Jim Ross inducts emotional Scott Steiner into Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame

[obamartins]

Scott Steiner gives an emotional speech during his induction into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame which is housed within the Dan Gable Museum on July 19, 2014 in Waterloo, Iowa. Jim Ross provides the induction.

[YOUTUBE]watch?v=R3nmJ2ruWZE[/YOUTUBE]

Scott Steiner is innovator of the Frankensteiner, Steiner Screwdriver, Standing Moonsault Slam, Tilt A Whirl Slam, Standing Double Underhook Powerbomb, T-Bone Suplex, Top Rope Overhead Belly To Belly Suplex, Super Samoan Drop & various tag team manoeuvres such as the Electric Chair Top Rope DDT & Electric Chair Top Rope Diving Bulldog. Before Scott Steiner went pro he was a noted collegiate wrestler for the University of Michigan where he became a three-time BIG 10 runner-up & as a senior in 1986 he became an NCAA Division I All American placing sixth in the United States.

Prior to becoming a genetic freak, Scott revolutionized & dominated tag team wrestling alongside his brother Rick. Steiner Brothers had worldwide exposure due to their presence on WCW, NJPW, WWF television. They were legitimate attraction/draws (especially in WCW & NJPW). They were successful everywhere they went winning x8 WCW Tag Team Titles, 2x IWGP Tag Team Titles, 2x WWF Tag Team Titles. They had longevity (1988 - 1998 + 2007). They were innovators. They had classic feuds. They had classic matches. In 1990 they were voted tag team of the year by Dave Meltzer's WON. In 1991 their match against Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Hase was voted MOTY by Dave Meltzer's WON. They wrestled at Madison Square Garden, Tokyo Dome, Georgia Dome, Starrcade, WrestleMania & in front of 190,000 fans in Pyongyang, North Korea. The Steiner Brothers are arguably the greatest tag team of ALL TIME.

Scott innovated the sport & became a darling of the "workrate geeks" who marvelled at his great moves & matches. Injuries not steroids effected Scott's athletic prowess. Scott's early ring style wrecked his body so in order to prolong his career he SUCCESSFULLY reinvented himself by changing his look, persona & his ring style. Big Poppa Pump was born. Scott under his new persona quickly rose up the card to become one of WCW's main attractions. His hard man, loose cannon character was believable because it wasn't an act! he legitimately looked like he could snap at anytime. His unscripted, sexual innuendo promos were cool & his delivery was venomous. At WCW Mayhem on November 21, 2000, Scott beat Booker T to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

"When I worked in WCW, everyone was scared of Scott Steiner. Everyone. With good reason. Scott was jacked to the max & had a hair-trigger temper. As an announcer, I tried harder for him than I did anyone else. I tried to get over the terror Scott invoked everywhere he went because A) I honestly thought he was one of WCW's more compelling characters & performers & B) who needs trouble with him? I'd rather be punched by DDMe than yelled at by Scott. He was that fearsome. Only time he ever got cross with me, thank God, was when I called him "White Thunder" when he first went blond: "Knock that shit off, you make me sound like a fucking Nazi!" Yes, sir. Scott once came into the announcers' dressing room & started yelling: "How come you guys call it a huracanrana whenever one of the Mexicans does it? It's a fucking Frankensteiner no matter who does it! A FUCKING FRANKENSTEINER!" Some announcers thought Scott was kidding at first. He wasn't. Fortunately, by way of a pre-emptive strike, I ALWAYS called it a Frankensteiner. Two on-air incidents spring to mind: His tirade against Ric Flair & joining the announce team at ringside for express purpose of insulting Torrie Wilson. The most amazing thing about those incidents is Steiner wasn't scheduled for TV time. He just went out there, grabbed a mic & demanded the camera's attention & everyone involved was too scared to say no." - Mark Madden

Following WCW's closure after over a year of speculation Scott finally reached agreement with WWE in October 2002 after they offered him a big money deal - an offer he couldn't refuse despite not being physically 100 per cent. Scott had not fully recovered from nerve damage he suffered in his foot during dying days of WCW. WWE signed Scott fully aware of his limitations hence his numerous medicals with WWE doctors for about a year prior to his signing. It was reported in April 2002 that Scott had drop foot syndrome (6 months before he signed a contract with WWE). Scott was told by doctors that in time the feeling in his foot would eventually return so he didn't need to have surgery but after 3 years & no sign of improvement he had the surgery.

