WRESTLER OF THE DAY: SCOTT STEINER

[Mistah Na1m4rk]

We Watch Wrestling podcast mentioned this a couple weeks ago:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkxuALOpZs0

 

There's a story in there about Steiner hanging out at a strip club at about 10:30 that's I think is funny as all get-out.  Scottie Riggs is the narrator.

[Rev Ray]

[Jingus]

Why yes this would be the tag team of Scott Steiner and Vader

 

Oh man, everyone watch this, it's GREAT. It's everything to love and hate about squash matches, all in one easy package. Where is this, a Juggalo Gathering, I presume? Vader looks like he might've lost some weight in recent years, he's certainly skinnier than his porky early-2000s days. They're facing two young guys I don't know, so from the color of their tights I shall refer to them as Red Kid and Green Kid.

Green Kid quickly botches a spot in the early going, looking like he's bumping for a backdrop while Steiner was trying to grab him for a spinebuster. Visibly pissed off, a disgusted Vader promptly jumps off the apron to go grab a chair, which he throws to Scott... but right then Scott is already tossing Green Kid out of the ring to Vader, who promptly stiffs the shit out of him while Steiner uses the chair instead to murderize poor innocent Red Kid instead (albeit in relatively safe working fashion, as lightly-brutal chairshots go). Back in the ring, Vader gleefully beats on Green Kid for a minute, before contemptuously throwing him into his own corner and basically forcing his opponents to make the tag.

Red Kid, hardway busted-open and clearly terrified out of his mind, comes into the ring and then literally doesn't know what to do; he's got god-damned BIG VAN VADER standing right in front of him, clearly he's not supposed to get any offense on the veteran. So he just kinda half-heartedly motions a couple of times like he's thinking about locking up with the giant, before Vader finally realizes the kid's deer-in-headlighting and just grabs him for the kill. However, it's a worked kill; unlike his brutal destruction of Green Kid, Vader practically takes it easy on him with standard clubbering forearms across the back and mere glancing blows across the front. You can tell Vader was legit cranky with Green, and he's making up for it by gingerly treating Red as if he were HBK '97 on a particularly whiny night.

But then Scott tags in (geez, did he always throw this many chops?) and tries to take the kid to Suplex City, but something goes HORRIBLY wrong (not sure what, it looked like both guys went up correctly, but in mid-air the move just botched itself somehow) and Red Kid lands right on his head. Furthermore, watch it in slo-mo and you can see his right kneecap dropping directly into Steiner's adam's apple when he lands, and Scott briefly has a "I cannot fucking believe that really just happened" expression on his face. Continuing the odd trend of going easy on one opponent at the expense of the other, Scott immediately tosses Red Kid back into his own corner to get him the hell out of the ring in an easy fashion, and locks right back onto Green Kid like a recurring nightmare.

Green Kid does that "the other guy shakes the rope, which somehow flips me into the ring" spot, but somehow the way he does it just looks like the phoniest thing this side of a Chikara comedy match. Scott's all like "fuck this, time to go home" and Steinerline and bicep-kiss elbowdrop and mocking push-ups and overhead belly-belly superplex, and then he's all like "Alright, I've gotten all my shit in, tag out and goodnight everybody!" He tags in Vader, who proceeds to bat around Green Kid's head like a speed bag, then hitting the stiffest chokeslam I've seen in long ages.

Meanwhile, on the apron Red Kid has finally re-achieved sentient thought and realizes that he looks like a chump just standing there with his thumb up his ass while his partner takes a bunch of finishing moves. He half-heartedly gets back in the ring to make a Light Brigade attempt at a save, but Steiner sees this and is all like "hey, I love this kid's spirit!" by sprinting over to him and nailing him with a really awesome-looking Flatliner of all damn moves, before mercifully tossing the kid back out of the ring again. Meanwhile, Vader hits one of those Vader bombs on Green Kid which implies "I'm not exactly trying to legitimately injure my working-opponent here... but if I actually do hurt him, then oh fucking well and tough shit." The referee (who has had NOTHING to do during this match except just staying out of the way) counts one two three, ding ding ding. Vader's WWF music plays, and he and Steiner shake hands, hug, and triumphantly pose like they're the 1986-era Midnight Express or some shit.

ONE MILLION STARS. And I hope those poor fuckin' kids had their health insurance paid and up to date.

[Curt McGirt]

That was criminally violent. The punches Vader unloaded on the one... those kids definitely earned their stripes (or handful of Xanax given to them by a semi-toothless guy that said "that was hard, ninja" as he handed them off). 

[BloodyChamp]

I agree about Scott being 1 of the last guys to be truly unpredictable. The BPP character is right up there with freaking Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher in that cornerstone of wrestling regard. It’s not associated with those masters because his character was so different than theirs and the other guys out of the truly unpredictable stack but it should be and is to me.

I’m also aware of the story of Scott not wanting to break up the tag team but looking at that a little deeper, that was smart by Scott and not dumb. What would they have done with him in early 90s WCW? The TV Title? The same thing they did with every babyface for a week before some heel took it from him the same way they’d took it from every babyface in the history of the title? In addition to thinking about his brother I think he also though about that. Man imagine Scott Steiner as just another babyface lost in the shuffle. That’s as terrible as imagining him being just another heel lost in the shuffle. I remember that being on the table to but it would have just been more standardized WCW crap. BPP wouldn’t have came close to happening IMO.