Why do smarks bemoan Scott Steiner's turn to Big Poppa Pump?

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

For extra wording: Why do wrestling smarks bemoan Scott Steiner's transition from Steiner Brothers-era Scott Steiner to "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner?

Is it because the internet smarks like in-ring technical spotfest 30-60 minute matches so much that they don't like massive powerhouse guys who are all about gimmick, charisma, promo and mic skills?

Anyway, smarks bemoaning Steiner's gimmick change in '97-'98 is like The Simpsons fans complaining that Homer Simpson was changed from an innocent father from the classic David Mirkin-era into Mike Scully-era Homer Simpson who becomes mean faced, puts himself first instead of his family, gets into people's faces throwing a fit about whatever, and goes into shouting matches with his family, friends and strangers.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

First off, your second Homer, the way you described him, sounds like an abusive husband and father and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it upset people.

Second, if people think Steiner couldn't be an in ring technician, they're morons. He was a very good amateur wrestler and wrestled professionally prior to this point in time you're bringing up. The problem is at this point in time he was so juiced up his repertoire had taken more power moves and he looked stiffer in everything he did. That certainly didn't mean he couldn't pull out some pretty damn good moves once in a while.

As for his mic skills...Well, I think if he could speak slower and more clearly, he'd have actually been pretty decent on the mic. His problem by that time was he was so fired up all the time he rattled on too quickly and was hard to understand, ala Ultimate Warrior. I mean, there's a reason there's youtube videos dedicated to his more colorful promos.

Don't get me wrong. I actually liked Big Poppa Pump a lot back then. That doesn't mean I can't see his faults just like anyone else's.

 

[HBKperfect23]

The Steiners were my favorite tag team. Scott's in ring work was impeccable. I saw him breaking away from the team and going on to be a workhorse IC champ/US champ sort of like Bret Hart after breaking from the Hart Foundation. It's not that I didn't like the big poppa pump character, I just saw his career going in a different direction

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm one of those people. I struggled with him turning on his brother. I liked the Steiners as a tag team, I didn't like knowing that Rick was going to be left behind and Scott was going to get a big push as this unnatural human that looked like he might burst or go in to a roid rage and murder my family for asking him to keep it down in a theater. I also struggled to like the direction WCW was taking at the time and Steiner seemed like a victim of this. Don't get me wrong, WWE was no better, actually worse, but as much as I watched WCW I was always biased against them and didn't want them to be more successful than WWE.

Throw in the annoying catch phrase. What was he going to hook me up with? Free HBO? No? OK, well I had to assume steroids. That didn't seem right with me. And the "Holla if you hear me" just came off as a white muscle bound dumb jock just trying to sound like he's a black guy from a bad inner city neighborhood. I was jealous of him with Midajah, she was beyond hot and belonged with someone else, possibly me. And that stupid head piece he would wear made no sense. He wasn't a mid-evil knight. Was he supposed to be an sexual sadist?

And his wrestling tailed off in all this. The Frankensteiner was one of my favorite moves as a kid. His new character just seemed slow and stiff. On that same note, he hung out with Buff who was more annoying than him and his involvement with the NWO happened after a lot of the shock and intrigue with NWO had worn out.

So yeah, in conclusion he was a heel doing heel things and I'm probably more of a mark than I'm willing to admit at times. But I really didn't like him. I rarely found him entertaining.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm a smark who bemoans so many things that I'd be hard pressed to think of anything that I don't bemoan. I bemoaned Scott Steiners transition to Ironchest McStompystein so much that island tribes untouched by modern technology are now fully aware of my sorrow.

I bemoaned the occurrence because Scott Steiner most certainly wasn't a spot monkey before he made the change, he was actually an insanely gifted athlete who could seamlessly mix the styles of a high flyer and a powerhouse. Scott Steiner was Apollo Crews with a gimmick that actually worked back in the early to mid nineties.

We all saw the transition though, it affected Rick Steiner as well. Both men would become exponentially more cube shaped as their careers progressed in WCW, and Scott became the most obscene interpretation of the negative stereotypes associated with steroid abuse in existence. He had the athleticism of Super Star Billy Graham, as he was during the time of Scott Steiner's "Big Poppa Pump" phase.

Scott's mic skills were alright, except when he went way off the rails and nearly choked everyone out with his noxious brain farts. He didn't talk much before the shift, and that's probably a very good thing. No matter which side of the fence you're on, I'm sure that anyone would agree that Scott Steiner's best matches occurred before he became "White Thunder" (no joke, he called himself that for a while).

 

[Stinger90]

With Scott I thought his Steiners days, he had all the skills to be a top guy on either side. Maybe that was because he didn't talk that much.

For me it was just the mic work. A top heel should be able to make you hate him and want to see him get his tail kicked. You tune in to hear how he or she is going to goad and prod the face. Flair, other horsemen, Hollywood, Triple H, HBK etc. could all keep you tuned into the show just to see them get put in their place. Big Poppa just made me want to change the channel.

 

[rmp0012002]

I don't think people hated the Big Poppa Pump character per se but he just became a roided up mouthy brawler that abandoned the technical power wrestling he was known for. Every interview he looked like he was gonna explode like the movie "Scanners".

 

[relentless1]

Big Poppa Pump is what Steiner will be known for, its the character that launched him to the World Title as a credible top heel when WCW had none. The only thing they fucked up on with him is not pushing him to the moon in 1998 when he first turned heel.

