The “Dogfaced Gremlin” Rick Steiner is one tough grappler and was an amateur at the
University of Michigan.  If professional wrestling was a shooting sport, Steiner would be one of
the tops at all times.  With his brother Scott, the Steiners established themselves as one of
the most acclaimed tag teams in the history of the business.  Arguably, they were the best,
but if one had to pick the top five based on reputation and acclaim, the Steiners would be
listed with the Road Warriors, Fabulous Kangaroos, Outsiders and Harlem Heat.  In many
opinions, the brothers would sit alone at position number one.

 Rick Steiner is known for wearing an amateur-style protective headgear to the ring.  He
began his career in the Mid-South territory during the 1985 wrestling season.  He tagged with
many different wrestlers on undercards throughout the south including Sting and Eddie
Gilbert.  Steiner was given the NWA Florida Title in December 1988 from Mike Rotundo.  It
was not recognized and neither wrestler officially held the title.  Both men were apart of the
Varsity Club, led by Kevin Sullivan.

 On December 26, 1988, Steiner beat Rotundo for the NWA World Television Title at the
Scope in Norfolk.  During the Chi-Town Rumble, Rotundo regained the belt on February 20,
1989 in Chicago.  Eight days later in Columbia, Steiner teamed with Eddie Gilbert to beat
Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams.  Their victory earned them the NWA U.S. Tag Team Title.  
On April 2nd in New Orleans, Steiner and Gilbert beat Sullivan and Dan Spivey.  In June,
officials stripped the champs of the tag team title after Gilbert left the promotion.

 That month also saw the Alliance debut of Scott Steiner, his younger brother.  They teamed
up on June 14, 1989 during the Clash in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  Sullivan and Rotundo,
two experienced grapplers, took advantage of the newcomer and won.  A rematch against the
two came in Baltimore during the Great American Bash on July 23rd.  The Steiners won the
match.  Rick began to fall in love with Robin Green, a woman who had been at ringside
cheering for him.  Rick’s fascination for Green turned ugly after she tripped Scott into a DDT
by Michael Hayes during an NWA World Tag Title match on September 12th in Columbia,
South Carolina.  She later led Scott Steiner into an attack by a masked duo who turned out to
be “Doom.” Green became known as “Woman.”

 The brothers took the negative and turned it into a positive.  On November 1st in Atlanta,
they beat the Freebirds and captured the NWA World Tag Team Title.  On the horizon was
another new, and talented tag team known as the Skyscrapers.  They consisted of two big
athletes, Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey.  When Vicious went out with a lung injury, the team
dropped out of contention.  On Wednesday, December 13th in Atlanta, the Steiners entered
a special “Iron Team” Round-Robin Tournament.

 Also joining the event were Doom, the Wild Samoans and the Road Warriors, who were the
most popular team in the organization.  The Road Warriors wanted to regain the NWA World
Tag Title, but promoters had not yet signed a babyface vs. babyface contest against the
Steiners.  They met the Samoans in their first bout and lost by disqualification.  Rick and
Scott wrestled the Warriors in their second and won by pinfall.  They gained 20-points for
their efforts.  Their last match was against the masked team of Doom.  They won by countout,
capturing an additional 15-points.  The Steiners had claimed 35-points, five behind the Road
Warriors, who had beaten the Samoans and Doom by pinfall.

 It seemed that Hawk and Animal were in line for a shot, but in early 1990, they had other
things to worry about.  The Four Horsemen had reformed and were wreaking havoc.  The
Steiners were not shielded by their belts, but instant targets.  The Andersons, Ole and Arn,
made several key attacks on the brother duo, focusing on Scott’s arm.  During Clash of the
Champions X in Texas, the World Champions beat Doom and unmasked them to be Ron
Simmons and Butch Reed.  Many of their fans hoped that they finally put Doom behind them,
but little did they know what was ahead.  On February 25, 1990 in Greensboro, the Steiners
wrestled the Andersons and retained when Rick pinned Ole.

