The Story Behind TNA's Most Famous Promo: Steiner Math

TNA Wrestling has had its fair share of memorable moments and historic matches, but if you ask any wrestling fan what is the one thing that they associate with the company, chances are a lot of them will say "Steiner Math."

On the May 1, 2008 episode of "TNA Impact," Scott Steiner cut a promo hyping up the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between himself, Kurt Angle, and the champion at the time Samoa Joe, which was set to take place at the Sacrifice pay-per-view on May 11. Little did Steiner or anyone else know that what "Big Poppa Pump" was going to say would stand the test of time and be one of the most memorable wrestling promos of the 21st century.

Steiner broke down Joe's chances of retaining his title Sacrifice, and the numbers weren't in his favor. Usually a wrestler has a 50% chance of winning a one-on-one match, but because Steiner is a genetic freak and not normal, Joe's chances drastic go down (Steiner's exact words by the way). Joe's chances of winning were 25% at best, and when you throw Angle into the mix, who Steiner was sure wouldn't be able to beat him, Joe would be left with an Eight and one third chance of winning at Sacrifice, compared to Steiner's 141 and one third percent chance of winning. In case you were wondering, those numbers don't lie, and they spelled disaster for Samoa Joe at Sacrifice.

The promo has been referenced, discussed, and turned into a meme countless times in the near 18 years since Steiner uttered those famous words. So let's take a trip back to Spring of 2008 and dig a little deeper into the details of one of the most iconic moments in TNA history. This is the story of Steiner Math.

Scott Steiner is one of those rare professional wrestlers who actually has fans for two completely separate reasons. Those who remember him from his time teaming with his brother Rick will remember that The Steiner Brothers were one of the most respected and critically acclaimed tag teams of their generation. In an era where a number of top stars didn't want to take bumps every night and saved themselves for the big occasions, Rick and Scott were producing the "workrate" style of wrestling that wouldn't look out of place in the modern wrestling landscape. 

Then in late 1997, Steiner started to change his physical appearance by shedding his signature mullet and colorful singlets in favor of short blonde hair, biker shorts, and a lot more muscle mass. As time went on, he would stand out even more when he started wearing sunglasses and a chainmail headdress to the ring, before eventually adopting the nickname "Big Poppa Pump," while also calling himself the likes of "Big Bad Booty Daddy" and "Freakzilla." It wasn't just his appearance that changed, the way he delivered his promos also changed.

As WCW left the 1990s and entered the 2000s, Steiner's promos would become must-see moments on any WCW show. His vocabulary expanded to the point where he would call Judy Bagwell a "scallywag." He incorporated props like wearing false teeth to cut a promo on Ric Flair, and forced the calendar to bend to his will by claiming he got freaks nine days of the week. Despite the company not being in the best shape at the time, Steiner was one of the true highlights in the final years of WCW and his promos were a large part of it, which is why it was such a shame when his WWE run that started in 2002 saw him cut off at the knees when it came to his time on the microphone.

He spent less than two years in WWE following the demise of WCW, but nothing good ever came of his run. An ill-fated feud with Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship in early 2003 was all WWE management needed to see, and he was bumped down the card to the point where he wasn't even featured on the WrestleMania 19 card four months after his first appearance. He was released in the summer of 2004 after spending nearly all of that year on the shelf with an injury, but after fixing everything that needed to be fixed and making himself busy on the independent scene, WWE's loss was TNA's gain as Steiner signed with the company in 2006, where he was free to be more of the WCW version of himself.

While the "Steiner Math" promo is far and away the most famous part of the build up to the main event of TNA Sacrifice 2008, it's important to note how the match came about.

One month earlier at TNA Lockdown, Samoa Joe finally got his hands on the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, his first world title with TNA since joining the company in 2005. He defeated Kurt Angle in a Six Sides of Steel match that is regarded as one of the best TNA pay-per-view main events ever for its high stakes, and being one of the few American matches to incorporate the MMA style well. Joe's feud with Angle was one that would never truly have a definitive end as they always ended up crossing paths at some point, but when Scott Steiner interfered on behalf of Joe during his first title defense against Angle, a three-way match at Sacrifice was made.

Why was Steiner getting involved? Because he had a guaranteed shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in his back pocket. A few months earlier, Steiner competed in a Feast or Fired match where he won one of four briefcases that either contained a contract for a title shot, or a pink slip to say that he was fired. He would actually switch his briefcase with another winner of the match, Petey Williams, who would reveal a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship waiting inside, while Steiner's new case contained a shot at the TNA X-Division Championship instead.

Steiner would win his case back at Against All Odds in February, but along the way he formed an alliance with Williams, as well as Rhaka Khan, and gifted the TNA X-Division Championship shot to Williams. "Maple Leaf Muscle" would evolve into "Lil Petey Pump" as Steiner's understudy, and would successfully cash-in his briefcase to win the TNA X-Division Championship from Jay Lethal on an episode of "TNA Impact" in April. The pressure now fell to Steiner as he looked to replicate what Williams had done, only this time in the heavyweight division.

