World Championship Wrestling (1988–1992)
At Starrcade '88 and Chi-Town Rumble, Scott Steiner started to accompany his brother Rick in his matches. By January 1989, they were competing as a tag team.
With Missy Hyatt in their corner, the Steiner Brothers were an up-and-coming tag team, mixing technique, power, speed, and agility. They later added Robin Green to the group. With their tremendous win–loss record, they earned a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship, held by The Fabulous Freebirds. On September 12, 1989, at Clash of the Champions VIII, the Steiners lost when Green tripped Scott, causing him to get DDT'd and pinned by Michael "P.S." Hayes. Green would transform into Woman, and brought a tag team called Doom to wrestle the Steiners at Halloween Havoc, in which the Steiners lost.
On November 1, 1989, in Atlanta, Georgia, the Steiners defeated the Freebirds for the NWA World Tag Team titles; the title change would air on the November 18 episode of World Championship Wrestling. They held the titles until May 19, 1990, when they were defeated by Doom in Washington, D.C. at Capital Combat.[3]
The Steiners defeated The Midnight Express for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship on August 24, 1990, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[3] During their title reign, World Championship Wrestling rebranded the championships they owned and controlled, 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 title change aired on the March 9 episode of WCW Pro Wrestling), the Steiners vacated the WCW United States Tag Team Championship on February 20. They were the second team ever to hold both the WCW World and United States Tag Team titles at once. After the Steiners won the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki on March 21, WCW announcers began referring to them as "Triple Crown Champions".[3]
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 $15,000 USD (kayfabe) if they defeated all three. Scott was the second to run the gauntlet, with his second opponent being Ric Flair. Because the Four Horsemen clumsily interfered, 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.[4] and began teasing a heel turn when he teamed with Marcus Bagwell against Steve Austin and Brian Pillman on an October 10, 1992 episode of WCW Worldwide. During the match Bagwell was injured when he was attacked Arn Anderson and when Scott went to tag Bagwell he was unable to. An angry Scott then kicked Bagwell and slammed him into the ring where he was attacked by Austin and Pillman who then won the match.[5] Scott would go on to win the WCW World Television Championship from Ricky Steamboat on October 17.[3] The heel turn which Scott was undergoing was later aborted upon the Steiner Brothers leaving WCW for the World Wrestling Federation
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, episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling. During their WWF run, emphasis would be placed on their accomplishments at the University of Michigan, including using Michigan's fight song "The Victors" as their entrance music and wearing Michigan-themed ring attire. They appeared on the debut episode of Monday Night Raw on January 11, 1993.[6] They made their WWF pay-per-view debut on January 24, 1993, at the Royal Rumble, defeating the Beverly Brothers.[7] At WrestleMania IX on April 4, the Steiner Brothers defeated The Headshrinkers.[8]
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995)
The Steiners debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on July 28, 1995, in the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, New York, defeating Dudley Dudley and Vampire Warrior.[13] They next appeared with ECW in The Flagstaff on August 4, in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, defeating Dudley Dudley and 2 Cold Scorpio.[14] The Steiner Brothers made their debut in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ECW Arena on August 5, at WrestlePalooza 1995, teaming with Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Scorpio, Dean Malenko and Cactus Jack.[15] On August 25, in Jim Thorpe, they defeated Scorpio and Malenko,[16] and they went on to defeat Scorpio and Chris Benoit the following evening.
World Championship Wrestling (1996–1998)
The Steiners re-signed with WCW in 1996. They initially feuded with the Road Warriors and had several matches with then champions Sting and Lex Luger. They would eventually win the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat on July 24, 1996, but Harlem Heat would regain the title just three days later and the title changes were never mentioned on TV.[3] A short time later, Scott was sidelined with an injury and Rick had several singles matches until Scott returned to the ring the following January. 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 Steiners spent the entirety of 1997 and into 1998 feuding with the duo of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. They also feuded with other nWo members like Vicious and Delicious and continued to have matches with Harlem Heat. On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, The Steiners introduced Ted DiBiase as their new manager, who led them to two tag team championships.
The beginning of Scott's heel turn began in late 1997/early 1998 when he, now with increased muscle mass, having cut his signature mullet, and sporting a goatee, started a feud with Buff Bagwell over who had the better physique, as well as developing a short fuse with his temper. Scott and Rick began having problems teaming up, as Scott would often not tag his brother into matches. The team entered 1998 as the tag team champions, but the dissention caused them to lose the belts.