"When I left I WWE, I had surgery on my foot. I had drop foot, where my foot was totally paralyzed. I had a tendon transfer & got nine screws in my foot. They broke my foot, took a bone graph from my hip & put it in my foot & put a plate in there. So now my foot is not 100 per cent, but it works so I can wrestle a lot better than I did." - Scott Steiner

Instead of hiding Scott's negatives & accentuating his positives WWE booked him in an 18 minute match vs. HHH at Royal Rumble 2003. Scott had drop foot syndrome while HHH had just recovered (or had he?) from a partially torn right quadriceps muscle which he was extremely worried about injuring further a few weeks prior. Scott was a big money investment who should've been protected, utilised better & always presented as a star. Instead WWE exposed him, buried him & presented him as a mid-carder. Lance Storm confirmed in a shoot interview that a road agent informed him that "The Office" gave up on Scott after his feud with Triple H. Former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly who was working backstage at the time insists Triple H sabotaged Scott.

Thankfully Scott was given the opportunity to redeem himself in with TNA. Initially critics buried TNA for signing Steiner & completely wrote him off but after a few months he had the critics eating their words. Take a look at some quotes made by these critics after his match with Samoa Joe at TNA Slammiversary 2006:

"Steiner showed he still has legs under him as he battled Samoa Joe at Slammiversary to a good match highly anticipated in great part because of stellar mic work by Steiner in the weeks leading up to the match & the intrigue over how TNA would book the finish & how Joe & Steiner would mesh in the ring. Joe's offense looked different against someone much more muscular than he usually wrestles but still effective. The win for Joe marked an official elevation as he defeated a top tier heavyweight during the Monday Night War".

"Joe looked strong & won clean. Steiner also looked strong & his promos have been good lately I think he's got more life in him than I would've predicted. As a result burying Steiner to build Joe might be backwards at this point. Joe is perceived by TNA fans as a big star but going even with Steiner doesn't hurt him as much as it elevates Steiner by showing that Steiner still has it. If anything Joe gave Steiner a rub by letting Steiner hold his own against him whereas Joe is good enough to not be hurt by it."

Scott Steiner TRIBUTE - The Early Years
[YOUTUBE]watch?v=tGXVzk8Rpe0[/YOUTUBE]

Scott Steiner TRIBUTE - Big Poppa Pump
[YOUTUBE]watch?v=Y0KKQDXAJHQ[/YOUTUBE]

Scott Steiner is my favourite pro wrestler of all time.

 

[Kamala316]

One of the best pops in wrestling history was Steiner's return at Survivor Series 2002... Chris Nowinski and Matt Hardy blabbing on about getting along, and all of a sudden you heard the sirens....then..."Holla if ya hear me"...the roof blew off MSG. Who can forget when he said, "Give me the f'n mic."...haha. Big Poppa Pump might not of been 100% physically at that time, but he was over - he was red hot, the crowd loved him, and he was always entertaining. But of course HHH was not to be outshined, especially by someone who looked bigger than him, so out came the golden shovel. If I remember correctly, didn't they run a bench press or arm wrestling contest or something like that between the two?
Sorry, HHH, you would of had no chance in hell (pun intended) of winning either. But now thanks to the WWE Network, we can watch the company's (or should I say the first family's) portrayal of HHH as a God in all things wrestling/sports entertainment, it's ridiculous.

 

[sMark]

Well deserved.
I wonder why both Steiners are not in WWE HoF yet.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Madden nonsense aside, Steiner was a one of a kind wrestler who really did a decent job of recreating himself. I thought his promos as Big Poppa Pump were kind of out there, and incoherent at times, but he did pour a lot of energy into them. The problem was that his focus on his new look and physique really underscored how much his ability in the ring had declined. I kind of wonder if he could've preserved from that ability if he hadn't gone balls to the wall in the ring when he was with his brother but then we wouldn't have had the Steiner Brothers then really.

 

[Slash-LN]

I agree that both should have gone in.

That being said Scott was the more successful of the two and as much as we laugh about the stuff he says I do think he's pretty deserving.

From a personal point I loved the Steiners during their early 90s run. That would be mostly how I think of them.

 

[Mark Henrys Sandwich]

Watching that tribute video reminds me of how good he really was, was already a favourite of mine and even as a tag wrestler he had an aura about him where you didn't think he could get beat.

