steiners’

I often have trouble reconciling the two people as well.  His reintroduction on Nitro in 98 took some getting used to, believe me.  Anyway, by "Steiner from 91-94" are you meaning that he was the often-injured former can't miss megastar like Kurt Angle is today, or an entertaining wrestler frequently having to carry the promotion on his back?  Because I don't think he was ever NEAR the star that Angle is even today as a shell of his former self.  Really, Scott Steiner 89-91, before the initial biceps tear that started him down the road to roidville, was the most awesome worker you'd ever see.  I think that if he debuted today WWE would probably tone him down to the point where he wouldn't get over, because he worked a very different style than most North American heavyweights, understandable given their time in Japan.  You'll note today that there's not a lot of suplex-heavy and hard-hitting intense guys, outside of Angle as noted.  Given the wrestling background, I think he'd have a shot as a Brock Lesnar-type once they molded him into the more homogenized style they prefer, but without trying to be too facetious about it I'd say that he wouldn't last two months without getting fired for multiple Wellness violations. 

As for the first part of the question…I dunno.  Older Scott Steiner as champion would have been a throwback to the classic NWA champions, but the business was changing and I really think that Big Poppa Pump was the key needed to make it as a long-term main eventer.  It's kind of the classic case of the Eddie Guerrero issue, where a guy doesn't develop a World champion level personality until long after his body has broken down from being a World champion level athlete.  Wrestling is weird that way, in that guys don't typically hit their peak until well after they're no longer able to capitalize on it.  So I'm gonna say he would have flopped as champion and been a victim of politics to play it safe.