Acrylic and spray on 24″ x 24″ wood
Scott Steiner is one of those guys that you can look at and instantly know he’s a professional wrestler. His physique, his manner of talking, his movements, everything about him fits the public’s image of what a wrestler looks like. Born Scott Rechsteiner, he was a noted collegiate wrestler for the University of Michigan. He was a three-time BIG 10 runner-up and as a senior in 1986 he became an NCAA Division I All American, placing sixth in the US. Soon after graduation he debuted for the Toledo-based World Wrestling Association, where he quickly became their World Heavyweight Champion. In 1988 he briefly worked for Memphis’ Continental Wrestling Association before making his way to World Championship Wrestling.
In WCW he debuted as Scott Steiner, teaming up with his real-life brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers. The Steiners had feuds with teams like the Fabulous Freebirds, Doom, and the Midnight Express, holding championship gold on numerous occasions. The duo left WCW in 1992 to debut with the World Wrestling Federation, where they had a notable rivalry with Money, Inc. They were with the WWF for two years before a brief stay in ECW in 1995.
In 1996 the Steiners returned to WCW where they feuded with the Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, during the early period of the NWO. In late 1997, early 1998 Scott began to slowly turn heel, culminating with him turning on Rick and joining the NWO. It was in this period that he radically altered his appearance, cutting off his mullet, dying his hair platinum blonde and growing his signature facial hair, while also notably increasing his body mass. As a singles competitor he feuded with Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Rey Mysterio and most notably with Booker T. In 2000 he defeated Booker for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. He would lose the title back to Booker T on the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro after it was purchased by WWE.
After the folding of WCW, he competed abroad for a couple of years before returning to WWE in 2002. For most of his time there he worked as a face, competing against Triple H and Test most notably. His stay there lasted until 2004, when he left due to injury. He returned to the independent circuit before debuting with TNA in 2006. There he had feuds with competitors like Sting, Christian, and Samoa Joe before joining the Main Event Mafia. After the disbanding of the MEM, he took a hiatus from the company, returning in 2011 and competing through 2012. It was also during his time with TNA that he amazed the world with his aptitude for mathematics.
About the piece: If I didn’t do a representation of Steiner’s physique in my painting I would be doing something wrong, you know? This was fun because a good deal of it I did with my fingers, mixing the paints into one another. Sometimes a brush looks too clean and polished, so I just dive right in spreading the paint around by literal hand. I feel if I don’t go home without more paint on my clothes and all over my hands, that I did something wrong. Sometimes I’ll get it in my hair, on my glasses, on the side of my face…that’s when I’ve had a really good day.