During that 1992-1995 era I'm surprised no promoter had the foresight to give him a monster singles push.

 

[TDFG]

My favourite tag-team of all time, they had everything needed.

Scott Steiner done well to come from being a tag-time specialist to multiple time World Champ, obviously he was aided in getting that physique, but then you look at other tag-teams throughout history were neither man has been able to get over as a singles competitor.

I wasn't a fan of the recliner, I think he could have used a better finisher, and his time in WWE sucked, but then the booking of him didn't help him. I enjoyed his time in TNA, the guy could still go at it with younger, quicker guys.

 

[obamartins]

Watching that tribute video reminds me of how good he really was, was already a favourite of mine and even as a tag wrestler he had an aura about him where you didn't think he could get beat.

During that 1992-1995 era I'm surprised no promoter had the foresight to give him a monster singles push.

Without going in depth on this topic because I don't have the time at present, Jim Herd allegedly wanted to make Scott Steiner the World Champion in 1991 & if you watch Clash of the Champions 14 when he took on Ric Flair in the main event for the World Championship you can see when he makes his entrance with the cheerleaders how primed & ready he was. Scott has always maintained a grudge against Flair for sabotaging him in their matches. Lance Storm talks about siding with Scott on if Flair sabotaged him in the video below from 6:26.

[YOUTUBE]watch?v=nhYvhvR0Y3U[/YOUTUBE]


"I think everybody has heard why I was suspended, because I did an interview on Ric Flair, and I didn't say anything that wasn't true, but since this company is run by a bunch of old men, his friends, they tried to give me the heaviest fine in the history of wrestling. Of course, that didn't hold up in a court of law cause it's a bunch of bullshit. It just shows you that this company is run by the good ol' boy redneck from Charlotte, North Carolina. Everything I said was true. It all makes our company look more bush league that it already does. Nobody fucking watches our show anymore because it sucks so bad. I can't even watch it. So for me to go out there and say that Ric Flair is 50 years old and still "the man"... people turn the channel to the WWF, it was true. They draw a 1.9 rating on Monday and a 1.8 rating on Wednesday.

I don't give a fuck if my friends are drawing a 1.9 or 1.8, the writing is on the wall. I'm smarter to say that just because you're my friend, I'm going to put you on TV. I mean, the guy looks like shit, man. Everything I said about him - he has more loose skin than a shar-pei puppy - it's fucking true, man. Look at him. It's embarrassing. He's embarrassing himself, and he's embarrassing WCW. I mean, we're trying to market towards young people so kids buy the toys, etc., then people see a 50 year old man on TV, all they're going to do is change the channel and go watch The Rock, DX, or watch something that's cool. What the fuck, you think a 50 year old man is cool? I don't care how many times he says "whooo" they only drew 1200 people in Charlotte, North Carolina for a Nitro. I mean that's embarrassing. Thank god I wasn't involved in that, thank god I was sitting at home, pickin up my paycheck still. They can kiss my ass. Let them try to fine me again. They can't fucking fine me.

I'd get rid of all the old guys, and push the talent that has waited to get the push. The things they are doing, it's back in the 1980s. It's just bad, man. Flair doesn't even deserve to be on the show. You've got to get rid of all the old guys. Like what Vince did, they started pushing guys. Nobody knew who The Rock was 2 years ago. He made The Rock. Now The Rock just did Saturday Night Live. You've got to start with the young talent, talent people can relate to. Who are we trying to relate to if we've got a 50 year old man out there? Are we trying to relate, so a 50 year people and above will go out and buy a fucking little toy? That ain't gonna happen. It's a fucking joke." - Scott Steiner (WrestleLine.com interview - March 2000)

Later on Bill Watts also wanted to push Scott as a singles heel & feud with his brother Rick but apparently Scott didn't want to break up the Steiner Brothers tag team. Rick got injured then Scott ended up getting into a fight with Watts. Scott had gotten so pissed about Erik Watts’ push that he cornered Bill in the locker room and screamed at him over it. Bill claimed he had a pistol in his shoe that he’d use on Scott. Shortly thereafter, Bill called up Rick & told him that their contracts were coming up soon & that Rick would be resigned but that he didn’t want Scott. Rick passed it up so they could go to the WWF as a tag team.

 

[HeyYo]

First off, Kamala316, it's could "HAVE", not could OF". Now, with that said. You are 100% right. Steiner had the ability to hold an audience, while Cripple H put us to sleep.