 When it seemed that they had overcome all of their top opponents, Doom upset them on
May 19th in Washington DC during the Capital Combat pay-per-view.  Reed pinned Rick for
the belts.  They received a rematch on June 13th in Charleston, but again lost.  During the
summer, Rick and Scott Steiner joined the “Dudes with Attitudes,” a popular group initiated to
fight off the dominating Horsemen.  They joined Junkyard Dog and Paul Orndorff to surround
the ring on July 7th in Baltimore to protect the integrity of a match between Sting and Ric Flair
for the NWA World Title.  Members of the Horsemen ran out, but were turned away.  Sting
went on to capture the title and both Steiners were there for the post-match celebration.  
During the show, they beat the Freebirds.

 On August 24th in East Rutherford, the Steiners beat the Midnight Express to capture the
NWA U.S. Tag Team Title.  A new team consisting of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Saggs entered
the organization known as the Nasty Boys.  They were a pair of tough wrestlers, prepared for
fisticuffs.  Rick and Scott battled the Nastys on October 27th in Chicago.  Their war was not
yet done.  On November 20, 1990 in Jacksonville, the Steiners were involved in a match
before their own scheduled event against Magnum Force.  The Nasty Boys were taking on
The Renegade Warriors when Rick and Scott ran out and gave the Boys a win by
disqualification.  The teams brawled wildly.  The brothers easily won their own match when
Scott hit a Frankensteiner.  The Nasty Boys ran out this time and again, they fought.  Within
weeks, though, the Nasty Boys signed with the WWF.

 The NWA sponsored a special Pat O’Connor Memorial International Tag Team Tournament
on Sunday, December 16, 1990 in St. Louis at Starrcade.  The Steiners entered and were
immediately given the number one seed.  The Great Muta and Mr. Saito from New Japan
were given the second.  There were other teams from all over the world.  The Steiners won
their opening tournament match against Colonel Deklerk and Sergeant Krueger from South
America in 2:11.  They locked up with a talented team from Mexico, Konnan and Rey Misterio
Sr. in the second round.  The Steiners won again.  On the other side, Muta and Saito
advanced and the final round was set.  Number one versus number two.  Rick and Scott beat
their opponents in nearly eleven minutes of wrestling and captured the tournament cup.  It
was a huge achievement.  There was talk about the brothers everywhere.

 During War Games ’91 at WrestleWar on February 24th, Rick and Scott Steiner teamed with
Sting and Brian Pillman against the Horsemen.  Rick entered the ring at number six.  The
popular team lost when Pillman was knocked out by a Sid Vicious powerbomb.  They won the
WCW World Tag Title in February, but their win over the Freebirds was not acknowledged
universally until March 9th.  They took the belts during a contest in Montgomery.  The
Steiners were still the U.S. Tag Champions at the time of the win.

 Later in the month, the duo went overseas and won the IWGP World Tag Team Title from
Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki.  The win came on March 21st in Tokyo before an
estimated 64,000 fans.  They were champions on two continents and held six belts in total.  
Finally, promoters stripped them of the U.S. Tag Belts.  The Steiners had a great claim at
being the top tag team in the world with two major “World Tag Titles.”
During Clash XV in Knoxville, the Steiners retained their IWGP Belts over Hase and Masa
Chono.  After the match, they were attacked by the Hardliners, Dick Slater and Dick
Murdoch.  Scott suffered a serious bicep injury and would miss months.

 WCW Officials stripped them of the World Tag Title and promoters in New Japan did the
same.  It was an unfortunate situation.  They had four belts taken away from them without a
concise loss.  Rick formed a tag team with weightlifting champion Bill Kazmaier and entered
the vacant WCW World Tag Tournament.  They advanced to the finals on September 5th in
Augusta.  The Enforcers, Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko won the event and took the title.  
He teamed with the 7-foot El Gigante in Norfolk to beat the Enforcers in a non-title bout at the
Scope.

