Rick Steiner

Steiner joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988 and was a charter member of the faction known as The Varsity Club along with Mike Rotunda and their manager Kevin Sullivan, with the long-term angle being that Rotunda was favored by Sullivan and both of them looked at Steiner as their dull-witted underling. It also started a slow fan favorite turn for Steiner, as he began breaking rules less often and was portrayed as a dim but good-hearted guy who was a villain by association only. Steiner and Rotunda were given a spot at the second ever *Clash of the Champions*, which took place in Miami on June 8, 1988. The duo faced Jimmy Garvin and Ronnie Garvin in a losing effort. Eventually, this would lead to a breakup and Steiner subsequently became a fan favorite before winning the Television Championship from Rotunda at Starrcade.

In early 1989, his brother Scott Steiner began accompanying him to the ring and eventually, the two formed a tag team. They proved they were a serious tag team by defeating the Freebirds for the WCW World Tag Team Championship in November 1989. The pair continued to dominate in WCW, winning multiple championships.

The two jumped to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), WCW's biggest competitor, in December 1992. They found success there as well, winning the WWF World Tag Team Championship from Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) on two occasions.

The Steiners left the WWF in 1994.

After leaving the WWF, the Steiner Brothers debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling on July 28, 1995, defeating Dudley Dudley and Vampire Warrior. A few days later on August 4, they defeated Dudley Dudley and 2 Cold Scorpio. The following day, the Steiner Brothers made their debut in the ECW Arena at Wrestlepalooza, where they teamed with Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Scorpio, Dean Malenko, and Cactus Jack. On August 25, they defeated Scorpio and Malenko and then Scorpio and Chris Benoit the following evening. On August 28, they defeated Dudley Dudley and Dances with Dudley.

At Gangstas Paradise on September 16, 1995, they teamed with Taz in a loss to The Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) and Jason. On September 23, they defeated Raven and Stevie Richards. Rick made his final ECW appearance on October 28, teaming with Taz in a loss to The Eliminators in a tag team match.

On the March 11, 1996 episode of *WCW Nitro*, the Steiner Brothers redebuted in World Championship Wrestling in a losing effort to The Road Warriors. The following week on *Nitro*, the Steiners picked up their first win since returning after they defeated The Public Enemy. After briefly feuding with both the Warriors and Public Enemy, the Steiners began feuding with the World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat. On July 24 at a house show, the Steiner Brothers defeated Harlem Heat to win the World Tag Team Championship, although they re-lost the titles to Harlem Heat three days later. The Steiner Brothers then reclaimed the titles after defeating The Outsiders on January 25, 1997 at Souled Out. Only two days later, they were stripped of the titles by Eric Bischoff. Rick then faced Kevin Nash for the title at Spring Stampede on April 6 due to Scott Hall not appearing, but was unable to win the titles back.

After starting a winning streak, the Steiner Brothers defeated the Outsiders in a rematch for the World Tag Team Titles on August 9 at Road Wild, but due to winning via disqualification, they did not win the titles. On the October 13 episode of *Nitro*, the Steiner Brothers finally reclaimed the World Tag Team Titles after defeating Hall and his substitute tag team partner Syxx. On the October 27 episode of *Nitro*, the Steiners successfully retained the titles in their first defense against The Public Enemy. After several successful title defenses, they re-lost the title to the Outsiders on the January 12, 1998 episode of *Nitro*. Nearly a month later, they defeated the Outsiders for the championship on the February 9 episode of *Nitro*.

During a title defense against the Outsiders during SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, the Steiner Brothers disbanded when Scott turned on Rick, becoming a villain in the process by allowing the Outsiders to pin Rick and win the World Tag Team Championships. Scott subsequently joined the New World Order (nWo) faction and began feuding with Rick, whilst also trying to get him to join. In addition to Scott, Rick also began feuding with various members of the nWo, facing them in either singles matches or teaming with Lex Luger on occasion in tag team matches over the following months. Rick took several months off soon after this due to shoulder surgery thanks to an attack from Brian Adams, whilst his brother Scott went to nWo Hollywood. Scott would talk trash for months about Rick till Rick finally healed and was ready to return for revenge. After wrestling to a no contest against Scott at Fall Brawl on September 13, Rick teamed up with Scott's former ally Buff Bagwell to defeat Scott and The Giant for the World Tag Team Championships at Halloween Havoc on October 25, despite Bagwell turning on Rick during the match. Immediately after the tag team match, Rick defeated Scott in a singles match.

The next night on *Nitro*, Steiner nominated Kenny Kaos as his new tag team partner to hold the World Tag Team Championships with due to Bagwell turning against him after winning the title at Halloween Havoc the previous night. Later on in the night, Steiner and Kaos successfully retained their titles against nWo members Stevie Ray and The Giant. At World War 3 on November 28, Steiner was attacked backstage by nWo Hollywood, who injured his right shoulder. This would be Steiner's last appearance for several months. On January 7, 1999, the titles were vacated, with a Tag Team Title tournament beginning that evening on *Thunder*.

On the March 1, 1999 episode of *Nitro*, he made his televised return as he and Goldberg defeated Scott and Buff Bagwell. After winning several matches, Steiner became a villain and lost to Booker T in a match for Booker's World Television Championship on the April 12 episode of *Nitro*. On May 9 at Slamboree, Steiner defeated Booker in a rematch to win the World Television Title. After becoming a villain, Rick reunited with Scott on a few occasions and began feuding with Sting, culminating with a successful title defense at The Great American Bash on June 13. After four months as champion, he lost the title to Chris Benoit on the September 13 episode of *Nitro*, before reclaiming it a little over a month later at Halloween Havoc on October 24. At Mayhem, Scott Hall defeated Booker T to retain his United States Heavyweight Championship as well as win Steiner's World Television Championship, which he had to vacate due to being injured.

On December 19 at Starrcade, Steiner reformed the Varsity Club with Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan to wrestle an eight-man tag team match with Jim Duggan against the Revolution, whom Duggan had been feuding with. However, the Club turned against Duggan, allowing him to be pinned. After Starrcade, Sullivan left the Club as Steiner and Rotunda wrestled as a tag team throughout the rest of 1999 and into March 2000.

After taking a hiatus in late August, Rick returned on the January 15, 2001 episode of *Nitro* as he helped Kevin Nash fend off Scott after a World Heavyweight Championship match, turning Rick into a fan favorite again. Two days later on *Thunder*, he made his in-ring return with a victory over Kwee Wee. On the February 5 episode of *Nitro*, Steiner defeated Shane Douglas to win the United States Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, he teamed with Nash to face Scott in a handicap match, but turned on Nash and allowed Scott to pick up the victory, thus turning into a villain once more and also joining Scott's group the Magnificent Seven. After winning the United States Heavyweight Title, Steiner began a brief feud with Dustin Rhodes over the title, which culminated at SuperBrawl Revenge with Steiner being victorious in a title match. On March 18 at WCW's final pay-per-view, Greed, Steiner lost the United States Heavyweight Title to Booker T. On the final episode of *Thunder* on March 21, Steiner wrestled his final match for WCW in a losing effort to Hugh Morrus. WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation only days later and Steiner's contract was not picked up.

At NXT New Year's Evil in January 2022, Rick appeared in the now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in what is his first appearance since 1994, and celebrated his son Bron Breakker's first NXT Championship win over Tommaso Ciampa. On March 28, 2022, Rick and Scott Steiner were both announced to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 38 weekend.