Did WCW Create Any Original Stars?

[Davi323]

I am going define an "original star" as someone who was made famous nationally by WCW, not necessarily that they got their start there. Its not where you wrestled first, its where you became famous. HHH in WCW, as Terra Ryzing, under no circumstances, counts as a WCW made star. The Undertaker, as Mean Mark Callus, does not count. Kevin Nash, as Vinny Vegas or Oz, does not count. Sting does. We all know Sting didn't start there, but, before he got there, did anyone know who he was? Were the Bladerunners a household name before Sting came to the NWA/WCW? (for threads like this, I don't make a distinction between the NWA and WCW, when it comes to newer wrestlers when the NWA rebranded. Flair wouldn't count as a WCW original star, but Sting does)

Basically, I am inclined to more or less agree with CultofRaven's definition.

I also couldn't agree more with the Giant. When Paul Wight debuted in the WWF/E, we all knew who he was already, because of WCW. I would count Chris Jericho too. I know Y2J wrestled other places before WCW, but, where did he become famous? WCW.

 

[ccotreau1]

With Scott Steiner, he was a star going into WCW. but he was more of a tag team star at that point. WCW helped him become a singles star.

 

[T2KFreeker]

Has anyone mentioned Billy Kidman? I know many people may not remember, but as a cruiserweight, he was big time over with the fans and his star was shining just as bright as many of the heavyweights and he started in WCW as a part of Raven's flock. He and Rey Mysterio had some great classic matches that are still remembered quite fondly.

 

[The Idiot]

What about Cactus Jack and Vader? I'm only asking because I didn't follow WCW much in the early days, or even at all really.

Scott Hall was DEFINITELY made a star in WCW.

LOL absolutely not.

Nobody knew who Scott Hall was before he came to the WWF as Razor Ramon. He became a star and left for WCW where people recognized him right away. I don't know where you got that idea.

 

[psykohurricane]

through the years WCW did create original stars, Sting became a Star in WCW, so did Lex Luger. DDP and Booker T became huge stars in WCW. Jeff Jarrett wouldn'T be were he is today without WCW because that's were he became a huge star.

So to answer your question, yes WCW did create original star. By the way i completly forgot to mention Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell to guys that were huge stars in WCW but let there ego run wild.

 

[WWE Manster03]

I'm gonna take the question as what BIG stars did they make. If that is the case, besides Goldberg, I would say DDP is the biggest name I can think of. Sting was huge in NWA after he quit teaming with the Ultimate Warrior and Lex Luger had a decent name for himself as well. But he wasn't really pushed hard in WCW until he came back from WWE. Booker T was pretty close to huge, but I think they held him down for way to long because of politics backstage. Steiner was so so because he had been part of a VERY popular tag team for a good many years by that point. You can't really put Jericho or any of the Radicalz in because they all got over huge in ECW before they went to WCW. Honestly, I think the biggest star WCW created, and forgive me if you don't agree, is actually Eric Bischoff. That character was almost equal to what Mr. McMahon became in WWE. So in terms of overall characters that became stars, Bischoff would win this hands down IMO.

 

[Tastycles]

I think people have confused two problems that wrestling companies have when it comes to WCW. WCW made plenty of their own stars, but they buried a lot of their home grown talent. If you look at WCW Champions, you see Flair, Luger, Sting, Ron Simmons, The Giant, Goldberg, DDP, Benoit, Booker T and Scott Steiner as the men who had their break into the major leagues at NWA/WCW, and that list is much longer than those who made their names elsewhere.

I think WCW had a tendency to hold back from pulling the trigger on the pushes of some of these guys, but they still built them nonetheless.

 

[Slyfox696]

LOL absolutely not.

Nobody knew who Scott Hall was before he came to the WWF as Razor Ramon. He became a star and left for WCW where people recognized him right away. I don't know where you got that idea.

LOL, absolutely not.

Scott Hall was a known figure in the AWA, winning tag titles and even getting shots at the AWA title back in the 80s. After a laughable run in WCW as "The Diamond Studd", he went to the WWF.

But he did nothing in the WWF that made him a STAR. He was a midcard worker, and that was it. He was never a consistent main-eventer, never involved in any major main-event angles, and was never more than a upper midcard worker. But when he went to WCW, he was thrown into arguably the biggest angle in wrestling history.

You're telling me the WWF, who had him as a constant midcard worker, made him a star more than the WCW, where he was one of the biggest things in wrestling history? You're nuts. WCW made him a star, not the WWF.


