If WCW hadn't closed down...

[Wolf Pac]

Which wrestler from the roster they had at the time, could you have seen become WCW World Heavyweight Champion for the first time?​

My vote goes to Rick Steiner. The Dog Faced Gremlin was making it on his own ever since his split with Scott. I mean he won the TV & US Titles and had faced some main eventers in his singles career like Goldberg & Sting. You don't get those opportunities if creative sees nothing in you. Personally I believe he could've been another tag wrestler turned singles great like his brother, HBK, Booker etc. had WCW not closed down.

 

[This Is My Name Thank You]

Scott Hall

He was number 1 contender and he SHOULD of became a champion. Sure he had issues and what not but he could of became champ more times then Nash. I enjoyed watch him more then Nash tbh. An Scott Hall had and was getting big pops from the crowd. He was deffintaly WHC material. Why he never got the belt is still a wonder to us all.

This is my opinion and choice an I do believe if the demons didn't over take Scott he would of finally took the opp and became WHC.

 

[Foshinzo]

Probably someone unexpected or undeserving, I believe. If they were smart, they would have pushed their most popular performers to the Main Event, despite not being Heavyweights. Either Billy Kidman or Rey were probably the most popular, fresh faces that they had left, and they probably could have helped the company quite a bit to sort of take over the front. I know that they were really small and probably couldn't have worked with a lot of the roster, but they were still the only young guys they had left with star power, IMO.

 

[Awesome_Miz]

Hall cause he was a really good performer and giving him the title would have meant some entertaining matches to watch.

 

[OutsiderDX]

Meng would have been a great choice.

He won his first singles title in 2001.

It would have been easy to turn him into a credible world champion, by simply having the wrestlers tell actual real-life stories about Meng.

Over and over and over... every time a wrestler is asked to name the most legit tough guy in wrestling, Meng's name is mentioned first... everyone else a distant second. The stories about him are infamous if not legendary.

They could have capiltalized on that, and blurred the lines of realism.

 

[wrestler36]

Buff Bagwell was awfully popular. He had the historical clout to become a world champion. He was tag, tv, and i think US champ at one point. One of the breakouts of the nWo and had some good feuds with Steiner, Luger and some other guys. I think he was good friends with Bischoff and DDP, so that would've definitely helped. He was good on the mic, good in the ring and had great charisma. One of the few truly WCW bred stars, he definitely would've held the belt had WCW stuck around.

 

[This Is My Name Thank You]

Buff Bagwell was awfully popular. He had the historical clout to become a world champion. He was tag, tv, and i think US champ at one point. One of the breakouts of the nWo and had some good feuds with Steiner, Luger and some other guys. I think he was good friends with Bischoff and DDP, so that would've definitely helped. He was good on the mic, good in the ring and had great charisma. One of the few truly WCW bred stars, he definitely would've held the belt had WCW stuck around.

I agree with you on this as he was my second choice after Hall. Buff was a big guy but was damn good in the ring. I was always surpirsed he never held the title. Well I am becuase it was always between 5 guys but still, if WCW was around he'd be a multi time WHC.

 

[Mr_billy]

My answer goes with Sean O'Haire. He was awesome, good on the mike and an excellent choice to be the face of the company. Palumbo and him were tearing up the tag ranks and beating big names. and he was more charismatic than Chuck.

 

[whoopin' ass]

from just reading a few of the replies, i already see a problem. did you mean the actual wcw that closed down or the wcw before russo? reason i am asking is because if you meant the roster when it closed down, guys like scott hall would never have been world champ since he was already gone from the company. anyone a little older (sorry rick steiner) would probably have never had their chance either assuming things didn't change in terms of management. if you are looking at the roster as of the time wwf bought it, i would say lance storm. he had the ability and they already had put pretty much every other title on him already. his character may not have been the best but he was a damn good talent and i think he would have been made champ.

weren't both aj styles and chris daniels in wcw just before it closed? i doubt anyone looking at them at that time would have said "world champ material" since the booking was so poor, you couldn't tell if they had talent or not. that is what makes this question so unusual - we can look back now and say someone would have been but at the time, would they have actually stood out? a lot of wcw's talent at that time were like the miz - until it happened, you would never have guessed they would become champ.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

without a doubt scott hall he was #1 contender atleast once and if i rember right he never even got his shot! but he was pretty badass and i really thought he was gonna end up winning the WCW title....of course now hes just too fat and too drugged up to be a world champion ever but he is gonna go down as being 1 of the best guys in the business to never hold a world title imo

 

[wushady]

I agree with whoopin' ass that WCW was to entirely different companies the last year and a half or so it was around. Scott Hall was arguably one of if not the greatest wrestlers to never be world champion. In his prime he should of been. However by the time WCW went under he was already too far gone with his personal demons and not the top level talent he once was.

The last year or so WCW was around they were pushing young unproven talent and guys like Booker T that have been around a while that never had their opportunity. Considering the push he got when he debuted I would imagine Lance Storm would have been World champion sooner or later.

 

[Kasey]

from just reading a few of the replies, i already see a problem. did you mean the actual wcw that closed down or the wcw before russo? reason i am asking is because if you meant the roster when it closed down, guys like scott hall would never have been world champ since he was already gone from the company. anyone a little older (sorry rick steiner) would probably have never had their chance either assuming things didn't change in terms of management. if you are looking at the roster as of the time wwf bought it, i would say lance storm. he had the ability and they already had put pretty much every other title on him already. his character may not have been the best but he was a damn good talent and i think he would have been made champ.

weren't both aj styles and chris daniels in wcw just before it closed? i doubt anyone looking at them at that time would have said "world champ material" since the booking was so poor, you couldn't tell if they had talent or not. that is what makes this question so unusual - we can look back now and say someone would have been but at the time, would they have actually stood out? a lot of wcw's talent at that time were like the miz - until it happened, you would never have guessed they would become champ.

