Scott Steiner says that when WWE presented him with the idea of breaking up the Steiner Brothers, he wasn’t aware how big the plans were for his ill-fated singles run.
In his appearance on Shak Wrestling, Steiner discussed the talk of a 1993 pitch that would have changed the course of WWE history.
“There was a thing where in the Royal Rumble, they wanted us to go against each other,” he said.
“At the time, that was one of the reasons I got into wrestling—to wrestle with my brother, prove we were the best tag team in the world. So I had no interest whatsoever to be a world champion.”
Steiner wasn’t told how big this idea actually was. When they pitched going solo, they left out the part about winning the Rumble and challenging for the WWE championship in Las Vegas.
“What Bruce [Prichard] was saying—I didn’t know they were thinking about making me a world champion. I wish I would’ve known that, but I wasn’t told.”
Even with the possibility of solo glory, Steiner stood by his brother.
“The timing wasn’t right,” he concluded.
The Story Behind Scott Steiner and the Royal Rumble
WWE veteran Bruce Prichard has previously spoken about Steiner being considered for a singles push in 1993. In an episode of his Something to Wrestle podcast focused on WrestleMania IX, Prichard revealed that both he and Pat Patterson were very high on Scott Steiner as a superstar.
According to Prichard, they pitched a bold idea to Vince McMahon: have Scott Steiner enter the 1993 Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant, win the match, and then go on to headline WrestleMania IX with a shot at the WWE World Championship.
The plan would have positioned Steiner to dominate the Royal Rumble match as a relatively unknown competitor to the WWF audience (though wrestling fans from other promotions would have recognized him). This would have been a dramatic introduction for Steiner as a singles competitor in the company.
However, Vince McMahon rejected the idea. According to Prichard, “McMahon didn’t feel it”. The pitch was presented as a “what if” scenario during a creative meeting, but the WWE Chairman decided to pass on the concept.
In an industry where most claw for the spotlight, Steiner’s story is a rare example of brotherhood trumping personal ambition.
