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Steiner Brothers

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The Steiner Brothers
Tag team
MembersScott Steiner
Rick Steiner
Billed heightsScott:
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Rick:
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Combined
billed weight		[undue weight? – discuss]
HometownDetroit, Michigan
Debut1989
Disbanded1998

The Steiner Brothers were the team of real life brothers Scott Steiner and Rick Steiner, who competed through the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s in both North America and Japan. They are by many considered one of the top tag-teams in professional wrestling history.

Career

World Championship Wrestling (1989-1992)

Scott Steiner made his debut at StarrCade '88: True Grit, cheering on his brother Rick as Rick defeated Mike Rotundo for the NWA World Television Championship. After Rick lost the belt back to Rotundo at Chi-Town Rumble '89, Scott and Rick began teaming together in tag team matches.

On November 1, 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia, the Steiner Brothers defeated the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael "P.S." Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until May 19, 1990, when they were defeated by Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons) in Washington, D.C. at Capital Combat[1].

The Steiners defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship on August 24, 1990 in East Rutherford, New Jersey[1]. During their title reign, World Championship Wrestling withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance, and the title was renamed the WCW United States Tag Team Championship. Upon winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship on February 18, 1991, the Steiners vacated the WCW United States Tag Team Championship on February 20, 1991. After the Steiners won the IWGP World Tag Team Championship from Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki on March 21, 1991, WCW announcers began referring to them as "Triple Crown Champions"[1].

At the same time, Scott was being groomed as a singles performer. On WCW's weekend TBS shows (WCW Power Hour, WCW Saturday Night, and WCW Main Event), there was a special "gauntlet" match segment where a performer was picked to wrestle a top star on each show on that weekend, winning the sum of $10,000 USD (kayfabe) if they defeated all three. Scott was the first announced to run the gauntlet with his first opponent being Ric Flair. By way of backfiring interference by the Four Horsemen, Steiner beat Flair by pinfall. He would then get a title match against Flair at Clash of the Champions XIV: Dixie Dynamite on January 30, 1991, which ended in a time limit draw. Scott would go on to win the WCW World Television Championship on September 29, 1992[1], and began teasing a heel turn, which was aborted upon the Steiner Brothers leaving WCW for the World Wrestling Federation after being lowballed on their contract renewal by then-WCW head Bill Watts.[citation needed]

World Wrestling Federation (1992-1994)

The Steiners left WCW in November 1992, with Scott vacating the WCW World Television Championship. They quickly signed contracts with the World Wrestling Federation, making their televised debut as babyfaces in an interview on the December 21, 1992, edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling. They also appeared on the debut episode of Monday Night RAW on January 11, 1993. They made their WWF pay-per-view debut on January 24, 1993 at the 1993 Royal Rumble, defeating the Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau). At WrestleMania IX on April 4, 1993, the Steiner Brothers defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).

Following WrestleMania IX, the Steiners began feuding with Money, Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). At King of the Ring 1993 on June 13, 1993, the Steiners and The Smokin' Gunns (Billy and Bart) defeated The Headshrinkers and Money, Inc. . The following evening, on the June 14, 1993 episode of RAW, the Steiners defeated Money, Inc. for the WWF World Tag Team Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Money, Inc. regained the titles on June 16, 1993 at a house show in Rockford, Illinois, but lost the titles to the Steiners once again at another house show on June 19, 1993 in St. Louis, Missouri[1].

The Steiners successfully defended their titles against the Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) on August 30, 1993 at SummerSlam 1993. On the September 13, 1993 episode of RAW in New York City, New York, the Steiners defended their titles against The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) in a "Province of Quebec rules" match, wherein titles can change hands via disqualification. The match ended when the manager of The Quebecers, Johnny Polo, threw a hockey stick into the ring, which was caught by Scott. When the referee saw Scott holding the illegal weapon, he disqualified the Steiner Brothers, thus awarding the title to The Quebecers[1]. Scott gained a measure of revenge by defeating Pierre in a singles match the following week on RAW.

At the 1993 Survivor Series on November 24, 1993, the Steiners teamed with Lex Luger and The Undertaker as "The All-Americans". The All-Americans defeated their opponents, "The Foreign Fanatics" (Yokozuna, Crush, Ludvig Borga and Jacques), although Luger was the sole survivor.

On January 22, 1994, both Steiners entered the 1994 Royal Rumble, with Scott entering at number one. After Rick entered at number three, the brothers cooperated until being eliminated by Owen Hart and Diesel respectively. The Steiners had incurred the ire of the WWF booking team by refusing to fight one another during the Royal Rumble, and they left the promotion in mid-1994.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995)

The Steiners debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling on July 28, 1995 in the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, New York, defeating Dudley Dudley and Vampire Warrior. They next appeared with ECW in The Flagstaff on August 4, 1995 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, defeating Dudley Dudley and 2 Cold Scorpio. The Steiner Brothers made their debut in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ECW Arena on August 5, 1995 at Wrestlepalooza 1995, teaming with Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Scorpio, Dean Malenko and Cactus Jack. On August 25, 1995 in Jim Thorpe they defeated Scorpio and Malenko, and they went on to defeat Scorpio and Chris Benoit the following evening. On August 28, 1995, they defeated Dudley Dudley and Dances With Dudley in the Big Apple Dinner Theater in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

At Gangstas' Paradise on September 16, 1995, the Steiners joined forces with Taz in a loss to The Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) and Jason. On September 23, 1995 in Middletown, they defeated Raven and Stevie Richards. Scott made one more appearance (teaming with Taz in a losing effort against The Eliminators on October 28, 1995) before the brothers departed from ECW.

World Championship Wrestling (1996-1998)

The Steiners re-signed with WCW in 1996. They won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat on July 24, 1996, but Harlem Heat would regain the title just three days later[1]. Following the formation of the New World Order (nWo), the Steiners began feuding with The Outsiders, who had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat.

The Break-Up & Beyond

The beginning of Scott's heel turn began in late 1997/early 1998 when he, now with increased muscle mass, having cut his signature long hair, and sporting a goatee, started a feud with Buff Bagwell over who had the better physique. Scott finalized his heel turn and joined the nWo at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998, by attacking Rick while they were defending the WCW World Tag Team Championship against The Outsiders; Steiner's heel turn enabled the Outsiders to regain the championship. The next night on Monday Nitro, he adopted a new gimmick that was somewhat reminiscent of "Superstar" Billy Graham, dyeing his hair and beard blond and increasing in muscle mass even further.

The two brothers had a feud that also involved Scott's new partner Buff Bagwell, while Rick teamed with a variety of partners including Lex Luger and Bagwell's mother Judy.

Shortly before WCW's demise, the Steiners reunited, not so much as a tag-team but they were both heels (bad guys) who watched each others backs. When WCW finally closed, the two went their separate ways again.

It is very safe to say that the Steiner Brothers are highly regarded as one of the greatest tag-teams of all time in professional wrestling.

A Reunion

On a recent card for the United Wrestling Federation in Wilson, NC the Steiner Brothers reunited to defeat the tag-team of Matt Bentley & Frankie Kazarian. On December 9th 2006 they won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship.

In Wrestling

  • Finishing moves
  • Signature moves

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

  • Regional
  • Pro Wrestling America
  • PWA Tag Team Championship (1 time)

Trivia

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
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