Scott Steiner puts the ‘S’ in Superman, Superstar, Supercon
Former WCW champ Scott Steiner, who also worked for TNA and WWE, appeared at Florida Supercon at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Former WCW champ Scott Steiner, who also worked for TNA and WWE, appeared at Florida Supercon at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Photo By Scott Fishman
By Scott Fishman
Miami Herald Writer
Scott Steiner may wear an “S” on his tights and shirts that is very similar to the Superman logo.
Is this an indication that he is a comic book fan?
“Hell no,” he said during Florida Supercon at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
“Do I look like a little kid to you? Comic books are a big thing. I looked at them when I was a kid. I’m not a kid anymore, so I kind of grew out of that phase,” he said. “There is obviously a place for them because the movies do so good. The ‘S’ is because my freaks realized they weren’t with a normal man but a Superman. That’s why they called me the “Big Bad Booty Daddy.”
The former WCW and WWE superstar isn’t short on confidence, which helped him reach the heights he did in the squared circle. He won gold all over the world with his brother Rick. He also transitioned into a singles champion. The University of Michigan All American excelled in amateur wrestling before turning to the pro ranks. Steiner’s level of physicality became a trademark, as did his revolutionary Frankensteiner move. He is also one to never hold back on his opinions on the business today.
“The ‘PG era’ blows,” he said. “The best time in wrestling was with the nWo and the Monday Night War between WCW and WWE. You had competition. Now there is no competition. I feel bad for the guys and the wrestlers coming up now. They are slotted into a character that sometimes they can’t even do. Most of the time it’s bull****, and it sucks. I wouldn’t want to do it. You have a stupid character to do, but if you don’t do it, you don’t have a job.
“You need competition for a business to truly thrive. Look at Vince [McMahon’s] numbers since he bought WCW. Then again he just lost like $400 million, projected to lose $50 million this year. So you couldn’t predict that after he bought WCW and doing 5’s and 6’s on the ratings scale.”
Steiner remains active including signing autographs and posing for photos with fans at Florida Supercon, working a recent match with Jerry “The King” Lawler and involved in a charity event for NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, who is battling cancer.
The Steiner Brothers were also recently inducted into the 2014 George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
“Once in a while I watch,” Steiner said. “There are guys out there, but once you realize who it’s controlled by; when you downsize a product, now they have more control over more guys. The business is so shackled now. Even when you have a breakout star, they don’t let you break out.
“…The only way it’s going to come back is if a TV person like [Rupert] Murdoch or someone with a lot of money but has an avenue of TV. A revenue stream for TV where they want programming like Ted [Turner] did. That’s it. You have to have a big money player, or it’s not going to happen.”
Steiner has gone through many evolutions during his career and changed with the times. These days WWE is pushing its Network, a new platform allowing fans to intake sports entertainment programming. The outspoken performer isn’t sold on the concept.
“I don’t think it took off the way they wanted. I’ll just say that,” Steiner said. “All the social media and other things, a lot of it is bull****. It doesn’t mean you’re going to draw or people are going to see you. You look at Charlie Sheen and then how many Twitter followers he had there and on Facebook. Then he tried to capitalize on it with a tour, and nobody came to watch him.
“Just because you have Twitter followers and Facebook doesn’t mean a whole lot and [doesn’t mean] people are going to pay to see you. A lot of that is misjudged. Just because you have people on their phone or Internet doesn’t mean they are going to pay. Same for the Network. I think they misjudged the popularity of it.
“Just because somebody follows you don’t mean they are going to pay for it. A lot of people are misjudging the popularity of people or characters. It’s bull****. I think they did the same thing. A lot of those wrestlers have a lot of Twitter followers, but all that combined they should be able to get $9.99 for the Network. They found out they don’t pay…When do you concede that you failed? They live in their own little box and think they are all geniuses. So when are they going to concede that they are not as smart as they think they are?”
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