When Scott Steiner returned to WWE in late 2002, were there plans for bigger matches with top WWE guys? It seemed like feuds with Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels would have been fresh match-ups, not to mention Steve Austin (before WM19 ended up being his last match) and a variety of mid-card opponents. Yet all they really did was the initial HHH feud and some stuff with Test, as I recall. Did his terrible matches with Hunter derail bigger plans, or was he just brought in with no real plan. A feud with Lesnar seemed to make sense at the time, even if just for a one-time PPV match.
Oh yeah man, they wanted to push Steiner to the MOON, and the HHH debacle absolutely killed it for him. Not only did he have a terrible match with the top guy, but the top guy who was basically booking the company and routinely buried people for "not knowing how to work". I think that WWE brass was kind of snowed by Steiner's previous WCW stint in that they were at least reasonably able to disguise how limited he was, whereas once he got into WWE he no longer had his safeguards and it became brutally obvious that he could barely work a match anymore.
Thank god we never got sloppy, terrible 2003 Steiner going against Austin in his late-career physical condition or we might've gotten something tragic in the ring. Same even with Michaels, as it still wasn't sure how close to healthy he was in the wake of his long layoff --- one f-ed up Steinerplex could've ended Michaels' comeback before it really began.
ReplyDeleteSteiner hadvavbad leg injury and a condition known as drop foot. He neede surg
ReplyDeleteDid some sick bastard think the Rumble match between Steiner/HHH was a fluke, and that a second, even nastier turd, was necessary to get it that Steiner was done?
ReplyDeleteYou've got a very generous view of "not bad" then.
ReplyDeleteBig Poppa Pump coming in and immediately stinking the joint up was karmic punishment for WWE. I mean, of all the big WCW stars that came in and were immediately made to look inferior, the one guy they pushed as big right out of the gate was Steiner?!
ReplyDeleteAlso, who thought it was a good idea to bring in SCOTT STEINER as a face? Not Scott Steiner from 1991, but Big Papa Pump. As a good guy? That's their bright idea?
ReplyDeleteThat Steiner match vs HHH at Royal Rumble has got to be on the list of worst main events of the 2000's. That thing was comically bad.
ReplyDeleteIF you say so.
ReplyDeleteIt's terrible.
ReplyDeleteThey wanted to push Steiner so bad, that they even protected him in the Rumble match. He dominated most of the match (suplex anyone?) and won via DQ.
Did anyone in the WWE actually consider seeing him in the ring before pushing him that hard? He could barely move around and it was sad watching him work.
Name one good singles match Steiner had in TNA, I dare you. Mind you, I'm a Steiner mark, always have been since his debut in WCW; but he's been physically shot since 2000 or so.
ReplyDeleteAny push Scott Steiner would've received in the WWE died when he literally collapsed five minutes into the Rumble match with HHH. Still, that was a comedic goldmine, and we know Big Poppa Pump's choice of color for his thong is purple, so at least it wasn't a TOTAL loss.
ReplyDeleteThe same people who thought HLA, the Billy/Chuck wedding, and Al Wilson were good ideas.
ReplyDeleteThey're geniuses, you see.
At least the promos were still glorious, for all the wrong reasons. I still watch his TNA "math" promos occasionally if I need a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteI fucking love that match. Just a glorious trainwreck.
ReplyDeleteThere was one of the matches he had with Samoa Joe.
ReplyDeleteSteiner vs Joe vs Kaz was a solid match so was Steiner vs Angle, he even pulled out the top rope frankensteiner on occasion in TNA
ReplyDeleteSteiner vs Jericho to qualify for the Royal Rumble was awful, they had to have seen it yet they booked him in a 30 min match at the Rumble, Tom Zenk claims it was politics to derail Steiner. Also HHH around that time was awful too he didn't have any good matches around then and was in full swing politician mode.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the few times I cant really blame HHH, I dont even think he thought Steiner would be that bad. All I can remember was Steiner blowing up pretty quickly and the suplexes and slap/chops in the corner. Oh and the fruity pose offs between the two leading up to their "battles", bleh.
ReplyDeleteIts right up there with Hogan/Warrior II as a guilty pleasure. The comedy of both those matches is probably more entertaining than most of the stuff we get on Raw nowadays.
ReplyDeleteBig Poppa Pump if protected was solid and mega over at his debut, unfortunately HHH felt threatened. HHH was stinking up the joint to that point, Steiner looked awful vs Jericho prior to their match, why would you book such a long match except to show that Steiner can't work.
ReplyDeleteApart from Angle Steiner was the only MEM guy pulling any weight, Nash and Sting were Nash and Sting while Booker seemed to be on holiday for his stint.
ReplyDeleteSteiner wasn't having classics but he stuck to the basics and carried his end of tags well enough.
"I'm just getting started, jack!"
ReplyDelete*starts doing push-ups*
*gets up and starts sucking the air out of the building*
Everyone's "mega over" at Madison Square Garden.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no sense to make an opponent look bad when the plan is to run a few PPVs around the matchup. I really dont think they knew he was in that bad of shape when they planned the RR match.
