10 Wrestlers Who Would Have Been Major Stars If WCW Stayed In Business
The end of WCW caused a drastic change in the wrestling industry that was mostly all negative. TNA and Ring of Honor created secondary brands that lasted over two decades, but they never reached anywhere near that WCW level. AEW is the closest thing since 2000, and they are not near that WCW impact either.
WCW gave wrestling countless great moments that fans still remember. These are the most satisfying heel losses in WCW history.
WWE purchasing WCW meant that one brand running the industry limited the number of wrestlers to become stars. WCW continuing would have seen the talents on the roster or those potentially joining finding greater success. The following names would have been major stars if WCW stayed in business.
WCW pushed the Natural Born Thrillers faction of younger talents attempting to break out together. Sean O'Haire often stood out as the most impressive talent due to his athletic ability and incredible moveset.
WCW had great factions with cool names like nWo and Four Horsemen. But the company was no stranger to awful faction names over the years.
Unfortunately, O'Haire eventually flopped in WWE after WCW went out of business. O’Haire received a push as a master manipulator and with Roddy Piper at his side, but the creative team made him feel too secondary to Piper.
Vince McMahon completed the deal to buy WCW, but Eric Bischoff putting together an ownership group was the other main option. The hope of Bischoff was to reboot WCW and have a PPV titled Big Bang reset the product with many new talents.
Former ECW Champion Steve Corino was on the list of names rumored to join WCW under Bischoff’s new vision. Corino was a strong heel and would likely have got over with the new audience at the height of his underrated wrestling career.
WCW placing Elix Skipper in Lance Storm’s Team Canada faction helped him showcase signs of his potential. Skipper could do incredible athletic things in the ring that a large percentage of the roster could only dream of.
The company was purchased right when Skipper and Kid Romeo received a push in the new cruiserweight tag division. TNA used Skipper as a top X-Division challenger, but their reach was too small for him to become a big star.
3 Count featured the talented cruiserweights Shannon Moore, Shane Helms, and Evan Karagias portraying a heel boy band gimmick that got a lot of heat. All three wrestlers did their part, but Helms was the one who had more success going forward.
WWE continued to push Helms after his character transitioned to The Hurricane. Moore had a stint in WWE, but he peaked in the lackey sidekick role behind Matt Hardy. WWE and TNA used Moore in secondary roles before he was completely out of the spotlight.
Chuck Palumbo had a similar story to Sean O’Haire as a former Natural Born Thrillers faction member. WCW gave Palumbo some big wins over names like Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page, which made wrestling fans believe he'd become a future top star in the business.
WWE struggled to find the same success with Palumbo in various roles. The infamous Billy & Chuck tag team was the peak of his WWE career. After a second WWE run that saw him accomplish even less, Palumbo fizzled out.
WCW was the place to first hire Booker T’s wife Sharmell into the wrestling industry. The couple met in WCW as Sharmell held various roles on the Nitro Girls dance team, broadcasting team, and she even became a manager in the final year.
One rare positive about WCW towards the end was putting more women on television. Sharmell could have been the next woman to join Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson as breakout stars. WWE ended up being the place where she had her biggest role, managing her husband Booker T (then known as King Booker) when he became World Heavyweight Champion.
ECW pushed Kid Kash in the final years as one of the talents fans fell in love with. WCW signed him in March 2001, just weeks before the company closed. The name Cash was used for his sole televised WCW match against Jason Jett.
WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon one week later, which possibly ruined his best chance on a big stage. Kash had stints in WWE and TNA, but he never hit that true star level in wrestling.
WCW trusted Mike Sanders to do most of the talking for the Natural Born Thrillers faction. Sanders didn’t contribute much in the ring, but his promos led to most WCW fans hating him and any wrestlers associated with him.
WWE didn’t care to use Sanders beyond a developmental role and released him before he could make his main roster debut. Sanders had an overlooked TNA stint go by quickly before he left the industry and switched career paths.
Eric Bischoff reportedly wanted to hire the former ECW commentary team of Joey Styles and Don Callis to call the new WCW product if his ownership group purchased the company. WCW continuing would have helped boost the careers of Callis and Styles calling a new product.
AEW and New Japan each showed Callis’ potential as a personality decades later. A WCW stint for the revamped product under Bischoff could have helped Callis become a major wrestling star earlier in his career.
WCW initially used Mike Awesome terribly under Vince Russo when he joined the company as ECW World Champion. Awesome struggled with abysmal gimmicks like the Fat Chick Thriller and That 70s Guy ruining any credibility he had.
The final few months saw Awesome finally having a decent run in the heel Team Canada faction with Lance Storm. Awesome and Storm having strong tag matches together was putting Awesome on a better path. Unfortunately, WWE barely used him after the purchase and his career fizzled out.