The “Steiner Math” promo is probably the most famous wrestling interview of all time.
Born from the golden era of TNA, it featured form WCW Champion Scott Steiner reeling off some incredibly complicated mathematics whilst explaining why he is destined to win an upcoming Triple Threat match between himself, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle.
The promo came about on TNA Impact, in a backstage interview.
Scott Steiner was promoting the upcoming TNA Sacrifice 2008 (or Sacerfice, as Steiner claimed) main event between the three men and was originally just meant to be a nothing promo that nobody would remember after the event.
When the interview asked about his chances of winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Sacrifice 2008, Steiner replied instantly with some flawless math that has lived on for 14 years and counting, much to his delight.
“You know they say that all men are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Samoa Joe and you can see that statement is not true. See, normally if you go one on one with another wrestler, you got a 50/50 chance of winning. But I’m a genetic freak and I’m not normal!“
“So you got a 25%, AT BEST, at beat me. Then you add Kurt Angle to the mix, your chances of winning drastic go down. See the 3 way at Sacrifice, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Kurt Angle KNOWS he can’t beat me and he’s not even gonna try!“
“So Samoa Joe, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning at Sacrifice. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning at Sacrifice. See Joe, the numbers don’t lie, and they spell disaster for you at Sacrifice.“
While the Scott Steiner interview seemed like absolute rambling nonsense, it actually made perfect sense and the math checked out.
His arithmatic was flawless and he clearly believed in himself so much in his speech, that it became ultimately believable, with fans thinking he had a chance against Angle and Joe.
While his math was perfect, his calculations did not account for changes in the match. Kurt Angle suffered an injury before the match and was replaced by Frankie Kazarian (or Kaz).
His maths did not account for a chance in competitor and he suffered for it, being pinned by Samoa Joe after a muscle buster and losing the match and the championship.
Scott Steiner on “Steiner Math”
Scott Steiner recently joined The Bullet Cast to talk about all facets of his career, with the most interesting part being his view on his legendary “Steiner Math” promo.
The legendary promo from before Sacrifice 2008 has proved timeless, being meme’d into eternity as one of the most famous wrestling interviews in the history of the business.
Speaking to The Bulelt Cast, Scott Steiner revealed that the reason his promo lived on is because it “made sense”, both in character and the actual math, and that he never expected that it would “last forever”.
“No, I don’t think you can ever do an interview and think it’s gonna last forever the way it did. But no, It took off. People still enjoy it today. So, it’s great and It made sense.”
Scott Steiner was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022, alongside his brother Rick as The Steiner’s.
The legendary team were one of the top teams in their day, although Rick Steiner had retired by the time the Steiner Math promo had made it’s way to TNA. They were inducted by Scott’s nephew Bron Breakker.
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