Scott Steiner Submitted By James Walsh on 04/19/06
(The following will air on Wrestling Epicenter and Weekend Warriors of Wrestling this week. Thanks to PWInsider.com for the transcript/recap.)
Spike TV and TNA Wrestling held a media conference call this afternoon withScott Steiner to promtoe TNA Impact and this Sunday's Lockdown PPVspecial. TNA reviewed their Thursday night debut ratings to start theconference and plugged the PPV.
They then began taking questions for Steiner. He was asked who waslooking forward to working with and he said he was brought in to take out Stingand make his return to the ring a shortlived one. He was then asked abouttouring Japan and said it's not something he's interested in at this time. When asked about his tattoo, he said his freaks wanted a "littlevariety. I can't go into it. It's not good for radio."
"Why TNA and Why Now?" Steiner said it was timing andJeff Jarrett called him to beat up Sting. He stayed within the parameterof TNA storylines and began hyping up Big Poppa Pump. When the NWA titlewas brought up, Steiner said that's not his focus right now. He said he'sbeen watching TNA and he sees everyone roll out the red carpet, when he's not achampion, he's white trash. He ripped on Sting.
"Would you like to see Bill Goldberg in TNA?" Steinersaid the fans can chant whatever they want and he kicked Golderg's a** years agoand could do it again. Steiner put over his workout regimen. Whenasked about Superstar Graham as an inspiration for Big Poppa Pump, Steiner saidthat he was a big fan, but they are similar but different.
When his WWE run was brought up, Steiner said, "It was the same thingthat happened to everyone else - Triple H." He called HHH a"very insecure man" and did the same to Goldberg and Kevin Nash, amongothers. He said that HHH was never an athlete in his life and that heshould be happy "banging the bosses' daughter."
"Reuniting with Rick Steiner?" Steiner said you neversay never but they did their tag team thing and it's time to move on.
When comparing WCW and TNA, Steiner said there are a lot of parallels betweenthe two companies except that Ted Turner had a lot of more money to throwaround. He said that business picked up when WCW got hot and TNA can pickup that audience. Steiner said that, "Not everyone wants to watchthat trash in WWE."
When asked about the TNA "case by case" drug testing that wasmentioned on ESPN2's Quite Frankly, Steiner said he's all for it and he's neverfailed a drug test in his life.
"Fondest Memories?" Steiner said that anytime you get towin a World championship, it's a special moment.
Steiner's injuries are brought up. He said he's never been in bettershape in his life. He said that he's got six screws, a bone graft from hiship and a tendon transfer in his foot. When asked if his outlook on lifeand wrestling has changed during his time away, Steiner said that in his life,women are the greatest thing ever put on Earth and he spent more time lovingwomen while he was away. He noted that wrestling has changed with lots ofsmaller talents and it's different, with "guys who can't wrestle in thering." He said that he doesn't understand WWE's Spirit Squad and"pushing a retard." When asked about post-wrestling plans,Steiner said he broke 20,000 women he's slept with and he wants to keep ongoing.
"The Six Sided Ring?" Steiner said it's pretty cooland an interesting concept. He plans to ground and pound, so it won't makea difference to him once he's inside the Cage. He was asked if he's workedout in the ring, but didn't reply.
"KayFabe" Steiner said that once he gets to the building, hedoesn't really talk to anyone and he's in his own world. When asked ifthat leads to misconceptions, Steiner said that it's possible but he never caredwhat anyone thinks of him.
When asked about if TNA was worried about his mic work, Steiner joked thatthere finger is on the button.
"Training and Wrestling after his foot surgery?" Steiner said it was challenging as he was in a foot cast for 5 months, but hekept pushing. He said that his time away from the ring was good because itgave him time to think and he's happy that he's still able to wrestle. Hesaid his favorite thing is the adrenaline rush going to the ring.
When asked about his different personas from the stages of his career,Steiner said he preferred Big Poppa Pump because that's more of who he is. He said the nice guy Michigan athlete was fine for that era of his life andcareer but he's evolved as a person and is happy to do something different.
"The Frankensteiner." Steiner said people love themove but he prefers to ground and pound. He agreed that it agrees with thepsychology of "beating people up."
