WCW closed its doors on March 26th, 200, leaving some of the biggest wrestling stars in the
world there for the taking.
Main event talent that could’ve brought their millions of WCW fans with them to Vince
McMahon’s product.
But while some found success in WWE, many more were treated like absolute jokes.
I am Luke Owen and these are 5 WCW Wrestlers Botched by WWE.
Headline: Diamond Dallas Page
Diamond Dallas Page was one of the few “top guys” who decided to take a huge paycut
from their guaranteed WCW contracts to go and work for the WWF during The Invasion in
2001.
In WCW, DDP had been called The People’s Champion, which was the same moniker The Rock
had been given in WWF.
His pitch when he came in was to program a feud between the two: People’s Champ vs.
People’s Champ.
WWF didn’t like the idea, however, and instead Page was put into a program with The Undertaker
where – in storyline – DDP had been stalking Undertaker’s wife.
It was an angle that made no sense from the outset.
Anyone who had watched WCW knew that DDP was married to Kimberly Page, so why would he
then start stalking The Undertaker’s wife?
The first PPV appearance for Dallas was at King of the Ring 2001 where he challenged
Taker to a fight.
Taker eventually answered, and then beat him up for 10 minutes with DDP getting no offense
in.
That was the story of their entire feud: Undertaker would beat him up, DDP didn’t get to hit
back.
“It was designed like that, like beat down the WCW guys.
There was a lot of heat that was before us when we first came in there."
– Diamond Dallas Page, The Mirror, September 2017
Headline: Rey Mysterio
Now I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t Rey Mysterio one of the few guys to do better
in WWE than he did in WCW?
And you’re right.
Mysterio was seen as nothing more than a Cruiserweight in WCW but in WWE he was a huge star who won
various championships and had main event level feuds with the likes of Eddie Guerrero.
It's hard to put into words just how popular Rey was among the WWE audience in 2004 and
2005.
He was a huge star with a lot of merchandise sales because his mask appealed to kids.
He was seen as a real-life superhero, the little engine that could.
When Eddie passed away in 2005, Mysterio was pushed into a storyline where he would overcome
all obstacles and finally win the World Heavyweight Championship on the biggest stage of them
all.
He achieved just that, beating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 22.
But it was all downhill from there.
Even in the lead-up to Mania Rey lost clean to Fit Finlay and Angle, and then got into
a feud with JBL where he lost clean to Mark Henry, Kurt Angle – again - and The Great
Khali, drew with Kane, and was then beaten by Rob Van Dam.
He then couldn’t beat Sabu at One Night Stand, got laid out by Mark Henry, and only
managed to beat Booker T because Chavo Guerrero interfered.
He then lost to Booker T at the Great American Bash.
“He was never given a chance, not one single chance, and was without question the worst-booked
longer-term champion (meaning, more than a few days) ever in the history of any major
promotion.”
– Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #579, July 31st 2005
Headline: Sting
He may have been WCW’s franchise player, but Sting’s WWE career is nothing but a
small and pointless footnote.
After WCW closed its doors, more or less everyone who had made a name in that company jumped
ship eventually – but Sting didn’t.
Despite several attempts to sign him, Sting instead opted to work for Dixie Carter and
TNA, where he held their championship several times in some really memorable feuds.
He eventually left that company in 2013, and was then announced as the cover star for WWE2K15.
In 2014, the unthinkable finally happened as Sting made his WWE debut at Survivor Series
to take out Triple H and The Authority.
This led to a match between the two at WrestleMania 31, which was put over as the culmination
of WWE vs. WCW on commentary.
So, of course, Triple H won to remind everyone WWE won the wrestling war, not WCW.
Sting didn’t even come out to his WCW music.
“Triple H is going over the match and then he goes, 'OK, he'll break the sledgehammer,
then I'll hit him with the sledgehammer, and cover him, 1-2-3.'
I looked at Hulk, and Hulk looked at me, and I was thinking, 'Sting, what kind of lawyer
do you have, bro?
You're coming in the door doing a job?
You weren't even guaranteed to go over?'
That's Vince just reminding you who won, even if he's going to make money the other way.”
– Scott Hall, Extra Mustard, January 13th 2016
He later returned to the company to feud with Seth Rollins over the WWE Championship, but
lost again at Night of Champions.
But get this: Seth had already wrestled and lost to John Cena.
And Cena also gave him the AA on the floor.
So Sting comes in – fresh as a daisy – and still couldn’t beat Rollins.
Not only that, but Sting took a Buckle Bomb awkwardly, and suffered a career ending injury.
His WWE run resulted in two matches, and he lost both looking like a chump.
Headline: The nWo
Let’s be honest, the reason WCW picked up traction and popularity in the late 1990s
was because of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as the New World Order.
Their group was insanely popular, selling untold amount of merchandise and creating
a rabid fanbase that genuinely preferred the nWo to WCW.
So how could WWE mess that up when they brought them into the company in February 2002?
The nWo made their debut in WWE at No Way Out as “the poison” to kill the company.
However they weren’t a very effective poison, as they lost both of their WrestleMania matches
to Steve Austin and The Rock.
Following WrestleMania X8, Hogan left the group and Hall and Nash began a feud with
Ric Flair.
Hall was soon after fired from the company following the infamous Plane Ride From Hell,
and Nash injured himself, returned and then injured himself again.
The big end to the nWo invasion?
Vince simply announced the group was disbanded.
In just a few months of their debut, the nWo had fizzled out with no payoff.
The biggest faction in WCW history not named The Four Horsemen - a potential huge money
maker - and they lasted a couple of months.
What a waste.
Headline: Goldberg (The First Time)
While not everyone was keen, Goldberg’s 2016 run in WWE against Brock Lesnar was far
superior to his initial run in the company.
One of the biggest stars in WCW, Goldberg’s undefeated streak was legendary among wrestling
fans, and his championship win against Hulk Hogan is still talked about to this day.
So what would his WWE run in 2003 amount to?
Goldberg being in a gold wig.
He feuded with Jericho while doing a watered-down version of his undefeated streak, which came
crashing down when Triple H was the first man to pin him just a couple of months after
his debut.
Goldberg then feuded with Triple H and Evolution for the rest of the year, picking up the World
Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven before losing it 84-days later at Armageddon.
He then entered into a feud with Brock Lesnar, resulting in one of the worst WrestleMania
matches in history.
“It was a square peg in a round hole.
I don't think from the beginning either one of us gave it a fair shot.
I had a predisposed idea of what I would encounter: negativity.
Period, end of story.
I always felt I was a football player at a frat party.”
– Bill Goldberg, Steve Austin Unleashed!