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Rick Steiner Interview Recap

Posted: Dec 24th 2006 By: CMBurnham

This week's edition of JG's Radio Free Insanity is on the air and available for download right now at WorldWrestlingInsanity.com. This week's guest is "The Dog Faced Gremlin" Rick Steiner.

James Guttman begins the show by talking about the Steiner Brothers and how now both of them have appeared on Radio Free Insanity. He says that anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s has to rank the Steiners as one of the top tag teams of all time. Alongside Sting and Lex Luger, the brothers were associated with being homegrown WCW talents. JG mentions that Rick's full interview is an hour long and available on ClubWWI.com. Rick goes into detail on his thoughts regarding the wrestling industry, traveling with Sting and Lex,

James then plays a clip from Scott Steiner's appearance on Radio Free Insanity in August. The clip is of Scotty's response to his feelings on Triple H. Big Poppa Pump calls Helmsley "the Kevin Federline of professional wrestling," among other things. Scott's appearance is up on ClubWWI.com.

James then talks about WWE's Christmas for the Troops and commends the company for how it presented it this year. With Jim Ross saying that the show isn't political, WWE eased the minds of fans who might otherwise be turned off. Guttman says he realizes that people say WWE uses the trip for PR, but at the end of the day, they're doing good work and entertaining people away from home.

After that, JG goes into Abyss's "dark secret." He says that TNA has combined two Kane-centric WWE storylines (his debut and Katie Vick) into one. While the storyline isn't original, it has bigger problems than that. To say that Abyss was in prison won't be shocking because, as James says, "I assumed that. He's a monster. I thought monsters ate people." Guttman brings up WWE's love affair with giving monsters a heart, but says it makes no sense in a wrestling company. A monster should be a monster.

Guttman does the reader-voted Moment of Insanity, reminds listeners that next week's show is the year-end edition, and says that first show of 2007 will...well, he says he'll talk about that at the end of part two. With that, James sends us over to the second half of the show.

Part Two of Radio Free Insanity begins with Rick Steiner's theme music. James says that he's about to play the edited version

JG welcomes Rick Steiner to the show and asks how life has been treating him. Rick says that things are going well. After WCW folded, he did a three year deal in Japan. He got tired of being away from his family, though. So he went home and opened his own real estate company. He also sits on the Board of Education for Cherokee County and is active in his sons' activities.

James asks about his run for school board. Many news outlets picked up the story that Steiner had to step down because he hadn't run under his real name. Rick says that he was going to run under the name "Rick Steiner" because people knew the name. He asked if it was OK even though his real name is "Robert," and they said it was fine. People have run for office under different names and Steiner points to Jesse Ventura as an example. After taking over the term of someone who had left, re-elections came around. When Rick tried to run under his wrestling name, he got a phone call saying he'd have to resign and rerun. He went back and ran as a write-in candidate, but still won the election. He calls it a "learning experience."

JG asks whether being a former wrestler helps or hurts his image when getting involved around town. Rick says that 75% of the people knew who he was already. It was just a name. The person is still the same. The people who raised an eyebrow were the state legislators and people like that. Steiner says it's politics. It's in wrestling and in government.

James says that Rick Steiner is one of the guys that people can remember the entire career of. He started in UWF with Buzz Sawyer and Sting. Guttman asks about Rick's experience working with Buzz. Steiner says that Bill Watts, the owner, put him with Buzz and said, "Go to the ring. Watch every move he makes. Watch his interviews. Watch his character. When the match is over, stay as far the hell away from me as you can." Rick says that Sawyer knew psychology. So he learned a lot from him. Eventually Steiner felt his character was influenced by the Mad Dog.

Rick also says that working with Sting and Eddie Gilbert was a learning experience. The fans gravitated to Sting immediately. In that time, Steiner says that they worked together so well. All three worked well together and Steiner says the had a good time doing it.