But hey, let's play along with your little game, because I was hoping someone WOULD make the comment that you made. If you're going to count Scott Hall's run in the WWF as making him a "star", then you just made MULTIPLE stars in WCW now. Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio, Malenko, Jarrett, Rick Steiner, Dustin Rhodes...if Scott Hall was a "star" in the WWF, then ALL of those guys were stars in WCW...because they all achieved the same level of success Hall did in WWF.

Thanks for opening the door for me on that.

 

[Vintage]

You might as well close the door, you're missing the obvious

When the Outsiders kicked the NWO invasion off, people didn't see Scott Hall and Kevin Nash invading WCW and they also weren't thinking of the Diamond Studd and Oz. They saw Diesel and Razor Ramon. They even acted exactly the same.

Being former WWE stars that defected to WCW to take over was their gimmick, or did you think the name Outsiders just sounded cool? At the beginning the NWO were all WWFailures or defectors who got over for the same reason. The greatest angle in wrestling history would not have been remotely possible if the stars from the WWE didn't start working for WCW

Being a star doesn't necessarily mean you have to be main eventing. That's like saying Christian isn't a star, which he obviously is and he hasn't been even close to the main event scene in the WWE as a singles competitor.

As for your list of WCW stars.. the bulk of those dude didn't become legit until the monday night wars started and they were going against established stars from other feds. Jericho and the steiners are the only exceptions, I think WCW made them. Rhodes was already a star pre wcw.

 

[Slyfox696]

You might as well close the door, you're missing the obvious

When the Outsiders kicked the NWO invasion off, people didn't see Scott Hall and Kevin Nash invading WCW and they also weren't thinking of the Diamond Studd and Oz. They saw Diesel and Razor Ramon. They even acted exactly the same.

And when Dean Malenko (and I think Perry Saturn) left the WCW to go to the WWF, people knew who they were, and they acted basically the same as they did in their WCW tenure.

Were those guys stars then too? Of course they weren't. They had the name recognition, but they weren't stars. But, if you consider you DO consider them stars, then it only validates further my point about how WCW created a bunch of stars.

No matter how you consider Scott Hall, it goes to prove my point, either directly or by parallel example.

Being a star doesn't necessarily mean you have to be main eventing. That's like saying Christian isn't a star, which he obviously is and he hasn't been even close to the main event scene in the WWE as a singles competitor.

Being a midcarder does not mean you are a star. A star is someone who people will pay money to see. Just because someone has name recognition, doesn't make them a star. Do you think people would pay to see a card headlined by Hornswoggle? Of course not, but they know who he is, he gets pretty decent reaction. But he's not star, he's just known.

As for your list of WCW stars.. the bulk of those dude didn't become legit until the monday night wars started and they were going against established stars from other feds. Jericho and the steiners are the only exceptions, I think WCW made them. Rhodes was already a star pre wcw.

What? Dustin Rhodes STARTED in WCW, and became a United States champion, as well as Tag Champions (if I remember correctly) before he went to the WWF and became Goldust.

But, again, if you want to make the claim that Scott Hall was a star, then those other guys were as well, as they achieved roughly the same measure of success as Scott Hall did in the WWF.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

But he did nothing in the WWF that made him a STAR. He was a midcard worker, and that was it. He was never a consistent main-eventer, never involved in any major main-event angles, and was never more than a upper midcard worker. But when he went to WCW, he was thrown into arguably the biggest angle in wrestling history.

You're telling me the WWF, who had him as a constant midcard worker, made him a star more than the WCW, where he was one of the biggest things in wrestling history? You're nuts. WCW made him a star, not the WWF.

I beg to differ on that,
Back when he was was in the WWF the midcard wasn't what it is today, the intercontinental title actually ment something. To be in the midcard wasn't such a bad thing back then many of STARS mad careers there back then and before him ie. Jake The Snake Roberts, Honky Tonk Man, Big Boss man, JYD. A lot of these guys never made it to main event level but were definitely stars, no? Im sure people would pay to see some of these people of that level not just the main eventers.

To say Hall never did nothing in WWF is bull, how bout the obvious WM 10? That match wasn't a main event match, but was the best part of the show. Even when you look up past WM's to watch on wwe.com, this is the match highlighted for WM 10. Probably the cornerstone for HBK's moniker MR. Wrestlemania.

