beggin' Strips, yet he has been a sparing man who is still a millionaire today. He is not desperate for money, he is not in and need. He can only be coming back to wrestling for one reason: he want to make a difference.
I'll sum it all up with this quote:
"For a number of years, over in Japan and in WCW, I've always admired his wrestling ability, his wrestling skill and his character… He's a true professional. When it comes to business, he's all about it. I'd love to be able to get back in the ring with him and have some more matches. We had some great matches over in Japan, and some great matches in WCW… I'm happy to have him on the crew."
That quote came from Chris Benoit.
The defense rests.
Hung Jury
Well everyone, that wraps up our twenty-first case. So what do you think?
And please take into consideration the rules (well, they're more what you might call guidelines than rules) of a fair court system:
(1) All parties, events, circumstances, etc… are innocent until proven guilty. In this court, the defendants have already been found guilty without trial, and so therefore this is an appeals court. Finding a defendant guilty means you disagree with the evidence presented.
(2) The jury must find the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt. That means that if there is doubt in your mind that the defendant is guilty, then you cannot find the appellant guilty. Reasonable doubt means that the average person, looking at the facts presented, could not find the defendant guilty on all counts despite personal feelings.
(3) This is a court of fact, not fiction. Fantasies of what could have been or should have been do not fly here; especially fantasies of the impossible (such as a wrestler not getting injured at an untimely moment). All we have is what did actually occur and the intentions of those being accused.
(4) A defendant cannot be judged by events outside the case at hand. For example, if we were trying a particular contract signing by a wrestling promoter, you cannot use that ten years later that wrestler died from a heart attack relating to the drug use that the wrestler started when he signed with the promoter. One has nothing to do with the other in terms of the case at hand.
(5) You do not have to like the accused before or after the case at hand, and a vote of not guilty does not change your personal preferences. You can make it clear that you feel the accused is the worst thing you have ever seen, but if the facts compel you to see that the accused cannot be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt, then voting guilty would be unconscionable.
Keeping the rules of this court in mind…
IN THE CASE OF THE IWC VS. SCOTT STEINER, STEINER HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING A JUICED UP, LOOSE CANNON WHO ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING IN WRESTLING BUT STINKING UP THE RING WITH OVERALL TERRIBLE SKILLS AND WREAKING HAVOK WHEREVER HE WENT.
An interesting case to say the least. I hope I hit all the major areas. I know there were some specific incidents I could have gone into, but there just was not enough time. Overall, I think the point was made.
No time to fret on it for long. We have a case to get to quickly. Actually, we have crazy case number four of five, building up to our year-end spectacular. So when we return it is: In Defense of… the World Heavyweight Championship (Part 1 of 1)!
In the meantime, be sure to check out Hidden Highlights—the most positive article in the IWC. 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)!
Plus, JT and I need you to vote Hidden Highlights the most positive article in the IWC, so be sure to read the first ever GREAT POSITIVITY DEBATE and vote Hidden Highlights over MeeThinks. Thanks a bunch!
Until then, the next time you read some throwaway line presented as fact, challenge it. The truth matters, and you have a right to know.
Know a particular person, event, organization, storyline, etc… in wrestling history that needs a defense? E-mail the One and Only JP at lookforme@mikefine.com, and I'll be glad to hear your case.