When asked about working with new stars and elevating stars, Steiner wentinto heel mode saying that you can't elevate anyone to his level, because it'schicken salad and chicken sh**. The Steiner Freaks were brought up, and hesaid Midajah has always been his favorite freak, so you never know.
"Stepping Back into the Ring" Steiner said he went toDetroit the other day "looking for someone to punch" to getready. When the rest of Sting's team was brought up, Steiner said thatSting is his focus, but if the others get in his way, he'll deal with them.
Steiner said that his goal is to help bring TNA to the point where WCW oncewas to compete with Vince McMahon and see what happens. He said theparallels between WCW in 1996 and TNA today are amazing and McMahon did not pickup the WCW audience after buying it.
"Differences between WCW and TNA?" The ring is the firstmajor one. He said that fans want to see conflict, personalities, andconfrontation in wrestling and that will never change.
Steiner buried Sting saying that he hates when red neck and white trash fanstry to help Sting rise above the beating he's going to give him.
When asked about the X-Division, Steiner said that they have some innovativemoves, but then went back into storyline, saying that once he clubs them,"they'll be knocked out."
I then asked about Bill Wattscomments in his book, Scott Steiner said "Watts is the biggest a****** I'veever met". He said that when Watts came into WCW, he was a bully andthat the late Wahoo McDaniel told Steiner that Watts was a "punk." He asked why Watts wouldn't respond to Steiner face to face when they were inWCW, so why write about it in a book now. He said Watts was a bully andSteiner called him out back then because he didn't want to take Watts' crap.
I then asked about WCW beingout of control towards the end of it's run, bringing up Steiner's backstagefight with Diamond Dallas Page. I also asked if there was anything,looking back now, that could have been done to save the company. Steinersaid that "to this day, if WCW was ran right, from the higher ups, it wouldstill be in business, but the higher ups didn't want wrestling. Wrestlingbeat the Atlanta Braves in the ratings but they didn't want wrestling. Idon't think anything could have been done to save it because of that fact. We were drawing ratings and beat Vince 82 or 86 weeks in a row and they didn'tappreciate that or the ratings that we brought in. Who's to say what couldhave saved wrestling if it doesn't have the support of the office, CNNTower."
I followed up, asking if hethought the "lack of respect" he mentioned led to the problems with somany stars in WCW, naming no shows, false injuries, and other instances. Steiner responded, "I can't speak for other guys, but for the most part,looking back, I think everyone regrets what happened because of what a greatplace WCW was. If you don't have the support of top management, you aredoomed for failure. A lot of people criticize Eric Bischoff. EricBischoff was the greatest thing that ever happened to WCW. If anybody saysanything different, they are out of their minds."
Bringing up his mention of WCWstars regretting how it ended, I noted that performers like Steiner and Stinghave a chance to pass on their knowledge to the next generation of names in TNAand help them carve their niche. I asked him what he thought of the newnames in the company (Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels) and what advice he wouldgive TNA Management so that they didn't repeat the mistakes of WCWManagement. Steiner responded, "There is a lot of difference. TNA wants wrestling. TBS didn't want wrestling and that was the biggestdownfall." He didn't respond to the remainder of the question.
"Differences between TNA Management and WWE Management" Steinersaid he's only been there for a short time so it's hard to comment, but theatmosphere is different. He said Vince McMahon surrounded himself with"Yes Men" and during his last run, it was brutal and has only gottenworse. Steiner said that there are a lot of guys he knows in WWE who aremiserable.
When the recent house shows are brought up, Steiner said it's good to tourbecause taping in one place leads to not getting a "true response"from the fans overall and you want to move around the country for that reason.
Steiner mentioned The Skyscrapers, Doom, and The Road Warriors. He saidthat the quality of tag teams have gone down overall.
Steiner said that he was done after WCW but he was offered so much money thatit was hard to turn down. He said that there was nothing positive abouthis experience in WWE. When the idea of being inducted into the WWE Hallof Fame was brought up, Steiner said the Hall of Fame is just another VinceMcMahon storyline and doesn't mean anything.