Ill admit WCW definitely pushed him in the main event scene and elevated his career but I also think he was an established before he went there.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I would have to say DDP became noticeable on WCW at first, so did the Steiners, and many others. Then it was after the acquisition of WCW by WWE were they able to be springboarded/exploited (tomay-to/tomah-to) into higher grounds. However you look at it, I will say that DDP is the main man that I grew to love through WCW, and it was elevated even more through the move "Ready to Rumble." Gotta love the line "Hey DDP, know what the diamond symbol upside down is? A giant Pu$$y!" And another classic by David Arquette with his Jimmy the King doll mounting DDP "I will rule you Diamond Dallas Page!"

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Well since thread is about the stars that WCW actually created we can trim pretty much the entire list, guys like the Ric Flair, Hall, Nash, HHH, Steve Austin, ect. don't belong because none of them were actually made into stars by WCW.

There are a few they did make though. The most notable 5 are The Giant (who is now the big show), Sting, Lex Luger, the Steiners and Goldberg. You can also count Booker T in that list since all the names above were made into stars during their time with WCW. You can't count guys like Hall and Nash just because they worked for WCW BEFORE they actually became stars (I'm pretty sure Nash wasn't a STAR when he was Oz or Vinnie Vegas and HHH certainly wasn't a star as Jean-Paul Levesque).

One may argue that Sting, Luger and the Steiners were made in the NWA (which is a very good argument I'll admit) but I'll count them because they were staples in WCW and they achieved their biggest notoriety there (except for maybe Luger) and they all got pushed hard in WCW and were made to look like Stars.

After Turner bought WCW, the only stars I can really think of are The Giant, Goldberg, and Booker T. I thought WCW did a decent-to-good job making all 3 look like stars as all 3 got a fair chance to shine and actually make a name for themselves there, all of them became stars and world champions in WCW, but outside of those 3 I can't think of anyone who was actually MADE by WCW after the turner buyout (I guess that's why they went out of business and hopefully future promotions can learn from WCW's mistakes).

 

[Attitude]

Stone Cold Steve Austin (Hollywood Blondes), Mick Foley (Cactus Jack), Golddust (Dustin Diamond), Farooq (Ron Simmons-WCW World Heaveyweight Champion), Kevin Nash, Triple H, Finley, and William Regal all were WCW originals. As a matter of fact I think Stone Cold and Mick Foley were there when WCW started. All of these guys originated in WCW but didn't hit there biggest success until WWE with the acception(sp) of Ron Simmons who won the World Heaveyweight Championship. Stone Cold and Mick Foley also were successful in WCW too but didn't reach main event status until the WWE. They were all WCW orignals.

Other than those guys Goldberg, The Giant, DDP, Ric Flair, and Sting. Ric Flair and Sting were there since the beginning of WCW. Ric Flair was the first WCW World Heaveyweight Champion. So these were also WCW originals.

 

[Via Armbar]

Other than Goldberg that is. When you think of all the big names from the heyday of WCW: Goldberg, Sting, the Outsiders, Hogan, Jericho, and a majority of the NWO. Other than Goldberg, none of those guys originated in the company.

Now, these guys clearly got the job done for awhile, but there will clearly no new guys to move into the main event because no one was ever moved up or down the card. Once again, other than Goldberg, can you remember anyone who got pushed during the heyday in WCW?

So can you remember anyone who was created in WCW and, if so, were they given any push in the company?

There is a difference betweem a company creating stars and those particular wrestlers starting off there. With Jericho, he was never a star in the US before WCW, even though he had been a well traveled performer. It's still arguable whether or not they made him a ''star'', but my point has been demonstrated.

In my opinion, a company can create stars out of already established wrestlers. Like was the case with Jericho, and maybe even to an extent Booker T. He has been a mainstay in the tag team wrestling scene, but wasn't a star until WCW gave him a world title. Not that winning a world title is the only way of becoming a star, but in this particular case he had benefited from it more than he would have from anything else. He seemed more legitimate afterwards, enough for the WWE to want to keep him after WCW folded.

Another example is Diamond Dallas Page. He had been a manger in AWA, but certainly not a star. Not until WCW pushed him in the later nineties did he become on and actual became a commodity for the company. He hadn't benefited from his time in AWA, or at least it had little to no effect on his future career. I believe that he is a perfect example of a product created by WCW alone. He was a major star during the last couple years of the company and is a wrestler that many would consider a star.

So that right there is the answer to the initial question. Did they create many original stars? I'd say no, but still there were a couple that they could take credit for in Jericho, Goldberg, Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page.