5 WCW rejects who became megastars in WWE

#1 Stone Cold Steve Austin

When fans talk about the 'Mount Rushmore' of pro-wrestling, Stone Cold's name is bound to be somewhere on top.

Before practically saving the WWE from going bankrupt, Austin spent around four years in WCW.

Initially, he became a part of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Later, Austin formed a tag team with Brian Pillman, named The Hollywood Blonds.

Also read: 5 WrestleMania bookings Vince McMahon changed at the last minute

In 1995, Eric Bischoff fired Austin, citing reasons that he didn't see him as a marketable star and that he was difficult to work with.

Austin failed to move past the mid-card in WCW. Apparently, Hulk Hogan refused to wrestle him once in WCW because he wasn't a big enough star. Stone Cold was later signed by WWE, where he became incredibly successful and is now considered one of the greatest Superstars of all time.

WCW made a lot of glaring errors that contributed to their own downfall. Amongst all of those, however, letting Stone Cold move to the WWE is something that would still give Ted Turner nightmares.

About the author

Abhilash Mendhe is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda with nearly five years of experience. He completed his MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management in 2016 and worked with multiple banking institutions, including Tech Mahindra. While he started writing WWE articles for Sportskeeda in 2019 as a hobby, it eventually became a significant part of his professional journey.

Abhilash checks his articles thrice before sending them to the editing team, ensuring his work is highly accurate and reliable.

He has interviewed prominent pro wrestling personalities like Noam Dar, Angry Miz Girl, Brendan Cobbina, and Jesse Lambert. Abhilash is a big fan of AEW star Orange Cassidy, as he believes the former International Champion’s on-screen gimmick of an extremely lazy guy resonates with him.

Given the opportunity to script WWE’s next big storyline, Abhilash would treat fans to the second installment of The Bloodline Civil War. He would book Roman Reigns to re-form The Bloodline with The Usos and Sami Zayn upon his comeback. The angle would see The Tribal Chief-led group go head-to-head with The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu in a blockbuster family feud.

When not reporting on pro wrestling, Abhilash likes to work out, go on walks, read, and explore new eateries.

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Edited by Kaushik Das