Greatest WCW Wrestler Never to Win the WCW Title?

[It's Damn Real!]

Yeah, it's probably been done before (numerous times), but fuck it — I'm in a WCW mood (insert shocking facial expression here).

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Chris Jericho, Nikita Koloff, Scott Hall and more — what do they all have in common? Not a single one of them ever won WCW's biggest and best — the World Heavyweight Championship.

While normally I'm predisposed to polls, I'm abstaining this go-around since I know too many of you will just hit it and quit it, and frankly I'm looking for a little more satisfaction than that (that's what she said).

For me, the answer is simple: Hey yo! Scott Hall.

Hall was one third of the single most powerful contingent of wrestlers to ever grace WCW, and if not for his drug & alcohol addictions I strongly believe he'd have been the guy to hold the title, if even once. If Scott Steiner and DDP can be World Heavyweight Champion, why can't Hall?

That said, who in your opinion is the greatest WCW wrestler never to win the WCW title and why?

 

[kingjaekob]

By Far the answer is Scott Hall! WCW at one point had the most talent ever! in early 90's. Some stars even though they were in WCW at the time, were not ready to be world champions, for example: Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, HHH, Undertaker (Mean Mark C), What about The British Bulldog, or guys like Barry Windham, The Warrior, Curt Hennig, Rick Martel, Ravishing Rick Rude, which (i think was the champ once)

 

[Ferbian]

It's funny, cause I thought of Scott Hall instantly as well. However, I wouldn't necessarily call him the best choice, because he started to drop the ball as years with the nWo started to shine through.

I think it's gonna be hard to name one WCW wrestler that deserved to get the championship. Considering the serious amount of talent in the cruiserweight division, or for that sake just simply in the mid-card. A guy like Chris Jericho who were incredibly popular to no avail. A guy like Eddie Guerrero who were just a genuinely great worker during his days in WCW (Which only helped him during his time with WWE).

However, if there's one guy who I seriously would've loved to see at least for once get a championship reign of true importance it would have to be Roddy Piper. He was still active, and he was still one of the greatest talkers and a damn decent wrestler. He could've had some epic feuds with some of the main event guys like Ric Flair, as well as many others I'm certain.

But really, it could've been possible to let pretty much anyone of the great mid-card workers in WCW get a championship, and the majority of them would've been warranted.

 

[WrestlingMark84]

It's funny, cause I thought of Scott Hall instantly as well. However, I wouldn't necessarily call him the best choice, because he started to drop the ball as years with the nWo started to shine through.

I think it's gonna be hard to name one WCW wrestler that deserved to get the championship. Considering the serious amount of talent in the cruiserweight division, or for that sake just simply in the mid-card. A guy like Chris Jericho who were incredibly popular to no avail. A guy like Eddie Guerrero who were just a genuinely great worker during his days in WCW (Which only helped him during his time with WWE).

However, if there's one guy who I seriously would've loved to see at least for once get a championship reign of true importance it would have to be Roddy Piper. He was still active, and he was still one of the greatest talkers and a damn decent wrestler. He could've had some epic feuds with some of the main event guys like Ric Flair, as well as many others I'm certain.

But really, it could've been possible to let pretty much anyone of the great mid-card workers in WCW get a championship, and the majority of them would've been warranted.

I would aslo agree with Piper.When he debut with WCW in 1997 he jumped right into a feud with Hogan and the NWO. It was a perfect setup and i feel eventually he should have came out with the WCW heavyweight title.They generated good buyrates and i think because of politics only he was never crowned Champ..Hogan just couldn't and wouldn't do the job

 

[Optimist Prime]

Scott Hall was also overshadowed by his peers and his gimmicks at times weren't the "World Championship" caliber gimmicks you would think would win the title. As the "Diamond Stud" he was overshadowed by DDP and his gimmick was like a Rick Rude type guy. Then he teamed up with "Vinnie Vegas" (Kevin Nash) and other guys in another group that held him back. His Razor Ramon character was that of a cocaine dealer with razorblades on his trunks, ironically during the G-rating era of the WWF (albeit it was moving closer towards PG at this point a little bit). Normally, this kind of character wouldn't last...but since Hall had quite the charisma and in-ring ability - he was quickly a fan favorite regardless...but was stuck in mid-card limbo due to there being quite an array of talent in the Heavyweight class at that time.

