“Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner did a one-man show at the Comedy Store in Manchester, England yesterday, the same place where other former Superstars such as Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and more performed for their fans.
W-O reader Liam Johnson attended the event and said that the show was split into three parts – his time as a tag team with his brother Rick, his years as Big Poppa Pump, and a Q&A with those in attendance where nothing was off limits. His full report is below.
Highlights of the Steiner Brothers section were he thought Bill Watts screwed up WCW by bringing in stupid rules like not being able to go to the top rope so him and Rick left for the WWF. He was disappointed with his time in the WWF and only stayed for ten months because he was sick of the traveling which he thought was ridiculous. He had to fly from East Coast to West Coast on a regular basis mainly because Raw was at the Manhattan Center live every week at the time. He also said business was down and the steroid trial with Vince was going on. Jerry Jarrett was brought into the WWF as Vince wanted him to take over if he ended up going to prison (and it looked like he would at the time). So a combination of factors but mainly more money for less work is why the Steiners left for Japan and didn’t come back until shortly after WCW Nitro started.
His time as Big Poppa Pump was one of his favorite times in the business as he went solo just as the nWo angle was hot and business was booming. He blamed WCW’s demise on Ted Turner losing control of his own network after AOL merged with Time Warner. Turner lost a lot of sports and even the Atlanta Braves around this time, not just WCW. He didn’t go to the WWF straight away after WCW folded because he was holding out for the WWF to buy out his AOL Time Warner deal in full rather than a 50 cent to the dollar deal like some of the others took.
He hates Flair because he thinks he’s a mark for himself who should never have held 16 world titles. Also said that Flair legit cried backstage when he didn’t get his own way. He hates Triple H for similar reasons (being his own biggest mark). He doesn’t think HHH will retire until he’s surpassed Flair’s 16 time title winning tally and thinks he’d be a nobody if he wasn’t married to Stephanie who he doesn’t like very much either. He hated being told what to say in interviews by the likes of Stephanie and Brian Gerwitz and hates scripted promos. He also criticized Stephanie for giving him dietary advice for snacking on a Snickers bar while he didn’t think she was in great shape herself.
Steiner said that Vince has a monopoly on pro wrestling in the USA and can pay people what he likes a lot of the time. Steiner said that his friend Rey Mysterio quit WWE over things like being injured and still being expected to fly overseas and promote tours. Steiner didn’t seem to think that Vince had any respect for the well-being of the wrestlers. Interestingly, he had no problem with Shane McMahon.
He doesn’t like Hogan as Steiner was friends with Randy Savage and he remembers when Elizabeth went missing for over a week. According to Steiner, Linda and Hulk practically hid Liz away from Randy during this time. When Randy found out, he tried to confront Hogan and start a fight at the Meadowlands Arena but Hogan turned away and backed down. Steiner didn’t mention the black eye that Hogan had at WrestleMania 9 but I’m pretty sure Savage gave him that and that was mainly because of Liz being hidden from him.
Steiner’s version of the threat to Hogan story was he saw Hogan’s second wife at an airport. He asked Hogan’s wife to pass on a message that he had no business inducting Savage into the Hall Of Fame and that if he saw Hogan, Steiner would beat him up. Hogan called the police and claimed that Steiner had threatened to kill Hogan. CCTV footage at the airport couldn’t prove this though. Steiner says that Hogan lied and tried to put him in jail.
Steiner didn’t have much time for Dixie Carter either and mentioned the tweets about TNA that Dixie tried to sue him over. Steiner said he was just telling the truth.
Nick “Magnus” Aldis joined the stage for the final part of the show (The “Ask Me Anything” section). Jeff Jarrett appeared on the screen and asked him what he spent his $100,000 prize money on that he won in an 80s wrestling tournament (I thought that would’ve been a work). He answered with women but he didn’t use that term to describe them. Magnus mentioned that whilst some people in the business didn’t like people like Steiner for being outspoken, they should be aware that he’s only fighting for the rights of the boys.
Steiner went onto say that he blames Vince McMahon for the death of Gorilla Monsoon’s son referee Joey Marella because he believes that Vince’s exploitation of his employees was to blame for Joey falling asleep at the wheel which led to his death. Steiner got visibly upset when talking about this. Steiner ended the show by making more derogatory remarks aimed at Hogan and the size of his penis.
Overall, an entertaining show. Not for everyone but overall, worth the £19 admission fee.