Even the best laid plans sometimes go off the rails, and even though Scott Steiner's self-made degree in mathematics shouldn't be disputed, there were a few variables that he didn't take into account which ended up messing with his final calculation. The main variable being that Kurt Angle never ended up participating in the three-way match at Sacrifice, a small detail that is often forgotten due to how famous the "Steiner Math" promo is. 

Angle announced at the beginning of the TNA Sacrifice pay-per-view that he had to medically withdraw from the show's main event due to a neck injury, and while he still wanted to compete, he was ordered by doctors to take the night off. The Olympic Gold Medalist suffered the injury while wrestling for the New Korea Pro Wrestling Association in South Korea six days earlier, failing to capture the NKPW Heavyweight Championship from Yokpalsan in a three-way match. In fact, neither Angle or Yokpalsan left Seoul with the title on that night as former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Osamu Nishimura won the match and the championship via a count out. Angle didn't make the trip to Seoul alone as AJ Styles was also on the show, as was Joshi wrestling legend Manami Toyota.

To replace Angle, the Terrordome match, which would later be renamed the Steel Asylum as time went on, that was already scheduled to determine the next challenger to Petey Williams and his TNA X-Division Championship, would also determine the man to wrestle in the main event with Joe and Steiner. That match was won by Kaz, better known by his full name of Frankie Kazarian, but he walked out of Sacrifice empty-handed, and also lost his match for Williams' title one month later at Slammiversary.

As for Steiner, his calculations had been completely thrown off with the addition of Kaz to the match, and it was Joe who retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on that night. Joe would hold the title for five more months before losing to Sting in the main event of TNA Bound For Glory in October, while Steiner would only challenge for the title once more in his time with TNA, but that match was multi-man tag team match where the man who scored the pinfall would become champion, and even then Steiner was on the same team as the champion, Sting.

Thanks to the fact that TNA used to tape a number of episodes of "TNA Impact" in advance, a lot of backstage promos were recorded multiple times to make sure that everything went smoothly.

This was the same with the "Steiner Math" promo as it was actually recorded twice, but the first take was used for the simple fact that someone in the frame simply couldn't keep it together. Back in 2023, Samoa Joe was asked about the promo given that it was directed at him, to which he revealed that he was present for it and was standing behind the cameraman while it happened. He said that he was laughing the entire time as he couldn't quite believe what Steiner was coming out with, but that Petey Williams was also cracking up because he was simply stunned at what he was saying.

The first take was the more useable of the two as Williams couldn't keep himself together during the second take, but if you look closely at the promo that did make the air, you can see Williams making a wide range of facial expressions to try and maintain his composure. Rhaka Khan also cracks a smile in the background but does manage to get through the promo while looking as stoic as possible.

Williams himself was asked about the promo during an interview with WrestleZone in 2021 where he claims that the promo that aired on TV was the only take that they did. However, it was Steiner who wanted to do it again since he stumbled over a few things, but TNA Head Writer at the time, Vince Russo, said no, and that all of the frustration that is built into the "Big Poppa Pump" character made the promo more believable. Regardless of how many takes were filmed, the promo caught everyone off guard, both on and off camera.

Some things in wrestling take on a life of their own for a variety of reasons, and in the case of "Steiner Math," it was so weird and wonderful that it has lived on for almost two decades and is so quotable it even has its own page on Genius.com.

Steiner has been asked about the promo multiple times, and he is very proud that people still talk about it to this day. He still makes sure to note that for as bizarre as the promo may have sounded, all of the numbers checked out and everything made sense. It even got to a point where a professor from Harvard University took a look at Steiner's equation and confirmed that it made sense. Steiner has even been told that people have thanked him for helping them with their own math problems, but they may have just been nice.

Other wrestlers have had their own take on the promo, particularly in the last couple of years as the promo has really grown in popularity. Before the 2023 Grand Slam edition of "AEW Dynamite," then AEW Men's World Champion MJF paid homage to the "Steiner Math" promo by doing some of his own calculations as the man challenging him for his title was none other than Samoa Joe. Steiner saw MJF's work and gave him a shout out for making him laugh shortly after it aired.

Then there is Steiner's own nephew, current WWE Superstar Bron Breakker, who referenced the promo during his time in "WWE NXT," and even upgraded the math before his WWE Intercontinental Championship match against Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor, and Penta at WrestleMania 41. Breakker cut his own "Breakker Math" promo on the WrestleMania 41 kick off show, stating that he had a 129.2% chance of leaving WrestleMania 41 as the WWE Intercontinental Champion, but he must not be as much of a math wizard as his uncle as Mysterio was the one who left WrestleMania 41 with the title around his waist.

Countless wrestlers from the past and present have reacted to the promo via their own podcasts and talked about it in interviews. TNA founder Jeff Jarrett called "Steiner Math" a gem that stood out in an era where a lot of wrestlers focused mainly on having catchphrases. Former TNA producer Dutch Mantell recalled rolling around laughing when he saw the promo for the first time, and another former TNA producer, Jim Cornette, stated that while Steiner was never the most cunning linguist, the "Steiner Math" promo was an instant classic that could never replicated in the way Steiner did it on that night in 2008. 

Judging by the fact that we are still talking and writing about it, referencing and reciting it, "Steiner Math" is most certainly an instant classic, and one of the most iconic wrestling promos of all time.