One thing that was great about wrestling back in the day was that every tier of championship titles had stars...it didn't matter...which is what kept each title relevant and exciting back in the day. Today, if you're popular - you're a main eventer regardless. If you're mediocre or not that popular? You are in mid-card limbo...which all of the sudden doesn't have the same appreciation or feel anymore and subsequently has caused the championship titles to decline in value in somewhat of a domino effect.

The answer is Scott Hall because I believe, had he kept himself in check and worked really hard, he would have gotten a title reign like the rest of his buddies...but a part of me thinks that he just didn't care about the World Title all that much - because he was making the same high salary regardless and competing against some pretty respectable and fellow legends in the mix. Had he been in his prime today, he'd most certainly be a World Champion...because he'd have no competition in the mid-card level...since that tier of competition has not only decreased...but in some way...disappeared entirely.

EDIT UPDATE: Didn't even think of Roddy Piper for whatever reason. Great choice. I might even go with Piper over Hall...but again, it all depends on what era of wrestling we're talking about. 80's? Piper. 90's? Hall

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I think simly for the fact that he was an immediate choice for so many people here it probably belongs to scott hall. He may have been overshadowed by kevin nash in WCW despite the fact that nash, like randy orton for instance, sounds about as sobre as his team mate was.

Sorry low blow, ric flair taught me.

Now anyway, that doesn't matters, what matters is that scott hall was in the two biggest promotion when they were both on the rise and didn't win the top title despite being in the mix for it in both companies on many occasions. I remember he wrestled bret hart for the belt at royal rumble '93 and he wrestled jeff jarrett and sid vicious for the WCW belt in 2000, now that is a hell of a long time to go without winning they top belt but still be in main events especially when your a good wrestler and a solid worker. I'm assuming no proof involving ladders is required?

Imagine if people had said to bret that he couldn't get to the top because he was boring on the mic, we would all be in a constant state of uproar here. So yeah for the reason of always being able to put on good matches, but never being credited for it, this one goes to scotty boy.

Who as some of you may or may not know had his 52nd birthday yesterday! Good to have you out of rehab chico, have a good one.

 

[Tenebrous]

Pre NWO/Monday Night Wars: Barry Windham was actually NWA Champion back in '93 when WCW had two world titles so I won't include him. I'm very tempted to say Arn Anderson but he was always seen as the second to Ric Flair. I'm I am also tempted to say the Natural Dustin Rhodes. From '92-94, he was always near the top of the card and had several prominent feuds. Had he won the title during that time period given WCW's Southern fan base, no one would have batted and eye.

going with the popular sentiment so far with Scott Hall.Had Scott Hall become World Champion, I think he would have been very believeable and would have done very well. Since he was seen in the same light as Hogan and Nash, it would have been interesting to see the dynamics between the Outsiders and how jealous Hollywood Hogan would have been.

 

[K++s]

Ric Rude (and I'm not counting that NWA Title reign because it shouldn't).

He was the face of the Dangerous Alliance, was feuding with Sting at the time and it was for the U.S. championship?!?!

How does that make any sense?

Plus he scared Nash out of a hotel. How can you top that?

 

[Барбоса]

I have never considered Scott Hall as a great wrestler. Entertaining? Perhaps but in the ring he was mediocre at best and there was plenty of talent that was as entertaining and better in the ring that never got to wear the Big Gold Belt.

Names like Brian Pillman, Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and technically Chris Benoit, whose title win was declared void.

Of those I would pick Jericho. Granted he may not have fitted in well as a leader of the WCW resistance and would have gotten lost in the Hogan, Hall and Nash-run nWo. However, I feel that his heel character from his feud with HBK could easily have led the nWo as world champion in a far more heelish direction than the cool heel that it ended up going.

Of course, it is unknowable if Jericho had matured enough as a performer to pull that off.

it would have been interesting to see the dynamics between the Outsiders and how jealous Hollywood Hogan would have been.

We had this dynamic during the nWo days with Randy Savage winning the title.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

Trying to flashback to the WCW days here... The first name I thought of was Rey Mysterio... I remember one Nitro when Flair was champ he said he'd take on anyone in the locker room and had a draw... El Dandy won the draw and Rey Rey bribed himself into the match... Rey almost won (outside interference) ... I still remember sitting in front of the TV thinking that I was going to see a cruiserweight become a champ... To my sheer dissapointment it never happened.... Other opions for me were Fit Finlay, Chris jericho, Scott Hall and Marc Mero

 

[masonwade313]

Rey Mysterio Jr was as big as any one in WCW at that time and was very well one of the best wrestlers in that era....never had the belt.. The One Man Gang never held the belt in WCW and was another big wrestler in WCW when he was there..

