Revisiting The Worst Royal Rumble Match In WWE History
If WWE fans hate something, they aren't shy to let the performers know it. But at least that's a reaction; silence can be even worse. And by that metric, one of the worst Royal Rumble PPV matches in history is Triple H vs. Scott Steiner at the 2003 Royal Rumble. It was not only a bad match; it was a high profile embarrassment that the entire pay-per-view was marketed around. The live audience simply didn't care by the halfway mark and justifiably so.
In one corner was Scott Steiner, a former All-American wrestler from the University of Michigan. Because of his amateur background, he transitioned into the world of professional wrestling easily. After a successful run with WCW, he made his WWE debut in 1992 as one half of the Steiner Brothers, a tag team that he formed in WCW with his older brother, Rick. They stayed in WWE for three years--a relatively short stint--but they quickly became fan favorites. Two of the tag team's signature WWE matches were their title match against The Headshrinkers at WrestleMania IX, and their title match against the Heavenly Bodies at SummerSlam 1993. Both were the best matches of their respective PPVs.
Scott Steiner developed a reputation for working stiff (laying his blows in for real) and for being a unusually agile man for his size. His finisher was called the Frankensteiner, a modified headscissors takedown that he delivered after bouncing his opponent off the ropes.
He left WWE in 1994. He spent the bulk of the next nine years in WCW where he became a triple crown champion, winning the World Heavyweight Championship, the World Television Championship, and the United States Championship.
He also ditched his All-American college boy persona for something a bit more edgy. He put on enough muscle and weight to look like an 80's action figure. He died his hair bleach blonde and grew a goatee. He cut rage fueled, villainous promos that were rambling, savage, and filled with unintentional humor and sexual innuendo. And he came up with a list of nicknames that was so overblown and manly that it went past the point of parody: Big Poppa Pump, The Big Bad Booty Daddy, Freakzilla, and The Genetic Freak.
Steiner was playing an outsized version of himself, and no one could really tell, after awhile, where the character ended and where the real man began. For all functional purposes, they became one and the same.
By the time he returned to WWE in 2002, Steiner was past his prime and more muscular than ever. Reportedly, he was also suffering from drop foot syndrome, which meant that his left foot was almost completely paralyzed.
But worse things have been hidden from wrestling fans; Kerry Von Erich wrestled with only one foot (the other was amputated) for years, and no one was the wiser. Surely, WWE could hide Steiner's injury until he regained some feeling in his foot.
And for awhile, WWE did hide it. Steiner entered a main event feud with Triple H for the world title, and the two men engaged in series of unofficial contests to prove who was manlier. Both men's characters were insecure, preening fools, and the weeks leading up to their Royal Rumble showdown was an endless parade of cringe humor and homoeroticism. There was an arm wrestling contest, in which Triple H engaged in some of the best overacting of his career--
There was a benchpress contest, which ended with Scott Steiner stripping Triple H down to his underwear and socks. It was physical, but it was also a short segment that Steiner could perform without gassing out. Triple H did all the flipping and flopping. And, most notoriously, there was a posedown contest. Both men oiled up, took off their shirts, and had a group of men judge their physiques. Triple H kept sneaking jealous peeks at Steiner's biceps.
After this sort of narrative build, one would expect the two men to work a short intense, 'macho' match at the Royal Rumble, similar to last year's match between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg at WrestleMania 33. Fans didn't want a slow simmering build; they wanted something violent and angry.They wanted 10 minutes of power moves, signatures, and finishers, all in rapid succession. WWE needed to conceal Steiner's immobility and lack of conditioning.
Instead, the match went on for 18 agonizing minutes. Steiner was completely winded after the first couple of spots. And Triple H, though better conditioned than his injured opponent, had recently recovered from a partial quadriceps tear himself. Both men would rest before attempting a power move and then they rested some more. The suplexes were suspenseful for all the wrong reasons; Steiner looked exhausted, like he was going to accidentally drop Triple H on his head. He almost fell over doing a gorilla press slam. And then he did fall over while attempting (and failing) to execute a double underhook suplex.
The finish was a mess as well. Rather than giving the fans a clean finish, Triple H clocked Steiner with a sledgehammer, ending the match in a disqualification. Triple H would later beat Scott Steiner by pinfall at the subsequent No Way Out PPV. But by that point, Steiner's limitations were exposed. Fans were not enthusiastic for a rematch; they had already been fooled once.
Former WWE commentator and backstage reporter Kevin Kelly had a more cynical view of the entire affair. In a shoot interview, Kelly accused Triple H of sandbagging Steiner--refusing to cooperate with moves--to deliberately make his opponent look foolish. But whatever the case, Steiner never recovered from this embarrassment of a match. He was sent down to the midcard to feud with Test for the rest of his run, and he never held a title before leaving the company again in 2004.
Let's be clear. There were many Royal Rumble matches that were sloppier, more narratively broken, and more poorly booked than the Triple H vs. Scott Steiner match at the 2003 Royal Rumble. But you'd be hard pressed to find another match with such a dramatic drop-off --between what was promised and what was delivered.
So if you're ever disappointed watching the Royal Rumble this Sunday? Just remember that it's already been a whole lot worse.
from GameSpot http://ift.tt/2BvlwUa