ReplyDeleteSandman/Sabu from N2R 97 is right up there too. Absolutely hysterical, to the point where I've shown it to a couple non-fans (at least the abridged Botchamania highlights of it) and they were just laughing their asses off.
ReplyDeleteBischoff at the Billy/Chuck wedding was one of my all time favorite swerves. That was freaking awesome.
ReplyDeleteYES. My all time favorite bad match, hands down. So entertaining. And contrast that to Angle/Benoit tearing it up...really said a lot about the state of the company at the time.
ReplyDeleteSteiner was over wherever he went until his awful feud with HHH, also as someone else pointed out he should never have been booked as a face in the first place, it was all an ego stroke by HHH beating RVD, Kane, Steiner, Booker T, Goldberg etc.
ReplyDeleteHell for no reason he beat the Hurricane around WM19 just because the Rock got him over as high as he ever got. HHH was just protecting his spot by any means necessary like Hogan in 1997-1999.
That Angle/Benoit match just made Steiner look SO much worse...
ReplyDeleteif only for the promos Scott... If only for the promos...
ReplyDeleteBooker was on a paid vacay... thats why i cant fuck with him. he could have had a career renaissance ala christian but instead he just took the payday and sat on his ass.
ReplyDeleteYES!
ReplyDeleteScott's rant on RR03 is what popped my Keith cherry (no homo)
That was the "IN BED!" rant, right? That was great. Bad matches make for the best rants.
ReplyDeleteYou'd have to be fucking insane to let Steiner do a top rope rana on you at that point in his career.
ReplyDeletethat would be the one my good man.
ReplyDeleteIt's exceedingly rare, these days, to see a crowd start out just fine for a match, only to sour into outright vitriol by the end of it. And THAT FINISH. My God, you'd think they'd have done a run-through of the match at house shows to know what a bad idea that would be, but I guess they figured Hunter would get a classic out of Steiner (I find myself wondering if anyone could have gotten a classic out of 2003 Steiner), and that the DQ finish would have fans feeling the right kind of anger. The "I want to pay money to see the rematch NOW" anger, not the "I spent nearly a half hour watching this trainwreck and THAT'S the finish? Fuck you" anger.
ReplyDeleteAnd the funny thing is, it wasn't just the match that sucked. The entire angle was an argument for cutting losses. From the posedown to all the other strongman BS they did in the weeks leading up to the Rumble came across like Hunter desperately trying to live out his fantasy of being a contestant in the Mr. Olympia competition. Basically the only thing they did right was
There really was no cutting the crusts off of that shit sandwich.
I'm hardly a HHHater or anything like that. I've loved the guy's work pretty consistently over the last fifteen years, and though the politics drives me up a wall, I can occasionally see the rationale in backing him.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Hunter requested thirty minutes with Steiner just to show off to the boys in the back by getting a classic out of him. This was Hunter in the midst of his Imitation Flair phase, so I could easily imagine him thinking he could just do his best "Flair carrying Luger" match and hit four snowflakes. Which is why it was somewhat hilarious to me to see that he couldn't, even while I was desperately wanting the match to just end.
Although to be fair, I don't know who could possibly have gotten anything good out of Steiner in 2003.
Steiner had been losing mobility since like 1993 or whenever he had his foot injury. He was pretty much done in the ring (at least compared to his previous self) by 1998, so I'm not sure how they would have missed that.
ReplyDeleteFor as much attention as Luger gets on the blog as far as wrestling career tradedy, Steiner certainly fits the bill. An awesome worker and look in the early 1990s but a tag wrestler. Offered a singles push but gives it up for his brother. Gets an aborted singles push that doesn't really go anywhere because although he's an amazing worker, he doesn't really have a gimmick fitting of a top level guy. Fast forward a few years and he has a perfect gimmick for his look and personality, but is not even half the guy in the ring he was just a couple of years before --- although it's kinda working for him, except that WCW closes up shop. Finally gets his moment in the WWE where they are good at booking weak workers with strong characters but he's gone so far over the cliff as a worker and is too far gone to take advantage.
"Although to be fair, I don't know who could possibly have gotten anything good out of Steiner in 2003."
ReplyDeleteOnly one man, HBK.
C'mon 2003 Angle could have broomsticked something out of him as well
ReplyDeleteDid I just hear myself say 3 minutes......
ReplyDeleteProbably the best reveal the WWE has ever pulled off. That was some Mission Impossible level of make up Bischoff was wearing
I just don't think Angle's style would've worked with a broken down Steiner. HBK had the big-little man formula down better than anyone since Flair and would've bounced around like a pinball for Steiner and made him look like a million bucks.
ReplyDeleteNot just Steiner...I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall around HHH that night.
ReplyDeleteSteiner sucked, period, in that match.
ReplyDeleteNot even Benoit on his best day could have gotten anything beyond okay with him. It's fun to bash HHH, and the match did go on too long, but Steiner's 'same suplex four times in a row' strategy was hardly what people wanted to see.
Steiner vs Joe (the first one) was a darn fine little match.