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Of course the obvious choice is Scott Hall. Who knows though, maybe if it wasn't for his personal problems with alcohol he might have gotten the chance to succeed. I do remember he did face Sting for the World Title at Uncensored 98'. Ultimately I think that he let his personal problems get the best of him, and he let his push fade with it.

How about Raven? I loved Raven in WCW more than I did in ECW. He was such a great talker, and was given a little push to the U.S. title. Then he got squashed by Goldberg and all his momentum was gone. I always thought he fit right in at WCW, and he wouldve been a great addition to the main event scene.

 

[J.Diesel]

Raven. He may not of been the greatest WCW wrestler to never win the WCW Title but he is up there in charisma and personality. One thing I think of when I think of Raven and WCW was his classic feud with DDP. I think if DDP was WCW champ and with their prior feud it would of been a perfect set-up for Raven.

He had an excellent stable of Misfits behind him in the Flock. It was like the NWO of rejects. And with most of his matches going under Ravens Rules it would of been in his advantage to win the WCW title or defend it.

Other choices being Scott Hall, Mike Awesome and Vampiro.

 

[The Poodle]

I think the problem with a lot of this thread is that we are looking back in time, but basing a lot of things off what those people would go on to become. Steve Austin, are you kidding me? He was a joke in WCW. Jericho was good at what he was then - a cruiserweight wrestler who was on his way up. Same with Mysterio, Eddie, etc. They werent the same guys in the WCW days that they were and are later in their careers or now.

Scott Hall could be an answer I suppose. The problem with him is that he wasn't as good as any of the other people who had the title at the time. Sting, Hogan, Nash, Bret Hart, Goldberg. How can you have the title as the 3rd best (eventually 4th, 5th, 6th, etc) in your own faction. Razor Ramon should have had a chance for the title (and would have in the Attitude Era), Scott Hall in NWO, no shot.

I do think Hall should have had a run with the title, but I dont know he is the greatest to have never won it.

And Piper - that's a joke. The reason Piper's feud with Hogan was popular was because it was Piper and Hogan - two way too old superstars who should have been helping get other people over but instead DESTROYED wcw (yes Hogan, I mean you, and yes Hulk, you ARE doing it again now, but I digress)

If we say knowing everything we know now, the answer is Jericho or Austin. But, I'd go with Benoit.

He was a great wrestler, and WCW at the time didn't rely so much on mic skills (sting went years without talking, Goldberg wasn't very good at it, "The Giant", etc). I know he won, but it was declared void, so I say Benoit.

 

[zackattack]

I'm going to have to say Scott Hall or Roddy Piper. Reason I pick these two is because these are the 2 guys that actually could've been world champs and got over in WCW. Yes Arn, Eddie and Jericho (who actually won the WCW title during the invasion angle) were great wrestlers but they were not drawing the money for the company. I also find it somewhat upsetting that as hot as Piper was in the 80s and 90s he never won a single World Title in either WWE or WCW. Hall should have been WCW champ because besides those 2 every1 else who rlly shoulda won it and then some actually did win.

 

[Lykkekage]

Definately The Shockmaster he was just pure awesomeness! Jokes aside ... VINCE RUSSO... no wait ... Okay serious now, i gotta say Scott Hall, if it wasnt for his personal/alcohol problems, he could have made a very good champion. But well Scott was probably not better then the people, who had the title in his prime, but it would have been nice to see him as champ

 

[Rayne]

This depends a lot on our perspective now, being able to look at what became of a lot of those wrestlers.

In the 90's, I would say Arn Anderson. The guy could put anyone over without hogging the spotlight for himself. You know that canard about how professional wrestling should tell a story? He was a freakin' author in the ring. Even though he was never a 'top guy', you could put him in a match with anyone and he'd make it work.

Today, I'd say Chris Jericho. Back then, Jericho had a slim, cruiserweight build, but the building blocks were there for a great champion; he was stellar on the mic and could work a good match. WCW really missed big by letting him go (although them missing big turned out to be a blessing, in the end, for Jericho.) Jericho leaves WCW, joins WWF, wins the IC title, suddenly puts on about 30 pounds of muscle (hrm.......), and now we're having this conversation.

