WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently spoke on his podcast, “Grilling JR,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including Scott Steiner’s run with WWE in 2003, his feud with Triple H, and more. Here are the highlights:
His experience working with Scott Steiner in 2003:
“Well, I knew it would probably be a little challenging just by Scotty’s nature. I can’t blame him you want your details and all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed when you’re doing a contract. It was a healthy contract, but it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. It was probably his best option quite frankly. I think WWE had the most leverage in that negotiation, but you know he was a talent that had a lot of name identity. He’s related to main events. So, I thought it was a good get, but you knew that Scotty’s nature and his competitiveness would at somewhere rear its head. It did more often than not. I don’t say that in a bad way just he took care of his business and could be hard to get along with at times. I really never had any issues, but Cowboy (Bill Watts) had issues with him. Which, you know, the Cowboy thing kind of buried me there at the end… But it was a good get, Connie. It was good. He was a big star and we needed more star power and we felt like he was going to provide that.
Having Steiner feud with Triple H to start with:
“Well, if you want the perception to be he’s a star and he could be the next world champion and he comes in very lauded, very high expectations not a bad place to start. I also think it made him comfortable a little bit more comfortable because it that WWE was very serious when we were talking about with him that you know we’re going to use you. You’re going to be in a top spot and let’s let the cards fall where they may. I don’t think it was a bad thing. I mean there’s, hey there’s a lot of right ways to do a wrestling angle. A lot of right ways to get some skin the cat so to speak. I don’t, in hindsight, I had no major issues with that pairing.”
Triple H deliberately sabotaging the match to make Steiner look bad:
“No, hell no. Triple H is not gonna go out there and have a stinker on purpose. No. It’s gonna sound bad, he’s a professional (…) His ego, and I say that in a good way, he’s got a lot of pride, he’s not gonna go out there and stink up the joint on purpose.”
Rushing Steiner’s push due to his health:
“I don’t know. I think we’re obviously all aware of Scotty’s physical limitations and the fact that he came in without.. he brought those with him. You mention the drop foot thing and then he’s torn I don’t know how many muscles he’s torn there were several serious surgery oriented and needed issues. So, I think you want to get the most out of him you can as quickly as you can not knowing how long he’s going to stay healthy. That was kind of how I looked at that deal get it while you can and hopefully knock on wood he stays healthy and get a quote unquote run out of him. It was a freshen up the roster get a name on there that everybody in the wrestling world knew and was familiar with.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