Guttman then brings up the Varsity Club and Rick's team with Mike Rotunda. With so much tag experience, what was it like working with Mike? Steiner says that Rotunda was a no-nonsense tactician. As for Kevin Sullivan, he was a character. He says that Kevin added an unpredictable aspect to the team. "You never know what Kevin's gonna do." In the ring, Mike would walk Rick through the match. Steiner calls Rotunda a great guy and says he was fortunate to work with him.

James then brings up Rick's early gimmick where he talked to his hand. Steiner says the company didn't come up with it. Kevin Sullivan had spoken to him about doing wacky stuff during interviews. Rick would swat flies and talk to himself. Then, one day, he just started talking to his hand. Dusty Rhodes grabbed him and said to keep doing it. Over time, they put a face on it and named it Alex. Steiner credits Lex Luger, Sting, and his brother for helping Alex evolve.

Guttman says it was natural because he came up with it on his own. Rick says he got leeway because of the people he had worked with. WCW let him do whatever worked. The whole business is about entertaining people.

James switches to the Steiners in WWF. For years people wanted to see Rick and Scott vs. The Hart Foundation. The match didn't happen, but they did get to fight Bret and Owen Hart. JG asks about his memories of them and that match. Steiner says that they traveled with Owen and he was always a prankster. Bret had an amateur foundation, so when they met, he was a big Steiner fan. They were fans of his too, so they all wanted to work together. He says he enjoyed Bret and called him a "great guy to work with who's not selfish in the ring." Rick says Owen was the same way. Before the match, they said they were going to have a war. It ended up being one of the best matches the Steiners ever had in Rick's book. He calls it honor for the Steiners to be in there with them.

Steiner says he goes back and rewatches matches He just rewatched one he had with Lex. It's a different style today. There was psychology then. The crowd got into it without tons of moves being thrown. The people could follow it and it was entertaining. To go back now and watch yourself ten years ago, you don't realize things that you did.

Rick says that he and his brother had an amateur background so there was respect early. Many guys have no credentials. They just come from the gym. He points to Kurt Angle. Before he even gets into the ring, people say "he did this, this, and this." That's why the Steiners worked. People never knew what was going to happen. He brings up the brawl they had with the Nasty Boys at Halloween Havoc as an example.

JG asks about the over scripting of today's wrestling. Rick says that it's the fault of promotions. They're out of ideas. Wrestling's best minds aren't listened to. It's Hollywood guys now. Wrestling is wrestling and the business has gotten away from it.

James says that the business has changed a lot. He asks about the differences between WCW in the early 90s and late 90s. Steiner says that Eric Bischoff was a visionary. He was one of the only guys that knew who to relate to corporate business. At the same time, he could relate to the wrestlers. He talked to the boys and then went to corporate and could convince them that it would work. The guys who were in charge before had a business background, but didn't know wrestling. Then there were guys the other way around. Bisch was one of the guys who could do both.

Guttman closes the interview by giving Rick a chance to say something to his fans. He tells them that he appreciates all of them. He wants to let them know that every one of his matches, he was working to give the best he could. He thanks them for watching the matches and TV. He enjoyed every minute and hopes they did too.

Before the show ends, James Guttman says that next week's Radio Free Insanity will be the big year-in-review edition featuring the Top Five Moments of Insanity. He also says that the show after that one (first one of 2007) will be one of the biggest episodes of Radio Free Insanity ever. He doesn't give any more details but says to check back.

The full interview with Rick Steiner lasted for one hour and features talk about the differences between Ted Turner and Vince McMahon, working against Money Inc, bloodthirsty fans, whether Rick would return to the business, The N.W.O., Eric Bischoff, and much more. It's available at ClubWWI.com.

JG's Radio Free Insanity is always free and always on the air each weekend at WorldWrestlingInsanity.com, with extended interviews and show archives available on ClubWWI.com. James Guttman's book, World Wrestling Insanity, is available at Amazon.com or wherever books are sold.