Connor McGrath
Welcome to Part 2 of our three part series counting down the greatest stars of World Championship Wrestling. For the list, we consulted the members of our very own sister, The Real TSM.com. Last week, we showcased #25 through on #16 on the list, now we inch closer to the top with a look at the wrestlers who ranked #15 through #6 on the list.
This might be the most controversial portion of the list with wrestlers who are highly contentious for actions in and out of the ring being ranked. Plus of course, a few wrestlers who many considered to be in the Top 5, just missing the cut. However, all of these performers, love them or hate them, have made a huge impact on the history of WCW. So let’s get this thing started, shall we?
#15. Chris Benoit
(January to September 1993, October 1995 to January 2000)
Titles: Former WCW World Champion, Two Time WCW United States Champion, Two Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (once with Dean Malenko, once with Perry Saturn), Three Time WCW World Television Champion, WCW Triple Crown Champion
Career Highlights: Wrestling Observer Best Technical Wrestler (1995), Wrestling Observer Most Underrated (1998), Wrestling Observer’s Readers Favorite Wrestler (1997)
Lowlights: Ruined Kevin Sullivan’s marriage, in real life…which indirectly led to uh, some worse stuff later on. Got his boots peed on by Scott Hall. Deemed a “Vanilla Midget” by that Powers That Be in the company.
Essential Match: Vs Bret Hart (Owen Hart Tribute Match on the 10/4/99 episode of Monday Nitro)
I’ve always been a big believer in between keeping a person’s professional accomplishments and personal failings separate. As with anything, sometimes greatness is produced by not so great people. And boy, is that the case with #15 on our list. Luckily, it’s easier to separate Benoit’s awesome career in WCW with his anything but awesome skills as a family man. In WWE, Benoit was definitely a bigger star but I don’t know if he was a better wrestler. He might have had more great matches in WWE but that was because he had the opportunity to be in more great matches. So many elements were working against him in WCW. He was everything Eric Bischoff didn’t want in a main eventer; he was short, he didn’t cut a great promo, he had zero mainstream appeal. Fans of WCW just loved the guy, probably for the same reasons that a lot of the upper brass didn’t like him. He wasn’t pretty, he wasn’t articulate and he was a tiny little bastard but he was a first rate shit kicker and could wrestle his ass off. Benoit is up there with Bret Hart and Ric Flair in terms of ability to get great matches out of the widest variety of opponents. It didn’t matter if he was going against Rey Mysterio Jr or The Giant, Chris Benoit would bust his butt to try and provide the best match of the show. On a pure workrate basis, Benoit was in the top five best workers to ever wrestle in WCW.
#14. Scott Hall
(June to November 1989, June 1991 to May 1992, May 1996 to February 2000)
Titles: Two Time WCW United States Champion, Seven Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (Six Times with Kevin Nash, One Time with The Giant), Two Time WCW Television Champion
Highlights: PWI Tag Team of the Year (1997, with Kevin Nash), founder of the New World Order
Lowlights: His early runs as “Gator” Scott Hall and The Diamond Studd. Being sent to rehab after being visibly intoxicated on an episode of Monday Nitro and then having his alcoholism be the butt of jokes for the rest of his career. Peed on Chris Benoit’s cowboy boots (probably retroactively a highlight) Hanging out in a mental hospital with Ric Flair on an episode of Monday Nitro. Having his troubles with WCW made the focal point of a lame worked shoot angle between Kevin Nash and Goldberg after Hall was fired from the company.
Essential Matches: with Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan Vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger, Bash at the Beach 1996
Scott Hall’s career in WCW was manic, to say the least. One minute, he was a hot prospect. The next, an also ran. Then he was the instigator of the greatest angle in the company’s history. The next, an overly arrogant, overfed smug bully and then eventually, he burned out of the company completely. Scott Hall’s career was so frustrating because when he was on, he was absolutely brilliant. I don’t know if Hall had many (if ANY) truly great matches in WCW but he was always eminently watchable, even after his prime. You always wanted to see what Scott Hall was doing, even if he was just driving his career into the ground. Whatever the it factor is in wrestling (And I’m not talkin’ Bobby Roode), Scott Hall has “it”. Years after his in-ring career faded, his out of the ring exploits are still the topic of discussion amongst fans and his name is still brought up regularly by casual fans of the sport. He was one of the most captivating promos and even if he might not have had the workrate abilities of a Chris Benoit or a Dean Malenko, he was definitely a capable and believable presence in the ring when he was motivated. His career might not have made the impact that it should have but it definitely created quite the impression.