 

[Harry Trashbins]

I have to go with Dean Malenko. In my opinion one of the best wrestlers of all time. He just lacked the promo time (probably because of a lack of promo skills, but I don't know that for sure). Anyway, the man of 1,000 holds didn't win the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for best technical wrestler of the year two times for nothing and he also was number 1 in the PWI 500 in 1997, so that can only mean he was a top wrestler.
Man, I'd love to see a match of him vs Kurt Angle...

 

[Amped08]

I've heard some pretty legitimate answers, but I'd say Chris Jericho without a doubt. Back then I used to flip between stations from wwf to wcw and really all i was looking for what what was going on with Chris Jericho and how his war on conspiracy was going. His arguing with JoJo Dillan and Stinko Malenko were hysterical and after he debuted in the middle of the Rocks speech on RAW I had no reason to flip back anymore. WCW didn't know what they had.

 

[cbreezy]

I have a lot of respect for the people that have mentioned names like raven and malenko because they were just as over as some of the top names in wcw at the time. Im also going to go down a different path and say marcus alexander "buff" bagwell. buff bagwell was a great talent. its hard to think of wat he wasnt good at. everything from his look to his ring music was perfect for him. his charisma was great and he was also an excellant in ring worker. imo, buff bagwell should have had his turn with the strap

 

[Honkey_Kong]

You know who should have got the title was Kevin Sullivan. Especially when he was feuding with Hogan. The guy even despite having a shitty angle could cut a good promo and he was solid in the ring.

But the wcw title meant shit towards the end anyways. David Arquette got the strap (and yes I know is was to promote that ******ed movie Ready to Rumble). I also think Dustin Rhodes should've got the strap instead of canned for that match with the blacktop bully.

 

[natlee75]

Does the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, renamed the WCW International Heavyweight Championship, count? If not, I would say Rick Rude or Ricky Steamboat. If so, I would say probably someone like Arn Anderson who was by far the best technical wrestler in The Four Horsemen and had the perfect gruff, no nonsense, all business personality to complement Ric Flair's constant strutting and WOOing.

A lot of people mention Scott Hall, but Hall was never a "great" wrestler. He had some good matches against Shawn Michaels in WWF, but he never had any really good singles matches in WCW as part of NWO.

I also don't think Hall would ever have been World Champion. The OP mentioned that he was one-third of the original NWO yet he was the kind of character who would always play second fiddle to Nash and Hogan. In every gimmick and angle in WCW, he was second fiddle to someone. This is not to say that he wasn't a good character and didn't deserve a title run but simply that it wasn't likely in the cards for him with or without his alcoholism problems (which weren't really that much of a reason that he'd never get a World title run since WCW had PLENTY of opportunities to give one to him while he was clean and sober).

In that way, his association with the NWO was probably more of a roadblock to him having the title - he'd always be associated with Hogan, Nash, etc. and as such would always be seen as the "lesser" option: why would any booker give him the title over guys like Hogan, Nash, Goldberg, and *shudder* Scott Steiner (who I absolutely despise but could see why he'd get the title).

 

[natlee75]

Steve Austin, are you kidding me? He was a joke in WCW.

"Stunning" Steve Austin was one of the better in-ring performers in WCW during his stint there. His time with the Dangerous Alliance and The Hollywood Blondes was great.

WCW simply wasn't interested in giving him a chance to prove himself worthy of carrying the ball because Bischoff was already predisposed to the idea that "wrestling in black tights" was a path to nowhere.

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

A lot of people are saying Scott Hall. The guy is a good wrestler, and he was much better than Kevin Nash. I personally think Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Brian Pillman. These guys were so talented, except WCW only liked the stars they bought, not what they had and could've done. Thank god Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio got the push they deserved in WWE.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Curt Hennig.

He deserved the WWF title to cap off his WWF career after winning two IC titles. The man had the total package and could get it done on the main event level. It's a shame that his injuries prevented him from reaching any further success during his soon-to-be departure. In WCW, he looked strong. Not only was he in the nWo, but he was in great shape and ready to reign as Champion. He wrestled everyone and he looked good doing it. It's a shame that he only got to hold the US and Tag Team titles. The WCW World title would have looked good on him and his resume and would have restored his status as a major player who was once a full year AWA World Champion.