Scott Steiner Discusses Becoming Big Poppa Pump After Turning Heel in 1998

– During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Hall of Famer Scott Steiner discussed coming up with his Big Poppa Pump name and gimmick after turning heel in 1998.. Below are some highlights (via WrestlingInc.com):

Steiner on turning into Big Poppa Pump: “Well, it first started like it was two different personalities. When I first came out of college, I was a college kid, happy-go-lucky. But when you’re in wrestling for a while, things change. Setbacks, people keep you down, politics, you get p*ssed off. So at that point, when I turned into Big Poppa Pump, I was very pissed off and people could just kind of tell that in my interviews because I was tired of the bullsh*t of professional wrestling, things that happened behind closed doors. You don’t really know what’s going on.”

On being clued into what was happening behind the scenes in WCW: “Luckily, I had some guys in the back doors that told me what was going on most of the time, but a lot of times I didn’t know. That was a real thing back then the older guys keeping the younger guys down.”