#13. Arn Anderson
(November 1989 to August 1997)
Titles: Three Time WCW World Tag Team Champ (once with Larry Zbyszko, once with Bobby Eaton, once with Paul Roma), Three Time WCW World Television Champ
Career Highlights: PWI Tag Team of the Year (1991, with Larry Zbyszko), Wrestling Observer Best Interview (1990), PWI Stanley Weston Award for Lifetime Achievement in Pro Wrestling (1997). Defeated Hulk Hogan two weeks in a row on Monday Nitro in February 1996.
Lowlights: Got frightened by Robocop, had his last WCW Television title reign ended by an even worse version of the Ulitmate Warrior named Renegade, Wrestling Observer Worst Match of the Year (1996, with Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, Z-Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution Vs Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, Triple Cage Match at Uncensored ’96), publicly mocked by New World Order after Anderson’s tear soaked retirement ceremony.
Arn Anderson was definitely the kind of wrestler that WCW loyalists looked up to. Heck, the webmaster for the popular WCW only recap site, DDT Digest, also ran an Arn tribute site. Even though Arn had a brief but high quality in WWF, he always embodied World Championship Wrestling and the good ol’ boy fans from Carolina and Georgia who followed it from day one. He didn’t have the fanciest moveset and he wasn’t the flashiest speaker but his intensity in the ring and on the microphone made him incredibly fascinating in every era of the company he was involved in until his retirement in 1997 (and even a bit afterward). Some might bemoan the fact that Arn never held the World Title or got an extended run in the main event. While Arn as a top guy would have been a fascinating watch (and we got a glimpse of it when he beat Hulk Hogan on Nitro two weeks in a row towards the end of Double A’s career), his destiny was to be the world’s greatest complementary player in pro wrestling. He was more Scottie Pippen than Michael Jordan. He could have been a great main eventer but he was a fantastic upper mid-carder. The right guy to make or break a guy on his way to the top. In a lot of ways, that’s one of the most important gigs in pro wrestling and very few were better at doing it than Arn Anderson.
#12. Scott Steiner
(May 1989 to October 1992, March 1996 to March 2001)
Titles: Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Six Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (with Rick Steiner), Two Time WCW United States Champion, Two Time WCW Television Champion, Former WCW United States Tag Team Champion (with Rick Steiner)
Highlights: Main evented Starrcade (2000) PWI Match of the Year (1991, with Rick Steiner Vs Lex Luger and Sting), PWI Tag Team of the Year (1990, with Rick Steiner), Wrestling Observer Match of the Year (1991, with Rick Steiner Vs Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki) , Wrestling Observer Tag Team of the Year (1990, with Rick Steiner), Wrestling Observer Most Improved (1989), Five Star Match (War Games 1991, with Sting, Rick Steiner and Brian Pillman Vs Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid, and Larry Zbyszko) . Main evented the last WCW PPV (Greed)
Lowlights: Suffering a near career ending back injury in late ’99, being suspended for going off script during a promo on an episode of Monday Nitro in March of ’00, having to wrestle Tank Abbott in a worked shoot, stretching The Howard Stern Show’s Beetlejuice (also could be considered a career highlight.
Essential Matches: with Rick Steiner Vs Sting and Lex Luger (SuperBrawl)
Talking about Scott Steiner, I have to really to tell the tale of two careers. I’m not sure if I should spend more time talking about the quiet, baby faced (and mullet wearing) athletic freak of nature of the early to mid ’90s or the controversial, swoll loud mouth of the late ’90s and ’00s. It hasn’t always been the most popular opinion but I love both equally. Scott Steiner was one of the best wrestlers in the industry in the first half of the ’90s but in the last half of the decade after injuries limited his moveset, he became one of the best characters. He was always fascinating to watch. Early on, it was for what he did in the ring and after ’98, it was for what he said in the ring. At the time during the peak of Steiner’s Big Poppa Pump era in WCW, a lot in the IWC were disappointed at what Steiner had become that he couldn’t do what he once did in the ring and that he only became known for shock value. But I commend Steiner for being able to completely reinvent himself and come up with a new personality at a point when a lot of wrestlers (like his big brother Rick) would have been content to rest on their laurels and become part of the nostalgia circuit. If there was somehow a way to combine Scott Steiner’s incredible athleticism and workrate of the early ’90s with his outstanding, unpredictable character from the last three years of the company, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would crack the Top 5 of this list.
