During a recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and AEW commentator Jim Ross talked about WWE’s 2003 signing of former WCW World Champion Scott Steiner, as well as his immediate feud with Triple H upon joining the company.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On WWE’s signing of Scott Steiner back 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 some point 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.
On Steiner’s feud with Triple H: “Well, if you want the perception to be [that] he’s a star and he could be the next world champion, and he comes in very lauded, [with] very high expectations, [it’s] not a bad place to start. I also think it made him comfortable, a little bit more comfortable because it showed 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 someone to skin the cat so to speak. I don’t, in hindsight, I had no major issues with that pairing.”
On if they rushed 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.. he brought those with him. You mention the drop foot [syndrome] 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 you 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.”
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