 With his brother out, Rick began to focus more and more on singles wrestling.  He was, after
all, a former NWA TV Champion.  Steiner quickly became a serious contender for Lex Luger’s
World Heavyweight Title.  Before long, he was receiving title shots all over the country.  He
challenged Luger at Clash of the Champions XVII on November 19th in Savannah and lost by
pinfall.  During one match in Baltimore at the Baltimore Arena, Steiner beat Luger by
disqualification in a two-of-three-fall match on December 28th.  The final fall was won by the
challenger on a foul.

 Scott returned and the two teamed to battle one of their friends, Sting and Keiji Mutoh at the
annual WCW/ NJPW Card at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on January 4, 1992.  Sting pinned
Scott to win the unusual match.  They challenged Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson for the
WCW World Tag Title on February 29th at SuperBrawl II in Milwaukee.  Scott pinned Eaton to
capture the title, but the referee reversed his decision and disqualified the Steiners after it
was realized that Rick hit the official.  The Steiners beat Anderson and Eaton again on March
8, 1992 at the Omni in Atlanta, in a non-title match.  The following night in Anderson, South
Carolina, Rick beat World TV Champion, Steve Austin by disqualification after Madusa
interfered.  Paul E. Dangerously took advantage of the numbers and hit the challenger with a
portable telephone.  Scott ran out to halt the constant attack.

 The Steiners captured their third World Tag Title in Chicago on May 3, 1992 from Anderson
and Eaton.  New Japan tried to take the WCW Tag Title back to Asia on May 17th in
Jacksonville.  Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka were defeated by the Steiners when Rick
pinned the latter.  They battled another famous tag team, Terry Gordy and Steve Williams to
a 30-minute draw on June 20th at Beach Blast in Mobile.  They went overseas and won their
second IWGP World Tag Team Title in Tokyo on June 26, 1992.  They were back where they
were a year earlier.  They beat Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader in the IWGP Title Match
between four Americans.  Rick and Scott dropped the WCW World Tag Title to Gordy and
Williams in Atlanta on July 5th at the Omni Coliseum.  On August 10th, they were in Tokyo to
defend their claim against Riki Choshu and Masa Saito.  The Steiners retained over the
legendary pair.  Scott pinned Saito for the victory.  Two nights later, the brothers beat Keiji
Mutoh and Kensuke Sasaki.  In three nights, they had dominated a number of New Japan’s
best.  They left the country with the IWGP Belts still in their suitcases.

 Several months later on November 22nd, Tony Halme and Scott Norton won the title at
Sumo Hall in Tokyo.  During the final weeks of ’92, Rick and Scott signed with the World
Wrestling Federation.  They returned to Japan for the huge January 4, 1993 Tokyo Dome
show.  The Hell Raisers, Hawk and the Power Warrior, were also the reigning IWGP
Champions.  Many fans expected a great tag team match and they got what they wanted, but
the finish left a little upset.  The four went to a double-countout.

 Rick and Scott Steiner made their WWF pay-per-view debut at the Royal Rumble on
January 24, 1993 in Sacramento.  Officials matched them with the Beverly Brothers, former
AWA World Tag Team Champions.  Scott hit a Frankensteiner on Blake and scored a pinfall.  
Their entrance was a good one.  They competed on both the WrestleMania show and the
King of the Ring event and logged wins in both.  The day after the KOTR event, the Steiners
ended Money Incorporated’s reign as WWF World Tag Team Champions in Columbus, Ohio.

 With the victory, it gave the Steiners a unique list of tag belts won…the NWA, WCW, WWF
and IWGP World Tag Titles.  They also became the third team in history to have won both
the NWA/ WCW and WWF Titles.  Two nights later, Money Inc., who were made of Irwin R.
Schyster and Ted DiBiase, upset the Steiners and  regained the belts in Rockford, Illinois.  
On June 19th in St. Louis, the Steiners won the belts for a second time.  Along the line, they
ran into a Johnny Polo led team known as the Quebecers, Jacques and Pierre.  During a live
edition of Monday Night Raw on September 13th, the Steiners wrestled a bout under
“Province of Quebec” rules, which meant the tag team title could change hands on a
disqualification.  When Scott was seen by the official holding a hockey stick, the champs were
disqualified.  The belts changed hands.  Rick pinned Hiroshi Hase to give the brother duo a
victory over Hase and the Great Muta on January 4, 1994 in Tokyo.  Scott Steiner was the
first man to enter the 1994 Royal Rumble in Providence on January 22nd.  Rick Steiner was
number three.  Neither man made it to the finals.

