Scott Steiner's WWE run. Was it destined to fail?

[agent817]

This is one thing that popped in my mind a little while ago. Scott Steiner seemed like he was over when he debuted at Survivor Series 2002. He actually had a crowd reaction going on. However, when he was put in a program with Triple H, I kind of wonder if that was the beginning of the end for him.

Of course, we all saw what he was "caple" of in those matches with Triple H at Royal Rumble and No Way Out of 2003. The only thing he was "caple" of doing was a belly-to-belly suplex. It almost seemed like he didn't train much before those matches because he was definitely suffering from ring rust, especially with those botched spots.

It could be argued that Triple H buried his WWE career, but I really think it was a little too soon that he went into the main event scene and then not long after that, he started feuding with Test over Stacy Keibler, and then later on, started TEAMING with Test.

Did you think his WWE run was a failure from day one?

[Michael Coello]

Wasn't he still injured at that point, with his drop foot syndrome?

[Slingshot Suplay]

I don't think it was doomed, I think if he was healthy and his matches were better he would have had a better chance of advancement. I can't really even claim a Triple H burial because Steiner looked pretty strong going into the first match. It probably wasn't the best thing to do to just throw Steiner in a feud with Triple H in the state his foot was in.

[chazraps]

They could have hid his inability to anything better, but as he was unless you were really going to go all out to smoke-and-mirrors him it wasn't going to happen. Along with the going from headlining two pay-per-views to, the next month, being totally absent from Mania, to the next month wrestling on the Sunday Night Heat before the PPV against Rico, they could have at least worked him into a program better.

Then the feud with Test is among the most drawn out awful feuds ever. No hyperbole, I don't recall many other feuds this decade that lasted 6+ months, and were this consistently awful. Maybe it was a case of not knowing what to do with three different talents so forcing them to work together kept them busy, but it was so flaccid. If anything, I wish some of the crazy from the Kane-Shane feud was present to at least make it interesting.

There was a rumor after the disastrous debate with Chris Nowinski* that they were going to go-ahead with a full blown "how do I get people to like me" gimmick, which would have been perfect to reintroduce Rico as his stylist and had him rescuing kittens from trees and helping old ladies cross the street in a manner that still made people hate him.

*A debate that Nowinski looked infinitely better in. If you look up the matches from the rest of that Raw or the heat the following week and try to listen to the commentary teams try to spin Steiner's ramblings as "good points" is among the most uncomfortable WWE audio ever recorded.

[molson5]

Triple H is too proud to intentionally "bury" anybody with bad matches against himself.....Steiner crapped the bed in those matches and that was it. I don't know if it was injuries or lack of conditioning or what, but he got a great spot and couldn't take advantage of it, and there was no recovering from there.

Just as an anecdotal sidenote, I had a friend in college that watched RAW with me almost every week from 1996-2000 - I don't think he watched another episode after the HHH/Steiner "pose-down" on RAW, he was just turned off from wrestling permanently after that. There are probably a handful of little incidents around 1999-2003 that turned the attitude era crowd away forever, but I think that was a big one.

[moneyman20]

It seemed like he spent his time off from when WCW was bought out pumping iron and not working on his wrestling or even his cardio. If that's the case, it really showed.

Maybe he did some appearances before coming to WWE to wrestle but it sure as hell seemed like he was much more concern about how he looked than anything else wrestling-related. So, I think he has no one to blame but himself for his run.

[VenomFang]

He didnt have the mic skills or in ring ability in order to be successful long term. He was over by just his psychical presence alone but you need more than just that. Had nothing to do with Triple H burying him. If he could work a decent macth with HHH things would have been different.

[CH Punk]

I was there for NWO 03 and holy hell was the crowd against Steiner, so I'm going to guess that didn't help his chances for anything meaningful.

[chazraps]

It always bothered me he couldn't pronounce "holla" as anything but "holler." Also, that he claimed he was my "hook-up" when he clearly had no idea what that meant.

[VenomFang]

Jan 2, 2012 0:15:13 GMT -5 chazraps said:

It always bothered me he couldn't pronounce "holla" as anything but "holler." Also, that he claimed he was my "hook-up" when he clearly had no idea what that meant.

He had the catch phrases but he was a terrible speaker.

[Jimmy]

It was destined to fail, because he was obviously not up to the physical rigors and demands. When he debuted in TNA in 05, and ever since, he's had several great matches and is a perfectly solid worker.

A feud with a guy like Triple H didn't help though, Steiner was an odd choice to debut as a big babyface against a heel like Triple H.

[Tiger Millionaire]

1. Steiner couldn't wrestle at that time

2. Nobody really could get behind a face that could out douchebag HHH at the time.

[mauled]

Jan 1, 2012 23:09:36 GMT -5 molson5 said:

Triple H is too proud to intentionally "bury" anybody with bad matches against himself......

Booker T and Chris Jericho say hello

[pepsitwist]

At least he got to debate Nowinski about the war in Iraq. Revealing the startling admission that Steiner's wrestled a lot of countries.

[clashofchampains]

It was over the moment he stepped foot in a WWF ring. He showed up, the crowd cheered him, Vince made him face.

Bad idea.

[Deleted]

Has Steiner always been that bad? I'm not so sure about his early stuff but I do remember when Booker T won the WCW title and Steiner came out and attacked him. Steiner wasn't looking great at all during then. He used to be so much better back in the day but he just didn't improve. Sad but he did it to himself.

Big Poppa Pump lol. Hell I liked Buff Bagwell more anyway.

[Hit Girl]

Promos were gibberish, he was overmuscled and clumsy.

Always doomed.

[Big Daddy Bad Booking]

Looking at the track record, Steiner was just one of the many WCW alumni made to look like total dicks. Although in this case, Steiner did it all to himself.

[bob]

at that time Steinier had his foot injury and HHH had a groin injury so of course their matches would suck

[Deleted]

Jan 2, 2012 4:34:24 GMT -5 @kn said:

Has Steiner always been that bad? I'm not so sure about his early stuff but I do remember when Booker T won the WCW title and Steiner came out and attacked him. Steiner wasn't looking great at all during then. He used to be so much better back in the day but he just didn't improve. Sad but he did it to himself.

Big Poppa Pump lol. Hell I liked Buff Bagwell more anyway.

Up until the late 90s Scott Steiner was a fantastic in ring talent, I consider the Steiner Brothers one of the best tag teams of all time and I know many others think the same.

Late 90s onwards is where he became a meme due to awful injuries (and working through them) along with just being so focused on weightlifting that in ring skill became a far far second. His promos always sucked in the same hilarious way through his career.