The funny thing is, those that are hating on his promo skills don't get it; of course he was a hot head rambler that sometimes didn't make any sense; that was a brilliant part of the character. Also the fact that he basically said anything he wanted to made him a must see character at that time. That scotty himself couldn't cut a better promo than that actually worked perfectly with the nutty, on a razors edge of insanity character that he had built up for himself.

Anyone that prefers Scotty over the Freak doesnt understand wrestling; wrestling a great match can only get you so far, the character is what sells tickets

 

[FromGlasgow]

To be honest I had never heard anyone complain about Scott Steiner changing to Big Poppa Pump, I liked the Steiner Brothers back in the day and also liked the Big Poppa Pump character I also thought the change was excellent as he went from a slightly stale brother tag team to an instant main event caliber wrestler basically overnight.
I always wondered if Poppa Pump is like his character in real life just shooting an angry promo on random people for very little reason, If his unpredictable Poppa Pump gimmick is a work then he's an incredible actor because I'm not sure if its real or not.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Back in 1992, there was real buzz about Scott Steiner being "the next big thing" particularly as Bret Hart and Davey Boy were becoming main eventers. He and Rick wanted to go to the WWF and WCW hastily threw the TV title at Scott as a way to try and keep him. He left anyway.

Vince saw the same in him but wanted him to turn on Rick and then for Rick to leave. Scott balked at this and they left the WWF.

Eventually they ended up back in WCW but by then injuries and Scott's change due to juicing had taken their toll.

Many people don't realize that Scott was in bad physical shape even by the time he became Big Poppa Pump... a lot of the roiding was trying to compensate for his back problems, no doubt caused by doing the Frankensteiner and his other high impact moves.

Each issue fed the other, as Scott took more roids and got bigger (and a bigger star) his physical and mental state got worse. He became a loose cannon and as far back as the early 2000's was getting arrested for "terroristic threats" over a traffic situation.

By the time he made it the WWE, it's claimed he had to spend over an hour in a scalding shower to get his back to the point he could even walk to the ring and he had permanent drop foot. Roids didn't do all that, but that and the stupid amount of lifting he did on a dodgy back and bumps did.

Why do smarks dislike the change? Arguably because there is a lot of wasted potential in the tale of Scott Steiner and much of it his own fault. Had he taken Vince's way and binned his bro he would have been a big star as a heel in the WWF. His mic skills would have been worked on or he'd have been given a manager... It isn't hard to imagine 1993's version of Scott Steiner joining Ted DiBiase's Corporation, turning on Rick and winning the World title from Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Lex Luger or even Shawn Michaels.

It's hard to imagine Big Poppa Pump amounting to much, indeed it's amazing he got where he did all things considered.

Scott leaving in 94 is a pivotal moment, like Rude getting hurt that changed the WWF forever. Had Scott stayed and Rude come back as planned in 94... things would have been VERY different!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Well, first off, there's a HUGE difference between someone that uses technical wrestling and someone that's a spot monkey. A technician is someone who has actually trained in various grappling martial arts like Greco-Roman wrestling, jujitsu, judo and/or aikido. Usually, these wrestlers have a clear understanding and use of psychology and know how to use their offense to help tell a story. A spot monkey is someone who relies on a series of heavily choreographed flips, flops and/or general high flying moves who has little to no understanding of psychology or, if he does, simply doesn't use it, doesn't really know how to tell a story or sell because he's so busy transitioning from one spot to another. Basically, a spot monkey is someone who does a spot just for the sake of doing a spot so that he can get that gasp from the crowd whether it makes any sense or not. Scott Steiner was not a spot monkey, he was a remarkably athletic dynamo who happened NCAA Division 1 All American who happened to be one of the top heavyweight collegiate wrestlers in the United States during the mid 80s. In a lot of ways, from a physical perspective, Scott Steiner had the potential of a Brock Lesnar 15 years before Brock Lesnar wrestled his first pro wrestling match.

When I say Steiner had the potential of a guy like Brock Lesnar, I mean he had the physical gifts Lesnar had during his first run in WWE from 2002 through 2004. He had size, strength, speed, agility, athleticism that was pretty mindboggling for a man his size. Basically, the guy was a stud and had he agreed to stop tagging with his brother during his WWE run in 1992, Steiner, again, may have been "Brock Lesnar" a full decade before Lesnar came along. I'm of the opinion that Steiner sabotaged his own career a bit by continuing to team with his brother when he had several opportunities to further his career as a singles guy.

In a lot of ways, "Big Poppa Pump" became a lot like Brock Lesnar is now: lazy, a shell of his former self in terms of his athletic ability and, in Steiner's case, he went nuts with the steroids and sacrificed that dynamic athleticism so he could look freakish. Was it a worthwhile trade off? Just depends, I suppose. Steiner could be competent on the mic as BPP when he didn't go completely off the rails, which happened quite a lot, but watching him try to wrestle was like watching paint dry.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Scott Steiner's transformation to Big Poppa Pump tore me right down the middle. On one hand, Big Poppa Pump was a great character and Scott really ran with it. On the other hand, The Steiner Brothers were my favorite tag team (probably all time) and I missed technical Scott alot.

It's too bad there couldn't have been two versions of Scott Steiner going forward. In terms of physical transformations, Scott's was probably the biggest.