 Rick and Scott later left the organization and returned to New Japan.  On February 17,
1994, the brothers beat junior heavyweight sensation Jushin Liger and Kensuke Sasaki in
Tokyo.  They continued to build towards a IWGP World Tag Title Match against Power
Warrior and Hawk.  They met the titleholders on May 1, 1994 at the big show in Fukuoka,
Japan and were defeated.  On July 8, 1994, Rick and Scott defeated Hase and Muta in
Sapporo when Scott pinned Muta.

 In a surprise to some, Rick and Scott entered Philadelphian Territory in ’95, joining Extreme
Championship Wrestling.  Rick teamed with Tazmaniac, a substitute for Scott, on April 8th
before an estimated 1,100 fans in Philadelphia.  They challenged for the World Tag Team
Title in a special three-way dance against the champs, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko and
the Public Enemy.  Rick and Taz were stopped in the initial round of the match.  Malenko
pinned Taz.

 The Steiners traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea for the most important draw in wrestling
history on April 29, 1995.  Rick and his brother teamed to beat former IWGP Champs and
rivals, Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki before 170,000 fans.  The estimated crowd was the
largest in wrestling history.  Another line added to the Steiners’ great history.  They returned
to ECW later in the year, his brother at his side.  Rick and Scott won over Chris Benoit and 2
Cold Scorpio on August 26th at the ECW Arena.  In September, the Steiners both teamed
with Taz in Philadelphia, losing to the Eliminators and Jason Knight.

 They shocked the wrestling world on March 11, 1996.  Rick and Scott Steiner rolled onto the
WCW Nitro set to challenge the Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal.  The two teams had always
been looked at as the top two in the sport, but never really settled the dispute.  That night,
the two teams locked up and the Steiners lost after a foreign object was used.  Rick was
pinned by Hawk.  Before more than 60,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996, the
Steiners and Scott Norton wrestled the Warriors and Kensuke Sasaki.  Animal pinned Rick to
win the match.  On June 3rd, the Steiners wrestled Lex Luger and Sting a week after Scott
battled Sting in a crazy singles match.  The tag bout wasn’t much better.  It was another no
decision.  Rick pinned Stevie Ray, a member of Harlem Heat, in a singles bout on June 17th.  
Booker T, the other member of Heat, jumped him and both members enjoyed the beating
until Scott was able to get to the ring and even things up.

 Rick and Scott participated in a three-way dance for the WCW World Tag Title on June 24th
in Charlotte.  Harlem Heat took the championship from Luger and Sting during the Nitro
broadcast.  Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the Outsiders, made an appearance during the bout.  
A month later on July 24th in Cincinnati, the Steiners captured their fourth NWA/ WCW World
Tag Title.  They dropped the belts three-days later in Dayton, Ohio, back to Booker T and
Stevie Ray.  The Steiners lost a rematch at Hog Wild ’96 on August 10th in Sturgis.  Rick
participated in World War III in November, but the event was won by the Giant.

 Rick Steiner was hit with a reverse DDT by Sting the next night on November 25, 1996 in
Salisbury, Maryland during Nitro.  Steiner had been competing against Bubba Rogers in a
singles match before Sting walked out from the crowd and attacked him.  Fans were
stunned.  Rogers got the winning pin.  The Sting-Steiner friendship went back to 1987 and
the UWF.  Rick challenged Sting to a match on December 2nd in Dayton at the Hara Arena.  
It was accepted.  Rick went to the ring with Scott by his side, as Sting went out through the
crowd.  He attacked Sting from behind, but was leveled with the Scorpion Death Drop.  Sting
left after picking up his bat.  The situation was confusing to all.  The Steiners won the tag title
from the Outsiders at Souled Out ’97 on January 25th in Cedar Rapids, but were stripped of
the belts the next night by Eric Bischoff.  It was found that Randy Anderson, who was not the
official referee, made the final pin as Scott covered Scott Hall.  Rick competed against Kevin
Nash at Spring Stampede on April 6th in Tupelo.  The match went to a no decision.

