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Big Poppa Dump: The Failed WWE Return of Scott Steiner

Posted: Sep 2nd 2026 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.com

The suplex maneuver has been around for years and years and years. There have been countless “masters of the suplex” or “su-play” as the dean Gordon Solie use to call it. From Harley Race to Chris Benoit to Taz to Kurt Angle….there have been many memorable moments with that wrestling move used. There was one night, however, that the original Suplex city seemed to have been founded and stands out…but for all the wrong reasons.

In 2002, after a tremendously successful stint with WCW….Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner joined the WWE. While this wasn’t Steiner’s first go around with the company…it was the first in his new solo gimmick as the genetic freak. At the Survivor Series of that year….Scott Steiner returned to a thunderous Madison Square Garden ovation. His reaction was a sign that Steiner would be a major force in the WWE for awhile to come.

It did appear to be that way…at first…as Steiner was being groomed to feud with the World Champion Triple H. Their title match was booked for the Royal Rumble in January of 2003. It was built up with a lot of hype and a whole lot of expectations. The Game versus The Big Bad Booty Daddy….The cerebral assassin versus a true real life ticking time bomb in Scott Steiner. Both chiseled out of granite…both capable wrestlers both in the ring and on the mic. While Triple H could break down an opponent with his words…Steiner was the unpredictable one with a live microphone.

The match at the Royal Rumble had all the makings of a true classic encounter. That’s what fans were expecting…what they got instead was the original “Suplex City.” Now, while that catchphrase was still over 12 years away from birth….the match between Triple H and Steiner was the foundations to that imaginary location.

It was a solid 18 minutes of…what else…suplexes. With an added suplex here and another suplex there….maybe a rest hold to catch their breath…and then Steiner would go back to the classic belly to belly suplexes. Followed by other variations….Repeatedly!!!

You would think that all those suplexes would put the WWE fans into a chaotic frenzy. It worked so well with Kurt Angle suplexing the hell out of Shane McMahon and of course it worked with Lesnar against both Reigns and John Cena. You would be wrong if you thought that, because all there was was dead silence…followed by groans…followed by the dreaded boring chants.

A full 18 minutes of uncomfortable, excruciating suplexes that not only killed the match, but killed any momentum Steiner might have had prior to that match and essentially buried him completely. So what happened? It apparently was more complex than you’d think.

Scott Steiner had a history of foot issues. At the time of his signing with the WWE, Steiner had severe nerve damage in his foot known as “Drop Foot Syndrome.” It’s an injury where a person’s foot is basically paralyzed. Add to that, Triple H was also dealing with a partially torn quadriceps muscle. With both wrestlers dealing with debilitating injuries, it might have made more sense to postpone their title match or just make it short and sweet. Yet, we all had to endure 18 minutes of boredom and a burial of Scott Steiner.

It was a match that Steiner never recovered from for the rest of his WWE tenure. He wound up getting foot surgery after departing the company. What could have been a major “get” for WWE, turned out to be a major let down.