10 Weird Ways We Remember Legendary Wrestlers
Punchlines, whines, and bovines.
It's a funny thing, shorthand.
We forgive The Rock for his dire 'Kung Pow B*tch' diss because he was so monumentally charismatic when making hapless opponents his b*tch at the Great One's hilarious Attitude Era zenith. Somehow, in spite of the deafening and sustained migraine it induces, we don't associate Steve Austin with the "What?" chant, but rather the boorish fans who have adopted it in - for Christ's sake - the nearly two decades since. Instead, because Austin's contributions to WWE were even louder, we remember the stunning matches, the Stunners, the stunts, and the swearing.
Because he fashioned himself as principled to a fault, many of us choose not to focus on the hypocrisy CM Punk demonstrated by walking into the Octagon having done nothing to earn his spot beyond boasting and coasting on name value. Instead, four years later, several fans when subjected to trash WWE TV loudly petition for his return - even in, with some irony, a part-time capacity,
For various reasons - disappointment that is only relative, malapropos positioning, history revised by a single unreliable narrator - shorthand is also cruel...
10. Scott Steiner: Clown
It's difficult not to perceive Scott Steiner with a degree of sympy in 2018; with wrestling history filtered through the warped lens of WWE, Big Poppa Pump's self-imposed exile from its Hall Of Fame may lead newer fans to disregard his excellent legacy.
That, and a veritable meme generator of a TNA run that was surely not as unintentionally funny as some would have it. Contrast the "He's fat!" patter, and his impossible to transcribe patter, with his hilarious and cutting WCW 2000 promo game and his rare, far more muted non-televised interviews. Steiner knew how to deliver his message; he simply adapted and played for broader laughs in the Impact Zone once his in-ring main event credentials deserted him. Something of a psychopathic clown figure today, Scott Steiner was a seriously great wrestler in his early 1990s pomp.
Ripped physique + Über-innovative power move game + Preternatural athleticism + Absolutely terrifying intensity + Documented, legit shooter + Bruising in-ring storyteller = Proper, indisputable great.
Scott Steiner was the mathematical formula for brilliance years before he cut the math promo for which is largely remembered in this meme-centric era.