10 Wrestlers You Totally Forgot Worked For ECW

2. The Steiner Brothers

Doink ECW
WWE

Steve Austin experimented with his act in ECW; his searing, anti-WCW promos were the wellspring of his incredibly successful 'Stone Cold' act in the WWF.

Less famously, Scott Steiner also used the ruleless confines of Paul Heyman's promotion as the foundation of his awesome 'Big Poppa Pump' singles run.

That act was a blackly hilarious sensation in the year 2000: the only redeeming creative component of a company that had completely eaten itself. Foul-f*cking-mouthed, and too p*ssed off to get his words out, Steiner was also an awesome prospect in the ring, as terrifying as he was full of character. If you were in the front row of a WCW show - and you were hardly in the tarped-off back - Steiner would berate you for mouthing off, even if you hadn't.

He was also quite, delightfully mad.

We saw the embryonic stage of this descent into madness in an involuntary funny backstage '95 segment. Even Taz, who took himself as seriously back then as Low Ki does now, couldn't help break character. Scotty berated Jonny B Badd as a "feminine" wrestler because he wore "make-up", and, in a rare moment of restraint, said of Goldust: "...yeah, that's good". He then either challenged or refused to challenge - it's Steiner, and thus difficult to tell - the "feminine" Shawn Michaels for his "Inter-gender-continental" Championship.

In the ring, he and brother Rick only briefly treated the bloodthirsty Philly denizens to their pulsating proto-Suplex City bit, though do check out a battle opposite Chris Benoit and 2 Cold Scorpio, which Scotty and the 'Crippler' more or less use as an excuse to determine who is the most intense technical badass.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!