Pulse Wrestling’s Top 100 Wrestlers of the Modern Era: #67 – Scott Steiner

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67. SCOTT STEINER

Real NameScott Rechsteiner
HometownBay City, Michigan
Debuted1986
Titles HeldWCW World Heavyweight; WCW United States; WCW World Tag Team; WWE World Tag Team
Other Accomplishmentsthree-time NCAA Big Ten Conference runner-up; has six screws, a tendon transplant and a bone graft in his foot

I don’t know if there has been a wrestler who has so completely changed his look, wrestling style and demeanor from where he started than Scott Steiner.

Scotty Steiner hit the big time in 1989, cheering on his older brother Rick Steiner in the NWA. The pair of real life brothers were stand-out amateur wrestlers at the University of Michigan and they parlayed their natural athleticism into a success in the professional ranks.

Scott and his brother were instant successes in the NWA/WCW tag ranks, picking up two World Tag Titles, a United States Tag Championship reign and the prestigious IWGP Tag Titles from Japan. They were quickly touted as the tag team of the ’90s and became the top babyface team in WCW, supplanting the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express from their throne. Steiner also had a brief reign as WCW Television Champion in 1992 before the pair left for the World Wrestling Federation.

The pair spent a year and a half in the WWF, and won a couple of Tag Championships along the way. They also did a short tour of duty in ECW in 1995 before going back home, to WCW.

In early 1996 the pair returned to their old stomping grounds of WCW to help bolster an already established tag team scene. They became standard bearers for WCW during initial nWo war, picking up a couple more tag championships along the way.

But it was in 1998 when Scott Steiner became his own man; a man completely changed, in look, style and demeanor, from the Scott Steiner everyone had known previously. Gone were the mullet, the neon singlets and innovative Frankensteiners. Enter beach blonde hair, a goatee, muscles upon muscles and a bad attitude. During this time he turned on his brother and the duo waged a war that lasted all through 1998. Scott built himself through WCW’s singles ranks and became one of the nWo’s top leaders. Along the way he picked up United States and Television Championships., and was an integral part of both nWo’s reformations in 1999 and again in 2000.

He truly broke out as a singles star in early 2000 after the WCW reboot. He became on of the New Blood’s leaders, winning the US Championship again and having feuds with Goldberg and Kevin Nash. During WCW’s last six months, Steiner was given the ball and became the company’s World Champion; a monster heel in the style of Big Van Vader. He defeated Booker T, Sting, Goldberg, Sid Vicious, Kevin Nash & Diamond Dallas Page en route to WCW’s demise. As a true professional be put Booker over clean as a whistle on the company’s final broadcast.

After the company folded, Steiner did some work for independents and the short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars promotion.

He arrived in World Wrestling Entertainment with much fanfare during the later months of 2002. He was pushed as a top face and got immediate World Heavyweight Championship shots against Triple H in early 2003. Unfortunately Steiner stuck up the joint in both matches and was promptly pushed down the card into a long-term feud with Test. By early 2004 Steiner had left WWE with little or no fanfare.

In early 2006, Steiner made his return to the national stage by debuting with TNA Wrestling. He made up for his lackluster WWE stint by putting on better-than-expected matches and promos, while staying away from backstage tantrums. He put on solid matches with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe and Sting. He has currently reunited with his brother Rick as a bad-ass version of their face team that dominated the ’90s, and also recently overcame a potentially fatal trachea injury he suffered in the spring of 2007. He is riding a career renaissance that many thought would never materialize.

Scott Steiner was one of the top draws in the early days of World Championship Wrestling. He introduced American wrestling fans to a move we all know as the Frankensteiner and would throw suplexes before Angle and Benoit made it the cool thing to do. He would later completely reinvent himself and became one of the top draws of the late days of World Championship Wrestling. He has worked for every major North American wrestling company of the modern era, as well as the top Japanese organizations. He has won numerous championships and has maintained a certain level of over-ness for many years. Scott Steiner is definitely considered a legitimate superstar in American pro wrestling.

The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.

Mark was a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over four years, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking” commentary-style column into the Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.” He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.