 The Steiners ventured back to Japan and teamed with the Great Muta on May 3, 1997 in
Osaka before 53,000 people.  The trio lost to the New World Order Members, Kevin Nash,
Scott Hall and Masa Chono.  Rick was pinned by Hall.  During Monday Nitro on June 23,
1997, the Steiners beat Sherri Martel’s Harlem Heat in Macon, Georgia.  They also took Ted
DiBiase, a man they had feuded with in the WWF, as their manager.  On October 13th in
Tampa, Rick and Scott beat Scott Hall and Syxx to capture their sixth overall NWA/ WCW
World Tag Team Title.  Larry Zbyszko counted the final pin and Syxx was a sub for the
injured Kevin Nash.  He teamed with Scott and Ray Traylor to beat Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton
and Konnan in Atlanta on January 5, 1998.  The Steiners lost the World Tag Title a week
later in Jacksonville to the Outsiders.

 On February 9th in El Paso during Nitro, the Steiners regained the belts from Hall and
Nash.  Their seventh reign began.  Rick began to witness the slow transformation of his
brother into a full-fledged heel.  Many speculated about Scott’s possible attempt to join the
New World Order.  Things came to a boil on February 22nd in San Francisco at the Cow
Palace.  Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were challenging to regain the tag title.  During the bout,
Scott hit an unexpecting Rick and allowed the Outsiders to win the match.  His brother had
joined the NWO.

 Rick appeared to distract Scott during his match with Lex Luger at Uncensored on March
15th in Mobile.  Luger was able to score the win.  Rick also brawled with Scott Norton.  He
teamed with Luger against Scott and Buff Bagwell in Denver during Spring Stampede.  They
were victorious, when Luger forced Bagwell to submit.  Rick wrestled Scott Steiner to a no
contest on September 13th in Winston-Salem at Fall Brawl.  Bagwell had acted as if he had
reinjured his neck and was carried to an awaiting ambulance.  There, Scott and Bagwell
attacked Rick.  It was an old fashioned conspiracy.  He gained some revenge when he
attacked Scott from behind after his brother and Bagwell had been chased from the ring by
Sting on September 21st in Boston.  Scott ran off.  

 At Halloween Havoc, Rick Steiner wrestled a handicap match against The Giant and Scott
Steiner for the WCW World Tag Title.  He was scheduled to team with Buff Bagwell, but he
had turned against him and left.  Rick pinned his brother and captured the tag title, alone.  In
a different match that night in Vegas, he pinned Scott.  It was a banner night for the
“Dogfaced Gremlin.” The next night, he named Kenny Kaos as his partner, which may have
surprised some.  In the weeks that followed, Steiner went down with an injury.  Steiner and
Kayos were stripped of the belts in January 1999.

 Rick returned in the spring and won the WCW World TV Title from Booker T on May 9th in
St. Louis.  He would dominate the title for several months.  Steiner retained over Sting on
June 13th at the Great American Bash in a falls-count-anywhere match.  He beat Vampiro on
July 5, 1999 in Atlanta and retained over Van Hammer at Bash at the Beach in Sunrise,
Florida.  Steiner lost a non-title match to Bill Goldberg in Sturgis on August 14th at the Rally
and Races.  On September 12th in Winston-Salem, Steiner beat Perry Saturn by pinfall.  He
lost the belt to Chris Benoit the next night in Chapel Hill during Monday Nitro.

 Steiner regained the title with help from Dean Malenko and a steel chair on October 24th in
Las Vegas before an estimated 8,000 fans.  He suffered an injury at the hands of Sid
Vicious.  The “Powers that Be” stripped Steiner of the title on November 21st in Toronto and
Scott Hall was awarded the title.  Rick returned to Tokyo for the annual Tokyo Dome show on
January 4, 2000.  He wrestled and beat Randy Savage.

