The Embarrassment of Scott Steiner

While watching the WWE Royal Rumble this past week, I was presented with the evidence that shows just how far apart the top titles of the respective brands are.

On Smackdown, Kurt Angle wears the WWE Championship with pride. Since the brand extension, we haven't heard any stories of political machinations backstage involving Angle. The man has got on with his job. In the past few months, he's been on the opening matches of pay-per-views, wrestled for tag-team gold, before winning Smackdown's number one championship in December. This past Sunday, he and Chris Benoit, despite the fact that they have already faced each other in various encounters on pay-per-view before, once again stole the show. These two continue to have good matches with each other. Angle continues to have good matches with anyone he is put in the ring against. He could probably even have a good match with a broomstick, if the WWE promoted this match correctly.

At the end of the contest Benoit, despite having lost, received a standing ovation from the crowd for his efforts. Yet sadly, this year's Royal Rumble will be remembered for the match which preceded this fine contest.

In my last column I wondered why Scott Steiner had yet to face Triple H in any kind of actual wrestling contest prior to their match at the Royal Rumble. I pointed out that in years gone by, those competing in the main event of a pay-per-view had at least faced each other in tag-team matches on either Raw and Smackdown. Prior to the Royal Rumble, Steiner and Triple H had only faced each other in useless tests of strength and prowess.

At the Rumble, we saw just why these two hadn't faced each other. Ever since he first arrived in the WWE last November, all Scott Steiner had done was pose and throw around a few mid-carders. Against Triple H, in a World Championship match, Steiner posed, threw a few weak looking clotheslines and punches, sold very little, and bored everyone with virtually the same suplex again and again and again.

This was not the same Scott Steiner I've been watching for the past ten years or so. This was not the same Scott Steiner who, as a tag-team competitor with his brother Rick, was regarded as an innovator, the man who "invented" the Frankensteiner, a move copied by virtually every wrestler who breaks into this industry. This is not the same Scott Steiner who revolutionised the tag-team scene.

This isn't even the same Scott Steiner who piled on masses of muscle, and brought some much needed glory to the ailing WCW World Championship as the financial state of the company forced it seek a buyer in Vince McMahon. This isn't the same Scott Steiner who had barn-burners with Goldberg, who managed to drag out decent matches from Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner, and who, on the very last Nitro, dropped the belt to Booker T, despite being in a tremendous amount of pain.

Frankly, the Scott Steiner the world saw this past Sunday is an embarrassment to wrestling, a man who is now just going through the motions, a pale imitation of the man who many predicted would be just as big a name as Ric Flair, he had that much talent.

I've watched the match three times now. The first time was after I'd read the spoilers on the Internet. I wanted to see for myself if what I read had been true. The second time, it was to make sure if what I had seen the third time was true. The third time was to see if what I heard the crowd correctly.

And so we are left to ask the question, why? Rumour has it that the WWE were less than pleased with Steiner's performances on house shows before this program was ever announced. If this is the case, why in the hell was Steiner put into a program with Triple H in the first place? The championship that Triple H holds was already devalued by the way he got the belt. Now it has been devalued further.

The time has come for the WWE to admit that it made a terrible mistake in putting Steiner into the main event scene so quickly, when it was obvious to everyone who saw the match that he just wasn't ready. He may have been a player in WCW, but the game they play in the WWE is totally different.

The sad fact is that it appears the one man who could have helped this program won't, because he's trying to protect his own position. Triple H has become a master of the backstage politics we hear so much about. Whenever we log onto a wrestling web site, we always hear about how Triple H has used his backstage stroke to crush ideas that are put toward the writing team, and of how he's holding back the careers of those who he feels could be a threat to his position. Why else would he only lose the title to his good buddy Shawn Michaels, himself nothing more than a part-time wrestler these days? Why else would he agree to a program with Scott Steiner, a wrestler who, after his showing this past Sunday, is virtually on his last legs as far as his wrestling career goes? Simply because they pose no threat to his current position as top dog on the Raw brand.

If it wasn't for the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and to a lesser extent, Brock Lesnar, the 2003 Royal Rumble would have been considered the first nail in the WWE's coffin. If the rumours are true, if Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan are indeed heading back to the WWE, then their arrival couldn't have come at a better time, because they need, more than ever, someone the fans can get behind. Kurt Angle isn't capable of carrying the load on his own, and Brock Lesnar hasn't got the experience to. What is obvious is that Scott Steiner can't be expected to carry the load, and someone, someone with enough balls, needs to stand up to Triple H and take away some of his power. Despite the fact that they still have billions in the bank, if things keep going the way they are, they won't have billions of fans.