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Titles and Steiners

Dear Scott,
  Longtime reader of your reviews and rants. I just have two(2) quick questions:
 
  1. With Vince putting so much of the product on TV now and him squeezing every penny he can out of merchandising, how come he never created a TV title. I would think you could get more mileage out a TV champion on television than say the US title (especially when u already have the Intercontinental title). Always wondered why he never did that.
 
They have WAY too many titles already.  A TV title is just another name for another secondary belt that no one gives a crap about, to be honest.  Plus once Jim Duggan pulled it out of the trash to become champion, the concept was gonna be dead for a LONG time.  Frankly I'm shocked he resurrected the US title concept instead of reusing something of his own creation like the European or North American titles.   

   2. I was watching an old Impact episode and Scott Steiner was on. As I was explaining to my wife the complete change in character and skillset he did she didn't believe me until I showed her a Steiners match from '92. She still didn't believe they were the same person!!! I told her that Steiner from 91-94 is what Kurt Angle is today. Do you think that's a fair statement?? and how do think his career would've gone if: A) he broke from his brother when Flair wanted to put the title on him and 2) if Steiner from 91-94 debuted today??

I often have trouble reconciling the two people as well.  His reintroduction on Nitro in 98 took some getting used to, believe me.  Anyway, by "Steiner from 91-94" are you meaning that he was the often-injured former can't miss megastar like Kurt Angle is today, or an entertaining wrestler frequently having to carry the promotion on his back?  Because I don't think he was ever NEAR the star that Angle is even today as a shell of his former self.  Really, Scott Steiner 89-91, before the initial biceps tear that started him down the road to roidville, was the most awesome worker you'd ever see.  I think that if he debuted today WWE would probably tone him down to the point where he wouldn't get over, because he worked a very different style than most North American heavyweights, understandable given their time in Japan.  You'll note today that there's not a lot of suplex-heavy and hard-hitting intense guys, outside of Angle as noted.  Given the wrestling background, I think he'd have a shot as a Brock Lesnar-type once they molded him into the more homogenized style they prefer, but without trying to be too facetious about it I'd say that he wouldn't last two months without getting fired for multiple Wellness violations. 

As for the first part of the question...I dunno.  Older Scott Steiner as champion would have been a throwback to the classic NWA champions, but the business was changing and I really think that Big Poppa Pump was the key needed to make it as a long-term main eventer.  It's kind of the classic case of the Eddie Guerrero issue, where a guy doesn't develop a World champion level personality until long after his body has broken down from being a World champion level athlete.  Wrestling is weird that way, in that guys don't typically hit their peak until well after they're no longer able to capitalize on it.  So I'm gonna say he would have flopped as champion and been a victim of politics to play it safe.

Comments

  1. Steiner would have probably went into MMA if he came around nowadays like every other big time NCAA wrestler. Or at least given it a shot before trying pro wrestling.

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  2. I don't know about you guys, but a wrestling world that never had roided-up Big Poppa Pump is a wrestling world I want no part of.


    /although the law of averages concerning super-roided wrestlers means he's not long for this world anyway
    //I'M HUNGRY!!!

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  3. Question for the Doom Buggies, Bloggers of Doom, Blog of Doomers, or the Blog of Doom Board of Directors (the BoDBoD)...

    Is wrestling as a whole now better off that we've shifted to a striking dominated style (Bryan, Punk) instead of the suplex dominated style of 10 years ago (Lesnar, Angle, Benoit, Steiner, etc.)?

    I miss the suplex-heavy matches of yesteryear, but they had to have played some part in the demise of the health of some of the major players in wrestling, right? I think of the necks of Austin, Angle, Edge, and Benoit, and there's no way they got that screwed up without taking an obscene amount of belly-to-back and German suplexes. I mean, wouldn't Ziggler--in his quest to be the best salesman ever--be in a wheelchair by now if he faced Angle and Benoit for years?

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  4. I'd bet Steiner ends up being one of those guys who lives until he is 100 like Jake the snake and Keith Richards. He is the genetic freak after all.

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  5. When Lesnar, Angle, Benoit, etc. were going full tilt, that was my favorite era of wrestling. And not to sound like a heartless prick but I wish they would go back to it. Neck surgeries and shortened careers be damned.