Separation and beyond (1998–2001)
The final straw came at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, when the brothers would face The Outsiders again.[19] Midway through the match, Rick knocked both Hall and Nash out of the ring while both attempted to attack him behind the referee's back and celebrated by running around the ring barking while Scott entered the ring to celebrate with him. Scott then attacked Rick by hitting him in the back, followed by a double underhook powerbomb. Scott then assaulted DiBiase as well, and abandoned his brother to be taken out by Hall and Nash and signified that he was joining the nWo by personally handing Hall and Nash the championship belts himself.[3] The next night on Nitro, he adopted a new gimmick that was somewhat reminiscent of Superstar Billy Graham, dyeing his hair and goatee blond and increasing in muscle mass even further, damaging his agility.[4]
The two brothers had a feud that also involved Scott's new partner Buff Bagwell, while Rick teamed with a variety of partners including Kenny Kaos, Lex Luger and Bagwell's mother Judy. The Steiners reunited at Slamboree in 1999, and on August 7, 2000, not so much as a tag team but they were both heels who watched each other's backs.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2002)
The brothers reunited for the first time since the closing of WCW. They wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as Rick was working full-time on the roster. They only wrestled three matches. In May 2002, they defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kensuke Sasaki, with the match being refereed by Chyna. On July 19, 2002, they lost to Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono. The next day, they defeated Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki.
Reunions (2005–2009)
The brothers reunited for the Wrestling Fan Xperince in Winnipeg, Manitoba to defeat Buff Bagwell and G-Man on December 6, 2005. On June 2, 2006, the Steiners defeated Elvis Elliot and Original Sinn at a UCW wrestling show at Bay City Western High School in Auburn, Michigan entitled "Steiner Brothers Return Home". On February 2, 2007, they went to United Wrestling Federation in Wilson, North Carolina to defeat the team of Matt Bentley and Frankie Kazarian. They also defeated Team 3D the next night in Wilmington, North Carolina. On December 9, 2006, the Steiners won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. On January 4, 2008, they returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as they lost to the IWGP Tag Team Champions Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko in Tokyo. Then they defeated Bobby Eaton and Ricky Morton at MCW Mayday 2009 in Toccoa, Georgia. On December 13, 2009, they defeated Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) at PTM Supremacy in Belleville, Michigan. Afterwards the brothers went their separate ways once again. Rick continued in the independent circuit and mainly wrestled in the Mid-Atlantic area. Scott returned to the indies as well. Also, he worked in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2008)
At the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view Sacrifice 2007, Scott Steiner teamed with Tomko in a Triple Threat Tag Team match. They lost the match and the miscommunication between Steiner and Tomko led Tomko to attack Steiner following the match. Rick Steiner made his return and fought off Tomko, thus reuniting the Steiner Brothers. They were set to face Team 3D at Slammiversary 2007 for their World Tag Team Championship. An injury to Scott's trachea in Puerto Rico, however, put the match in question, until he was replaced by longtime rival Road Warrior Animal. While Scott was out for his injury, Team 3D demanded his return and teased his near-death injury. The duo then appeared and attacked Team 3D at Victory Road, costing them their World Tag Team titles. At Hard Justice, the Steiner Brothers defeated Team 3D. On the August 16 episode of Impact!, the Steiner brothers lost in a Handicap match to Kurt Angle after interference from Team 3D, heating up their feud. At Bound for Glory the Steiner brothers defeated Team 3D in a two out of three falls tables match. The following month at Genesis, the Steiners received a tag team title shot against A.J. Styles and Tomko, but were unsuccessful. On January 29, 2008, however, Rick was released from TNA, breaking up the Steiners once again. Scott left TNA in February 2010 and returned in February 2011. He was released by TNA in March 2012.
Reunions (2012–present)
Before Scott's release from TNA, he reunited with Rick as they lost to The New Age Outlaws (B.G. James and Kip James) refereed by Mick Foley at PWS WrestleReunion IV in Los Angeles on January 28, 2012. On June 23, 2013, The Steiner Brothers defeated Homicide and Eddie Kingston at a House of Hardcore event.[20]
On September 21, 2013, the Steiners reunited at the American Pro Wrestling Alliance defeating Viper and Bulldozer in Shinnston, West Virginia for Frontier Days. They would return to the promotion again on January 11, 2014, to face Moose and APWA World Heavyweight Champion, "The Black Superman" Onyx. The Steiners were already confirmed for three APWA shows in 2014.[21]
On September 6, 2014, the Steiners reunited in Wichita Falls, Texas for Pure Action Championship Wrestling's Brawl In The Falls III, winning and becoming the promotion's final tag team champions. On October 20, the Steiners defeated Dynasty members Jarrod Michaels and Scotty Biggs at SSCW "Breaking the Law" in Nashville, Georgia. On November 29, 2014, The Steiner Brothers defeated The Rock N' Roll Express