This.

The WCW roster at the time of closure was a skeleton crew of what had been there before. My guess is that if it would've stayed open after the shutdown (if Bischoff had landed financial backing, for example) then Steiner and Booker would've probably been the two top dogs fighting over the belt, along with some of the more youthful guys they would've had to elevate if they couldn't cajole any of the WCW mainstays back into the company.

The end of WCW's run was a definite hodgepodge of talent that didn't really have much of a lineage, but you can look at some of the early TNA telecasts to see where some of them went. It's really tough to say in terms of what direction the company would've went under those circumstances because you'd just be guessing as to who'd even be on the roster seeing as some of them weren't even on TV near the end, even though they were getting paid with guaranteed deals (Goldberg and Nash).

 

[Pedigree1]

Gotta go with Buff Daddy!! Im buff and im the stuff!!! He was arrogant cocky i just wanted to slap him but he was hella funny!!! I have him just inches ahead of scott hall on my list! I just felt that buff the stuff wasnt getting his just due!! I mean the man could wrestle tell a great story in the ring and he would have been a credible champion IMO!! his finishing move was called the blockbuster was it not?? I wish he could have been champion at least once he deserved it

 

[kidmetal24]

I would have loved to see Vampiro as WCW champion. I thought he was an excellent talent and was deserving. Almost like a passing of the torch from sting to vampiro as taker should have done for kane a while ago.

 

[Headman]

Which wrestler from the roster they had at the time, could you have seen become WCW World Heavyweight Champion for the first time?​

My vote goes to Rick Steiner. The Dog Faced Gremlin was making it on his own ever since his split with Scott. I mean he won the TV & US Titles and had faced some main eventers in his singles career like Goldberg & Sting. You don't get those opportunities if creative sees nothing in you. Personally I believe he could've been another tag wrestler turned singles great like his brother, HBK, Booker etc. had WCW not closed down.

While other's say Scott Hall, I don't know for sure that they would have been able to keep him. Hall, Nash, Hogan and others had contracts with Turner, not Vince. The guys who came to WWE voluntarly voided their Turner contracts because they saw it as a better long term move, but Hall, Nash and Hogan made more money sitting on their buts than they would have signing with Vince. Now with that said, assuming Bischoff's group would have aquired WCW they'd be working with a smaller budget than Turner or Mcmahon. I don't see them being able to afford to get Hall or any of their other major stars back in the ring. I'm guessing they would look and function a lot like TNA does now constantly in risk of losing their talent to Mcmahon's money. Also assuming that Bischoff's new WCW couldn't afford to buy the existing WCW contracts they would have to compete with Vince in re-signing them. With that said the guy to win the WCW title for the first time in his career would have to be someone Vince might have passed on. My prediction... The Wall. He was absolute garbage but boy did they seem to want to push that guy at one point. I think they probably would have revisited this with the few options they would have imo.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

If you look at the roster at the time I couldn't see Hall or Bagwell as Champions. Reason being is that in the dying years their appearance was really inconsistent (and same goes to everyone that had a Time Warner guaranteed contract).

Now assuming (either if Bishoff bought WCW or if Time Warner decided to stick with it). The roster will consistently have Booker T, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Diamond Dallas Page, Mike Awsome, Bambam Bigelow, Jarrett, Mysterio, Helms, Karagias, Kidman, Storm, Douglas etc. I guess Goldberg would have found his way to WCW.

From that list I can see Lance Storm being World Champion down the line. Its funny in the Dying Days of WCW me and my friend would talk about Lance Storm as much as Booker T or Steiner. Especially when he had like 3 or 4 Titles at once.

Lance Storm was really misued in WWE but I always felt he had a ton of potential main eventing if he was just given the opportunity. Pair him with Mike Awsome or Bambam Bigelow as a big man body guard, I can't see how he can't be World Champion feuding with the likes of DDP or Booker T.

 

[Lugar]

I gotta go with Lance Storm, Hugh Morris, Mike Awsome, Sean O'Hare.

My out there pick is Mike Saunders, he was good on the mic, decent in the ring and was the de facto leader or the Natural Born Thrillers. I can see him playing the chickenshit champ always relying on the NBT to win until Sean O'Hare gets pissed and demands a shot at the gold.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

If he had been in his prime I would have gone for Scott Hall easily. He was a fantastic performer in his time, and it was a shame he never became world champion.

BUT

If he are focusing on WCW in 2001 and pretending that the company never shut down then there is only one man in my eyes who can be considered for this, and that is MIKE AWESOME

He had the look, the size, the ability and was incredibly athletic for a man of his size. He should have been the guy WCW pushed to the moon, and it still pisses me off to this day how he was used in the company. They had an absolute monster on their hands and they made him into a joke figure when he should have been hitting a powerbomb on Goldberg and winning the Heavyweight title.

A sad waste of a very talented guy, Mike Awesome was the shit

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Lance Storm was the obvious all rounder as he played up his monotonous delivery to the hilt in WCW, much as Y2J did in his last incarnation. A programme between him and Mike Awesome over the World Belt could have provided great match ups. I also liked 'Above Average' Mike Sanders and could really have seen him as a noughties Ric Flair.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I meant the company in 2001, sorry for the confusion everybody.

 

[Captain Mike]

Lance Storm, Sean O'Haire, Mike Awesome, Hugh Morris, Rey Mysterio and possibly even Shane Douglas... I could have seen some great matches coming from Storm/Awesome, Storm/Rey even Storm/Douglas if the premise was right. O'Haire could have been built as the next WCW Big Name, I always thought he could have been a great talent. Morris I could have seen as a transitional champion more than anything...