#4 Booker T
Booker T was once of WCW’s few homegrown stars along with the likes of Goldberg, Sting and Diamond Dallas Page. Booker started his WCW career tagging with his brother Stevie Ray as part of the Harlem Heat and the duo won the WCW World Tag-Team Championships 10 times.
After years of tag-team success, Booker broke out as a singles star, winning the United States and Television Championships. As his popularity rose, Booker eventually got pushed to the main event and eventually became a 5-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
In the depressing days near the end of WCW’s lifespan, Booker T was one of the rare bright spots in the company, retaining his World Heavyweight Championship on the final Nitro in 2001.
Unlike some of his fellow WCW stars, Booker T signed with WWE almost as soon as they bought WCW instead of sitting at home on his cushy Turner contract. Booker has gone on to become a WWE Hall Of Famer and is still associated with the company, regularly appearing in pre-shows and suchlike.
Booker T had a fairly successful WWE career, winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship once along with 3 US Championships, 1 Intercontinental Championships and the 2006 King Of The Ring.
#3 Hulk Hogan
The Hulkster is one of the most recognizable pro wrestlers of all time. He was the face WWE during the golden period of the 80’s and early 90’s and was pushed as the All-American proverbial babyface.
When Vince expanded his territory into a nationwide promotion, he chose Hogan as the face of his company due to his charisma and name recognition.
During the late 80’s Hogan was almost unbeatable during his WWE run and helped take professional wrestling mainstream tied in with Vince’s Rock and Wrestling idea. Hogan was the star of the first few Wrestlemanias and clung to his spot at the top of the card as if his life depended on it.
He won the WWE World Champion 5 times during this period and two Royal Rumbles to boot.
However, following the steroid scandal, Hogan looked to move into movies and away from wrestling and asked Vince for his release. Vince, who thought that Hogan’s days at the top were over, also acceded to the request.
When Hogan’s movie career came to a halt, he eventually moved to WCW after Eric Bischoff broke the bank to sign him. Hogan’s signing immediately legitimized WCW as a national level player even though the Hulkster’s initial run didn’t go down well with the crowd.
However, Hulk’s heel turn at Bash At The Beach 1996 when he turned to align with the Outsiders and form the NWO, helped rejuvenate Hulk’s career as he went from the biggest babyface of all time to the most hated heel in wrestling.
Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight 6 times and stayed with the company till its demise in 2001. After returning to the WWE, Hogan won the WWE Undisputed Championship once and is a WWE Hall of Famer.
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