Looking Back At When Chucky From ‘Child’s Play’ Called Out Rick Steiner In WCW
Michael Hansen 
Quick Links
The worlds of professional wrestling and Hollywood have crossed paths several times over the decades. Sometimes it’s fun, such as when Arnold Schwarzenegger decked Triple H on an episode of SmackDown. Other times it’s bad, like when Sting was once rescued by RoboCop during a WCW show. Then there was the moment in 1998, when Chucky, the killer doll from the Child’s Play films, had an interaction with Rick Steiner on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
Rick Steiner Was Feuding With Scott Steiner Ahead Of Halloween Havoc
In February 1998, the unthinkable happened with The Steiner Brothers, when Scott turned on his brother Rick and joined the nWo. It sent Scott’s career upward, as he became the platinum blonde “Big Poppa Pump”, the egotistical heel he was always meant to be and would play for much of the rest of his career. While Rick would have nowhere near the singles success as his brother, he had a great run by himself in late 1998.
Though Scott turned on Rick in February, WCW smartly drew out the feud through the fall, first with Rick disappearing for months due to injury, then Scott being too afraid to face his brother. Come Halloween Havoc time, Scott could no longer delay the inevitable, with the brothers set to meet in one of the pay-per-views most highly anticipated matches. Then, inexplicably, Chucky appeared to insert himself in the feud in one of the strangest moments of wrestling television you’ll ever see.
RELATED: The Steiner Brothers Are Going Into The WWE Hall Of Fame
Chucky Was Brought Into WCW To Promote ‘Bride Of Chucky’
In 1988, Child’s Play was released on the world. The horror film was a huge success, propelled by the character of the foul-mouthed doll come to life, Chucky, voiced by Brad Douriff. After two sequels, the franchise disappeared, but years later, in 1998, it would come back, with the campy fourth entry, Bride of Chucky.
With Bride of Chucky set to come out on that Friday, October 16th, the killer doll's arrival on Monday, October 12th was obviously meant as a way to promote the film, since Time Warner owned both WCW and New Line Cinema. While that may have been successful (it sure had wrestling fans talking), it created one of the weirdest scenes ever seen on WCW Monday Nitro.
It began with Rick Steiner in the ring talking to “Mean” Gene Okerlund about his impending match with Scott Steiner at Halloween Havoc. Out of nowhere, Chucky appeared on the giant video screen above the stage. For weeks before, a strange laugh would be occasionally heard in the arena during WCW TV, leaving fans confused. Now at least we knew where the laugh had been coming from.
With Brad Douriff doing his voice, Chucky began laughing, interrupting the interview. Okerlund sold it well, with, “Get that dummy out of here, we’re trying to conduct an interview.” Chucky told Okerlund to “shut the hell up,” before turning his attention to Rick Steiner, calling him an idiot. Rick hilariously challenged Chucky to come to the ring. As the fans booed, Chucky said that he really wanted to direct and that “Scott’s the lead in my next project, so if you mess with Scott, you’re messing with me and my Academy Award. And Chucky’s gonna get more than lucky, Ricky, Chucky’s gonna get even.”
RELATED: Halloween Havoc 1998 Had WCW's Best & Worst Matches Of The Decade
WCW Monday Nitro Wasn’t The Last We’d See Of Chucky In Wrestling
It was a very awkward moment, and one you could tell Rick, a wrestler more than a sports entertainer, was not comfortable with. Thankfully, Chucky wouldn’t appear again in WCW after that. Rick Steiner would go on to Halloween Havoc 1998 and have perhaps the best moment of his career, winning tag team gold with Buff Bagwell (despite Buff turning on him during the match) and then immediately beating his brother, Scott Steiner, afterward.
While we never saw Chucky on WCW programming again, it would not be the last we’d see of him in wrestling. The last two Halloween seasons he’s been part of NXT, with both WWE programming and the Chucky TV series running on the USA Network. He did a video promoting NXT Halloween Havoc in 2021, and this year he showed up in NXT, insulting Grayson Waller before announcing his Halloween Havoc match, and having a hilarious interaction with Chase U.
Chucky’s best NXT moment came in 2021 when his rivalry with Rick Steiner came full circle, with Chucky interrupting his son Bron Breakker before his NXT Championship match with Tommaso Ciampa during an episode of NXT 2.0, by saying “I hope being a loser doesn’t run in the family.”
It’s campy when Chucky appears in NXT, but it’s fun. It wasn’t so fun when it happened in WCW, as it came out of nowhere and turned a promising feud into a joke, but looking back at it now 24 years later, you can only laugh at the absurdity.