ReplyDeleteHe was also excellent in the FMM match a few years ago. Where he cleared the ring with suplexes and a 'STEINER STEINER' chant started up.
It was surreal to see Boston briefly back Triple H, probably the most hated guy in the company to both smarks and marks, because of how awful BPP was, only for the crowd to say "Fuck it" and boo them both out of Beantown.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not gonna lie, that was awesome. I was at Unforgiven 2002 where they were gonna have the payoff, and more than anything else that night, judging from the other fans in line before the doors opened, the one thing everyone was hoping for was Stephanie participating in HLA. Sadly, we got swerved there too...
ReplyDelete"IT'S ME AUSTIN!"
ReplyDelete"Aw, son of a bitch!"
True, but I think we also know that 2003 Angle would have taken those suplexes on his head if he thought it might have saved the match.
ReplyDeleteHighlight of Steiner 2003: Flopping off the apron vs. Test
ReplyDeleteI can't think of many 'nothing positive' runs. Braden Walker, Giant Gonzalez and Mike Adamle spring to mind though.
For those that may not know just how bad Steiner vs HHH was in 2003, or for those that simply want to relive it. May I present you...
ReplyDeletehttp://scrublife.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/the-greatest-feuds-of-all-time-triple-h-vs-scott-steiner-2002-2003/
I still cringe at the fact they were just carelessly FLEXING in each other's faces like that. I mean, c'mon guys, you've got families to feed...
I loved Scot Steiner's heel run in WCW. I wish WWE would have kept him around in 94 and made him Big Poppa Pump. Those interviews were one of the only reasons I tuned into late era WCW. Had he not gotten injured (and so roids bloated) I think he would have been ok in WWE.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this was mentioned, but Keller had an interview witha WWE writer up and he claimed Vince had 3 possible scenarios for that years WM final match - Austin/Steiner was one of them. Take that for what it's worth.
ReplyDeleteI remember finding some random Petey Williams discussion on youtube where he was discussing Steiner first trying to talk Williams into taking the screwdriver, then Steiner trying to talk him into doing the canadian destroyer to him. it was pretty dang funny, and the idea of anyone lining up to take the screwdriver at this point is terrifying.
ReplyDeleteThe Billy/Chuck wedding was awesome, good point.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm usually really good at figuring shit like that out (or WWE usually makes it really obvious) but that makeup was some hollywood blockbuster level shit.
ReplyDelete"This vein is bigger then your whole arm" Not sure who Steiner said that to but it always struck me as funny.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't help matters that Angle/Benoit went on afterwards and had a 5 star match, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind the implied HLA that came from that Al Wilson angle.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember someone taking the screwdriver in TNA so it was probably him. It was a much safer version though. Instead of doing the move in one motion he held him in the suplex position, turned him into the tombstone spot slowly and then hit it. That was probably a good idea.
ReplyDeleteSteiner giving the crowd one of his trademark HUH's before hitting his big move and then immediately falling backward on his ass instead is my favorite part of that match.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about Scott's ill-advised hiring, but I will NEVER stop laughing at that suplex barrage from Royal Rumble '03 and will be forever grateful to WWE for it.
ReplyDeleteAh, the early 2000s, when Triple H would book feuds with people who were never seen again. They should have called him the Career Assassin. It's amazing Kane and Booker T were able to recover from their respective angles.
ReplyDeleteThat friggin half breed!? I think that PPV also had the Nash/Sabin match... that was the last time I watched TNA.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who gets depressed by thinking about how much Steiner regressed as a worker over the years. Steiner in his prime was one of the greatest in ring workers, later on I was still entertained by him and enjoyed the non sensical promos but I would of loved to of seen a healthy Scott go with Angle, HBK, Brock, etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he has spoken about how he knew he was only there to get HHH over and he didn't really care or try.
I used to do the same thing with Taker/Kane vs Kronik. So terrible it's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not the only one. He was a lot of fun to watch at his peak.
ReplyDeleteHe had good matches vs joe in 06 and good matches vs AJ and Petey. He worked hard and jobbed a ton in tna.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. Dude was atrocious when he arrived in WWE. If he was at least capable in the ring still, he had a LOT of fresh names to be paired with. Lesnar-Steiner would be cool if it was the more human version of Scott.
ReplyDeleteOne time in his WWE run, Steiner was on the outside and got whipped into the steps, and to this day and forever I'll maintain that he said, "Owie!"
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing about Scott Steiner in 2003 was Stacy Keibler.
ReplyDeleteThat pop he got when he debuted at MSG was massive. One of my favorite debuts ever.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, so it's MSG's fault for the face turn.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the debate vs Nowinski? The Dude wrestled alot of countries man, that deserves props. ;)
ReplyDeleteScott Steiner: "NO YOUR MOTHER SUCKS! YOUR MOTHER SUCKS!"
ReplyDeleteHaha you were there too? What I can remember was Benoit/Angle being awesome live
ReplyDeleteHLA in real life is always a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWas going to post the same exact thing.
ReplyDeleteYeah that was against Jericho on Raw before No Way Out 2003 lol.
ReplyDelete