#11. Booker T
(July 1993 to March 2001)
Titles: Four Time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Ten Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (with Stevie Ray), Former WCW United States Champion, Six Time WCW World Television Champion.
Career Highlights: Last WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Second African-American WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Two Time PWI Tag Team of the Year winner (1995 and ’96 with Stevie Ray), PWI Most Improved Wrestler (1998), PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler (2000)
Career Lowlights: Arrived in WCW wearing shackles, had to pretend to be afraid of the Shockmaster, a zillion terrible matches with his brother Stevie against The Nasty Boys, lost the letter “T” in a match against an overweight, past his prime Ahmed Johnson, briefly and inexplicably became GI Bro.
Essential Match: Vs Chris Benoit, Great American Bash ’98
With all of this talk during the countdown about guys who underachieved or guys who were mismanaged by the bookers of WCW, it’s great to finally bring up a guy who busted his ass and made his way to the top of the ladder in the company. Things were never easy for Booker T. The dude debuted wearing shackles with his brother Stevie and being managed by an old Southern white dude named the Colonel, which is just a little bit offensive. He was a character named GI Bro. But somehow he managed to take all of his career mismanagement in stride and just continued to work hard at being the best he could be. And I’m not sure if Booker was ever the best of the best, in terms of workrate (although from ’97 on, he was pretty damn close), he was always one of if not the hardest worker in WCW. One of the only saving graces of the last year of WCW was finally seeing Booker T come into his own as a main eventer. The undercards may have sucked and the storylines he was involved in might have been fairly dumb (or at the very least, a blatant ripoff of whatever storyline The Rock was involved in the time in WWF) but Booker could always be counted on to be part of a good main event that would help make the show not quite as horrible. Booker’s living proof that with hard work, determination, and talent, the cream will rise to the top. Now can you dig that….SUCKA!?
#10. Lex Luger
(November 1988 to February 1992, September 1995 to March 2001)
Titles: Two Time WCW World Champion, Five Time WCW United States Champion, Two Time WCW Television Champion, Two Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (once with Sting, once with The Giant), WCW Triple Crown Champion
Highlights: Main evented Starrcade (1988), PWI Wrestler of the Year (1997), PWI Match of the Year (1991, with Sting Vs The Steiner Brothers), Two Time PWI Feud of the Year winner (1988 and 1990 with Ric Flair), Wrestling Observer Most Improved (1989)
Lowlights: Constantly ending up on the short end of the stick in matches with Ric Flair, sat out the last few months of his WCW contract during his first run…while he was WCW World Champion, member of the Dungeon of Doom, rebranded as The Total Package, jobbed in less than a minute in his final WCW match with Buff Bagwell against The Natural Born Thrillers
Essential Match: Vs Ricky Steamboat (Great American Bash ’89), Vs Ric Flair (Capitol Combat), Vs Hollywood Hogan (WCW Monday Nitro 8/4/97)
At one point, Lex Luger seemed poised to be the Hulk Hogan of the WCW. He had the kind of look that ’80s wrestling promoters drooled over. If anything, Luger looked like an even better version of Hogan. He seemed to be primed to be the super, moneymaking babyface of the ’90s (as Hogan was for the ’80s). But unlike those stupid IcoPro commercials Luger starred in when he jumped over to WWF for a spell in the mid ’90s, he never really seemed to “want it”. Luger always seemed to be more comfortable as an arrogant, insincere oafish heel and that’s what he ended up being for his first WCW World title run in the second half of 1991 (and most of the better moments of his career). It seemed like he had made a career of almost but not quite making it to the top. That is until August of ’97, in the twilight of his career, when Luger finally seemed to put it all together and become the man that everybody thought he was. For one summer, he was the hottest babyface in wrestling during one of the most successful periods in wrestling history. On one of the biggest episodes of Monday Nitro, he defeated Hollywood Hogan to become WCW World Champion and finally claim his place on top of the wrestling world.
