5 Reasons Scott Was The Best Steiner Brother (& 5 Reasons It Was Rick)
The Steiner Brothers could be considered one of the greatest tag teams of all time thanks to all their accolades across multiple promotions like NWA, WWE, WCW, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and others. But when discussing tag teams, fans can’t help but talk about which member of a tag team was the superior one and which one is the Marty Jannetty. Many fans would point to Big Poppa Pump, Scott Steiner, as the better brother.
Related: 10 Funniest Things Scott Steiner Ever Said, Ranked
However, what if the best of the two is the other, more underrated Steiner Brother, Rick? There are good arguments for both, so let’s evaluate both Steiner Brothers.
10 Scott: Breakout Star of the Tag Team
It’s undeniable that Scott Steiner is the breakout star of the Steiner Brothers. Back when the Steiner Brothers were a tag team, Scott the fired-up athletic anomaly who could deliver stiff lariats as well as a Hurricanrana (termed “The Frankensteiner”). When the team split up, Scott Steiner ended up becoming the hot solo act thanks to his insane promos and shift over to the Big Poppa Pump gimmick.
9 Rick: Debuted Earlier
Believe it or not, The Steiner Brothers didn’t start out as a tag team. Rick Steiner is actually two years older and Scott, and thus debuted in 1983 versus Scott’s 1986 debut. As a result, Rick was able to gain a little more experience than his brother -- both as a singles competitor and as a tag team specialist. As a result, it’s possible that Scott benefited from his brother being a little ahead and able to share his wisdom with his younger brother.
8 Scott: Won More Titles
Let’s look at cold hard numbers. Despite Rick Steiner being the older brother with a headstart on his pro wrestling career, ultimately Scott Steiner would amass more championship gold over his career. Scott has a total of 39 titles to his name and not just the various tag team titles with his brother.
Related: Big Poppa Pump: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Scott Steiner
Rather, Scott has also held multiple singles titles in WCW and several tag titles in TNA/Impact with non-Rick partners Booker T and Eli Drake. Rick Steiner, by comparison, only has 26 championships.
7 Rick: Ridiculously Over
While it’s easy to say that Scott Steiner surpassed Rick in popularity, it should be noted that Rick Steiner was hugely popular as a solo act in the 1980s.
Rick Steiner's pop when he won the NWA TV title against Mike Rotunda at Starrcade 1988 is proof of how over he was with fans. There’s no irony or nostalgia at work here -- just a crowd all-in on a performer.
6 Scott: Successful Solo
While Rick Steiner was a huge deal in the ‘80s, Scott Steiner had more of an uphill battle when he broke out in the late 1990s. After all, by this point, he was best known as a tag team specialist and a highly decorated one at that.
It can be hard for those kinds of competitors to strike out on their own, especially so late in the game, but Scott Steiner accomplished it.
5 Rick: Successful Tag Specialist
Is being a singles competitor all it’s cracked up to be? It sometimes feels like fans discount things like the tag team division just because it’s rarely the “top title” in a promotion. Rick Steiner has had a ton of success in his career as a tag team specialist with multiple partners other than his brother Scott.
His first tag title run came in the Universal Wrestling Federation alongside Sting, and he was in a successful (albeit short-lived) stable with Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams (among others) called The Varsity Club.
4 Scott: Memetic
Let’s be honest -- the reason fans love Scott Steiner is that he’s funny. He’s ridiculously jacked to the point of assumptions of steroid use and cuts promos by shouting the most nonsensical things he can think of while also touting his success with women.
Related: Steiner Math: 10 Funniest Scott Steiner Memes That Will Leave You Cry-Laughing
The Steiner Math promo in particular is a legitimately hilarious classic, whereas most fans remember Rick Steiner barking a lot.
3 Rick: Didn’t Act a Fool
On the flipside, Rick Steiner never felt like he necessarily tarnished his pro wrestling legacy by acting like a buffoon. His late period doesn’t overshadow his peak era achievements, and he never found himself getting booed in WWE while facing a heel Triple H in some of the most maligned matches in PPV history.
The most undignified thing Rick Steiner ever did was let people call him “The Dog Faced Gremlin.”
2 Scott: Changed His Look
A pro wrestler needs to evolve with the times, or else the act gets stale. Scott Steiner was doing just fine in the earlier days with his Trapper Keeper singlets and glorious mullet, but by the time his career reached the mid-to-late 1990s, a change was in order.
Wrestling was going to pass Scott Steiner by unless he lost the mullet, applied some bleach, and became an oversized, freak-obsessed patriarch of weightlifting.
1 Rick: Always Had a Perfect Look
That said, not every wrestler needs to change with the times. Some lucky grapplers end up nailing it from the get-go. Rick Steiner’s gimmick was “former amateur wrestler, and also dog,” and that’s an act that plays just as well today as it did back then.
After all, look at guys like Chad Gable (former amateur wrestler) and Roman Reigns (dog). Plus, that gigantic handlebar mustache is timeless.
