Scott Steiner SAVED his career in TNA

[LWOLeN]

The Rundown:

 

Debuted in NWA in 1988 (during wrestlings boom period);

Formed the legendary Steiner Brothers with brother Rick;

Defeated the Freebirds to win their first NWA Tag Team Championships;

"Invented" the FrankenSteiner and standing belly-to-belly backflip;

Won the WCW World Tag Team Championships and NJPW Tag Team Championships (first ever Triple Crown Tag Team Champions);

Went to the WWF and won the WWF Tag Team Championships;

 

Went back to WCW and feuded with Hall/Nash when the nWo was at an alltime high;

Turned heel on Rick and joined the nWo (which was huge at the time);

Had some great matches with the likes of Booker T and DDP for the TV/US Titles;

Was part of The Wolfpack with his buddy Buff Bagwell, having great promo's on the mic;

 

Had a huge rivalry with Goldberg;

Won the WCW World Heavyweight Title;

 

Returned to WWE, falling on his ass and slipping on the apron;

 

Went to TNA, having solid matches against the likes of AJ Styles, Sting, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There will probably never be a Scott Steiner 3-DVD Disc set. And as long as HHH is a member of the WWE office he will probably never be in the Hall of Fame.

But still Steiner has had a lengthy career, could really wrestle and was great on the mic. He was a huge star during the WCW/nWo era aswell as in Japan and ended up winning every major title in WCW.

 

Yet many just remember him for his WWE stint.

So, how do you view him; A) legend/big star or B) an "has been" who had a horrible WWE run?

[David]

Personally, I don't even remember much about his last stint with WWE, so it won't affect his "legacy" in my eyes.

[Mr.Showtime]

What a disgracefully unbalanced rundown. Scott Steiner did many good things in his WWE return, in fact by the end of it I'd say most decent fans would have forgotton the ass-slip as well as the pretty horrible Steiner/Trips Rumble match (and hey, how many more awful, awful bouts did Trips have during that era...?). Of course he had his team/feud with Test which was possible one of the wrestling highlights of that summer, and credit must go to Scotty, Testy and Stacy on that one. In fact I can't remember any other feuds off the top of my head from that time so it must have done something right.

 

Fact is, from what I hear Steiner is still doing what he does best in TNA and has done so for some while, so how can anyone say he's B) a "has been" who had a horrible WWE run? They can't.

 

Good thread, though.

[chokeout]

Should Add

 

Debuted back in WWE to monster reaction at MSG and squashed some bitches

 

Had one of the best build ups to a feud in years with HHH

 

HHH vs Steiner really shouldn't of happened back then. Steiner still had his mongy dropfoot and HHH was carrying so much extra bulk he was having shit matches all the time.

 

But yes Steiner was, is and will always be the man

[Loki]

Steiner's TNA run has been nothing short of miraculous. Apart from the ones you've mentioned, he also had some great squashed against the likes of Petey and Amazing Red, plus all the tag stuff with his brother. The Steiners v 3-D feud is still the best thing TNA ever did, in my eyes, and gave us the added bonus of Rick Steiner and Road Warrior Animal v 3-D which was insanely fun.

 

He has also unselfishly put absolutely everybody over - he's probably lost more matches than he's won. He even got a good match out of Bobby Lashley.

 

This all goes to show how badly the WWE run was - and that's somewhat down to Scotty, who wasn't match fit but refused to admit it. It was also down to HHH, who as noted was awful at that point. But even once he dropped the ring rust and got back into it, they totally misused him.

 

Overall, he's possibly my favourite wrestler ever - hugely technically skilled, very hard-hitting, powerful looking and a unique character. He should probably call it a day now though - he's been looking particularly creaky since coming back a few months ago, and his physique looks smashed up.

[simonworden]

Yes in his WWE run they should have given him 2-6 months more than they did of undercard matches to build him up perhaps even had him on smackdown

[iamtheman]

Yes in his WWE run they should have given him 2-6 months more than they did of undercard matches to build him up perhaps even had him on smackdown

 

not surprised that they put him to go for the world title straight away especially considering the reaction he got in the garden

[Magnum]

This all goes to show how badly the WWE run was - and that's somewhat down to Scotty, who wasn't match fit but refused to admit it. It was also down to HHH, who as noted was awful at that point. But even once he dropped the ring rust and got back into it, they totally misused him.

 

Yep, agreed. I posted about his WWE run in the misused wrestlers thread, and I think it could have made the world of difference sticking him on Smackdown as a heel playing off the likes of Angle, Benoit, Mysterio and Lesnar than cutting his legs off with Triple H and then having him fannying about in never-ending midcard shite with Test.

[Dead Mike]

I posted something similar a while back but Steiner's WWE run was another case of ex-WCW guys being shat on IMO. He was bought in to a massive pop & the vignettes that aired prior to that were excellent also. Before joining WWE Steiner had done a tour with WWA where he'd been suffering badly from 'drop foot syndrome', he was far from fit & had only been able to work squash matches. IMO WWE should've brought him in to work a run of squashes on TV to establish himself as a monster & to get the Steiner recliner over as a killer finisher, as opposed to just a reverse chinlock. This time would've allowed Steiner to get match fit as opposed to being chucked straight into the main event.

 

Putting him in stupid angles like debating competitions with Chris Nowinski were hardly playing to his strengths. He got over massive in WCW by being mental, screaming in the faces of fans, beasting on women/divas & saying his catchphrases. Not by being an all-American patriot 'fighting for the troops'.

TNA recognised this & totally played to his strengths (plus he was in a physically better place), TNA also found a talent for comedy that we hadn't seen before, I loved the angle where he still thought he was in the MEM.

[PunkStep]

Personally, I don't even remember much about his last stint with WWE, so it won't affect his "legacy" in my eyes.

I'm with him.

 

I don't think his WWE run tarnished his legacy and he had nothing to prove when he joined TNA. I remember Steiner as being one half of a world class tag team and then completely reinventing himself as a badass in WCW with one of the best looks of all-time. Seriously, you look at him with that chainmail headgear, glasses, dyed goatee, black tights and impressive 'peaks' and he just looks the business.

 

His transition from Varsity Steiner into Big Bad Booty Daddy Steiner is one of the greatest repackages in the history of wrestling. Still the same guy, and everybody knows it, but completely different awesome look and attitude.

[The Miz]

Had one of the best build ups to a feud in years with HHH

 

Really!?

[iamtheman]

Had one of the best build ups to a feud in years with HHH

 

Really!?

 

i'd agree the build up to the match with HHH was great especially the challenge competition they had on raw where steiner was constantly getting one over on him

[PunkStep]

To be honest, although I can't remember much detail about the build up, it must've been at least half decent because I was REALLY looking forward to Steiner/HHH at the Rumble.

[ColinBollocks]

Still gutted we never got that Goldberg v Steiner match they were building to in WCW, after Steiner was killing everybody and putting them out for months. Their previous matches were great hard hitting monster v monster bouts.

 

Steiner still recieved great reactions after his disaster of a macth with Triple H (who was the absolute drizzling shits during that period, as rightly pointed out), so it's not like the fans didn't still see him as a beast.

[PunkStep]

Steiner still recieved great reactions after his disaster of a macth with Triple H (who was the absolute drizzling shits during that period, as rightly pointed out), so it's not like the fans didn't still see him as a beast.

Really? I seem to recall at the time that Steiner was boo'd to shit by the end of the match. Every time he would throw a belly-to-belly, which was a LOT during that match, the crowd got on his back.