 In April 2000, the constantly changing atmosphere of WCW really faced alteration.  Eric
Bischoff teamed with Vince Russo to strip every champion of their titles.  Tournaments were
held and younger wrestlers began to receive more television time.  Rick, continuing his feud
with his brother, partnered with another tough fighter, Tank Abbott.  On June 11th at the
Great American Bash, Rick and Abbott teamed against Scott in a special handicap, asylum
match.  The two competitors lost.  He spent more time brawling with Abbott than his brother.  
Also in ’00, Steiner was apart of a WCW contingent to battle off athletes from “Battle Dome,”
who were attempting some kind of invasion.  One particular battle between Rick and an
outsider seemed to be a fight as real as could be.  Steiner was not someone who would back
down and was all too ready to battle with some closed fists.

 In the weeks afterwards, Rick left WCW for inactivity.  The promotion was going through
many changes during 2000.  In November, Scott Steiner captured the WCW World
Heavyweight Title.  A month later, a masked figure attacked Scott several times and many
speculated who it was.  The man would turn out to be Ric Flair’s mysterious third wheel, a
fourth was later added, for the main event of Sin in January ’01.

 Rick Steiner’s name was tossed around, as well as a few others.  The man turned out to be
Road Warrior Animal.  Rick did return, though, as a partner of Kevin Nash and Dallas Page in
their new-found war against Ric Flair’s crew.  He later turned heel and joined Scott in the
Magnificent Seven.

 On February 5, 2001 in Tupelo, Rick Steiner beat Shane Douglas for the WCW United
States Title.  His brother remained the World Champion and together they sat on the top two
slots in the promotion.  SuperBrawl XI was held on February 18th in Nashville, Steiner beat
Dustin Rhodes in defense of his crown.  The final WCW pay-per-view was named “Greed”
and held from the Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville.  In addition to helping his brother retain
the World Title against Dallas Page, Rick met Booker T for the U.S. Title.  The challenger
pinned Steiner and won the title.

 Eight days later, the final Nitro was held on TNT.  Booker beat Scott Steiner for the World
Title and the promotion closed it’s doors.  The shut down was temporary as the organization
had been purchased by the World Wrestling Federation.  With a number of other high-profile
athletes, Rick and Scott’s contracts remained in lingo.  Their fans questioned where they
would turn up when their deals ended with the Universal Wrestling Corporation.


TITLE HISTORY:

 -Co-holder of the UWF World Tag Team Title (1987) w/ Sting
 -NWA Florida State Heavyweight Title (1987) title handed to him
 -NWA World Television Title (1988-’89) defeated Mike Rotundo
 -A two-time co-holder of the NWA Untied States Tag Team Title
         w/ Eddie Gilbert (1989) defeated
         w/ Scott Steiner (1990) defeated The Midnight Express
 -An eight-time co-holder of the NWA/ WCW World Tag Team Title
         w/ Scott Steiner (1989-’90) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds
         w/ Scott Steiner (1991) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds
         w/ Scott Steiner (1992) defeated Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton
         w/ Scott Steiner (1996) defeated The Harlem Heat
         w/ Scott Steiner (1997) defeated The Outsiders
         w/ Scott Steiner (1997) defeated Scott Hall and Syxx
         w/ Scott Steiner (1998) defeated The Outsiders
         won title alone w/ Kenny Kaos (1998-’99) defeated The Giant and Scott Steiner
 -A two-time co-holder of the IWGP World Tag Team Title
         w/ Scott Steiner (1991) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki
         w/ Scott Steiner (1992) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader
 -A two-time co-holder of the WWF World Tag Team Title
         w/ Scott Steiner (1993) defeated Money Inc.
         w/ Scott Steiner (1993) defeated Money Inc.
 -A two-time WCW World Television Champion
         -Defeated Booker T (1999)
         -Defeated Chris Benoit (1999)
 -WCW United States Heavyweight Title (2001) defeated Shane Douglas


Research by Tim Hornbaker
Rick Steiner Wrestling History
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