Balrog Babblings #83 – I Agree with Scott Steiner

First things first – this IS TBLWrestling.com and we DO give credence to our site’s history when possible. So if you get a chance, I wrote a column 5 years ago today that talked about splitting the writers for World Wrestling Entertainment. Some interesting stuff if you’re into re-reading the past.

With that out of the way, I suggest watching the YouTube video below before reading my column. That is, of course, if you have a few minutes to do so. If not, then know that the video is a quasi-shoot interview from Scott Steiner telling Team 3D that their kind words towards the Steiner Brothers don’t mean a thing since Team 3D isn’t a worthy tag team.

The point of this article is my take on what Scott Steiner said to Brother Ray (formerly known as Bubba Ray Dudley in WWE) of Team 3D. To put it bluntly, thank God someone finally told Brother Ray the truth about the mythical legacy of Team 3D/The Dudley Boys. I’ve gotten so sick and tired of Brother Ray parading around like he’s the cock of the walk, trumpeting about how he’s “old school” and how he respects this business and all of the other generic bullshit that he spits out. Enough is enough with this guy already.

Now I know that Scott Steiner said what he said because of the feud between the two teams and because the best way to get the Steiners over with a smart crowd in the year 2007 is to go through their amazing legacy throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. But there is a great deal of truth in what Steiner said. Team 3D/The Dudley Boys were the ECW World Tag Team Champions – who gives a shit? They won those titles in a bingo hall and defended them on shows that rarely, if ever, eclipsed 10,000 fans (and that’s being generous). The competition for those titles was nowhere near as fierce as the competition in the other promotions at the time. The closest they came to having real opponents were Saturn and Kronus and that’s just one team. I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’m actually one-half of the reigning TBL World Tag Team Champions along with my webmaster, Eddie. We defend the belts in our heads and even though we’ve lost the belts a few times – we’re still 54 time World Champions.

Give me a break.

And what’s even more disgusting is how Team 3D throws the WCW World Tag Team Championship onto their questionable-at-best “legacy” in sports entertainment. Let’s not forget, folks, they won those titles after WCW was purchased by WWE and the future of the WCW titles was being decided on World Wrestling Entertainment programming by World Wrestling Entertainment writers. I am completely not impressed with these two saying that they were WCW World Tag Team Champions. They might as well just say that they were WWE “B” Tag Team Champions.

And then there is the questionable validity of the TNA World Tag Team titles. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a TNA fan at a time when being such a fan makes people say, “What are you crazy?” But don’t throw the TNA titles onto your list of great accomplishments before they even mean anything! I know, they have to do this to get the titles over with the audience – but damn, give it some time.

The other thing that always bothered me about Brother Ray and his take on Team 3D both in TNA and in WWE/ECW is that you really get the impression that he believes he and Devon absolutely deserve to be lauded by wrestling fans the world over. And I have a problem with that. A big problem.

Where did these guys come from that they think they can walk around telling people to respect them? Storyline or not, someone should tell these “old school wrestlers” to take a seat and watch WWE tapes from the 1980’s. Quite frankly, you could put Jean Paul Levesque in that room with them as they watch guys like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, The Steiner Brothers, Sting, and so on and so on become legendary wrestlers in the minds of the fans WITHOUT talking about how they respect “this business” and “this industry.”

Seriously – every active wrestler on the planet needs to stop trying to get themselves over with the “I respect this business and this industry” bullshit. What does that prove? You like your job? You like the history of your job? Listen up, you idiots. The rest of us have jobs in businesses and industries that are both respectable and not-so respectable. But when we sit down with our co-workers or when we sit down with our bosses or potential clients, we don’t say, “I really respect this industry,” because it’s a bullshit phrase that gets you absolutely nowhere. It’s one of those things that if you walk into a room and you hear the guy across the table say he “respects this business,” you immediately brand him as blowhard in your mind and disregard everything else he says.

In fact, so many idiots and morons are throwing around this “respect the industry” crap that it’s losing its impact. When Hulk Hogan bitched about the business and the industry and turned heel while creating the nWo at the Bash at the Beach, he did it once and it had a major impact on all wrestling fans – marks and smarts alike. It had impact because it was real and it was from a true icon of professional wrestling (there’s another term that is used way too much). When the Dudley Boys/Team 3D talk about respecting “this business” after a guy like Hulk Hogan says it, it’s like the mailroom guy at the office repeating what the CEO said to try to generate the same impact. It’s laughable at best.

And that’s why I was glad that Scott Steiner put Brother Ray in his place.

– E-mail feedback to joe1897@gmail.com
– Read more Balrog Babblings!