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  6. I quit watching in the early 90s and came back during the nWo/Attitude period and I had no idea that he was the same guy. He doesn't even look alike facially, it's a pretty crazy transformation.

    I think he definitely could have got over if he was given the Lesnar push. It's not like Lesnar was some kind of terribly charismatic guy by wrestling standards. But if a guy gets put over Hogan, Undertaker and Rock in short order, he's getting over. I guess the question is whether he would have got that push. Probably not.

    I'm glad that things turned out the way they did though. Without general insanity and steroid use we never would have experienced all of his tremendous promos. Without all of that, wrestling would be way less fun.

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  7. Drastically reducing german suplexes is the smartest thing WWE has done. I've read on numerous occasions from numerous tough guys that the german is their least favorite move in all of wrestling to take. There are plenty of other moves where you don't land on your head that look cool. Angle is going to paralyze Kaz one of these days. Watching him at Bound for Glory had me afraid for everyone's safety.

    I think there's room for growth in style that's less dangerous to work and not as boring as punchypunchykickykicky. If anything since the public is more education on submission grappling there's room to work more mat-based stuff into pro wrestling and actually get it over. It would take a long term commitment to retrain WWE audiences that a top guy could lose to an arm triangle if that wasn't the guy's signature move but it would probably be worth it in the long run.

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  8. Define "better". I'd say the style of 10 years ago is a hell of a lot more fun to watch. A striking-heavy style is fine as long as both guys are good at striking, but that's not often the case, shitty looking punching and kicking has been a staple of wrestling forever. But that style is far safer. One thing we can all agree that's bad for wrestling is CNN talking about a whole bunch of dead guys again.

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  9. Steiner's look changed over almost a full year throughout 1997, similar to Sting's in 1995/6. He went from clean-shaven with a mullet to having his hair slicked back in a ponytail, then adding the goatee, and finally trimming the mullet. This is also when his body went from very muscular to "Oh my god what the fuck is wrong with him??"

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  10. answer to your initial question: to me, it is. I don't want favorites of mine (or any worker, really) end up as crippled just because of a too "extreme" style.

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  11. A really good Head drop is like a guilty pleasure.

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  12. wrestling is better off IMO with more striking, but i feel these kicks will lead to blood clotting after a while.


    I like german/dragon/tiger suplexes as much as the next man, but after a decade of them in the main events between Benoit/Angle it just got too much. Now that Benoit is dead and Angle isnt as german happy its cool to see every once in a while. IMO.

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  13. Conspiracy theory: The original Scott disappeared and was replaced by a different man? I agree, they look 1000% different.


    Also, a threadjack question: Colt Cabana has made mention of an historical wrestling tournament in Hamburg, Germany...most recently when William Regal was on. Does anyone know what this is called/if it's still active/etc.? Some moderately thorough Googling has got me nothing.

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  14. In all seriousness one of my favorite parts of late 90's wcw was all the old white guys using rap lyrics as catch phrases (or even dressing like them).

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  15. Definitely. Imagine if instead of the Diaz brothers we had the Steiner brothers!

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  16. I think the smart money is in unifying the IC and US titles into a TV title, and then having the TV-champ compete on every "Raw", "Smackdown", and PPV.


    It's a great way to give exposure to a guy that the company wants to push. Granted, it would have meant more when the rosters were actually kept separate (meaning that people that only watch "Raw" would get to see the new "Smackdown" guy that is getting some buzz, and vice-verse), but I think there's still some justification to doing it - namely, it's a good excuse to make sure the IC/US champ doesn't get left off the shows, sometimes for weeks or even months at a time. Just give one guy a reason to show up on every episode, and it instantly makes both the belt AND the wrestler mean more.

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  17. The Catch wrestling tournament? The one Jericho/the Harts/various other North Americans have gone over and done?

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  18. Sounds about right. Thanks man.

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  19. The key word is "smart", so don't bet on the WWE doing it.

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  20. I thought this said "Titties and Steiner." And I didn't even think that was out of the ordinary.

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  21. I miss those dying days of WCW with Steiner as the Champion accompanied by the "Nature Boss" Ric Flair and his special enforcer in Animal. I at least found it much more enjoyable than anything they tried doing in 1999 or 2000.

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