Then since, it was WCW…Luger lost the title a week later and was never the same. But in wrestling, the chase is often more interesting the catch and I don’t think any wrestler was on the chase as many times as Flexy Lexy.
#9. Rey Mysterio Jr
(June 1996 to March 2001)
Titles: Five Time WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Three Time WCW Tag Team Champion (with Billy Kidman, Konnan, and Juventud Guerrera), Former WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champion (with Kidman)
Highlights: Helping popularize lucha libre wrestling in America in the late ‘90s, Wrestling Observer’s Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year (1996)
Lowlights: Losing his mask against Kevin Nash at SuperBrawl IX and then subsequently awkwardly becoming a hip hopper and ripping off X-Pac. Teaming up with Master P.
Essential Match: Vs Dean Malenko (Great American Bash ’96), Vs Eddie Guerrero (Halloween Havoc ’97), with Kidman Vs Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko Vs Raven and Saturn (Slamboree ’99)
Of all of the Mexican luchadores who infiltrated WCW in the late ’90s, Rey Mysterio was the best and the only one who was successful enough to rise above the level of undercard attraction. Yeah, Mysterio might not have won any World Titles during his run but considering he worked in a company where mainstream recognition and “veteran experience” were the criteria for winning World Titles, the fact that he got to work with former World Champions was an accomplishment in and of itself. Especially considering that not only was Rey much smaller than your average wrestler, he was much smaller than your average cruiserweight. It’d be easy for him to be dismissed as a novelty act, the Spud Webb of pro wrestling. His explosive talent made it impossible for the upper management at the company to ignore him. Despite their best efforts. Rey Mysterio: Konnan’s hip-hop sidekick was not exactly a shining moment. Even during those low points, Mysterio had the ability to crank out four star matches with ease. And when WCW ended in March ’01, Rey Mysterio was there, the last man standing among the Mexican cruiserweights.
#8. Kevin Nash
(September 1990 to June 1993, June 1996 to February 2001)
Titles: Five Time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Nine Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (six times with Scott Hall, twice with Diamond Dallas Page, once with Sting)
Highlights: Main evented Starrcade (1998), co-creator of most successful stable in company history (New World Order), PWI Tag Team of the Year (1997 with Scott Hall)
Lowlights: Basically, his entire first run in WCW and stints as Master Blaster, Oz, Vinnie Vegas, etc. Basically anything and everything he did in the company after 1998.Critically reviled run as booker of WCW in Spring of 1999. Drunkenly commentated on an episode of Thunder in October 1999 (also a career highlight). Wrestling Observer’s Worst Wrestler of the Year two years in a row (’99-’00), awkward worked-shoot angle with Goldberg in ’00.
Essential Matches: With Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan Vs Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage (Bash at the Beach ’96), Vs The Giant (Souled Out ’98), Vs Goldberg (Starrcade ’98)
Wrestling fans can criticize Kevin Nash for any number of reasons. Yes, he was terrible in his stint as the booker for the company. Yes, he could be an egomaniacal, locker room bully, who often held down younger talent. Yes, he only had four moves (five if you count the hair flip) but nobody could criticize Kevin Nash for not being intelligent. And only the biggest stick in the mud could accuse him of being not entertaining. Kevin Nash created a hell of a career based on those four moves (and actually had more good matches in WCW than his somewhat more critically praised tag partner, Scott Hall) and is an underrated promo. Scott Hall may have been the first member of the New World Order but Kevin Nash was the one who solidified it as a main event presence. Nash may have done a lot of things that hurt WCW and led to its downfall but he’s also a huge part of why it got to #1 in the first place. Nash may have never been close to being one of the best wrestlers in WCW but he was always one of the coolest and in a company that was run by Eric Bischoff and later, Vince Russo…that counted for a lot.
#7. Ricky Steamboat
(January to July 1989, November 1991 to September 1994)
Titles: WCW World Champion, Former WCW United States Champion, Two Time WCW Tag Team Champion (with Dustin Rhodes and Shane Douglas), Two Time WCW Television Champion
Highlights: PWI Match of the Year (1989, Vs Ric Flair, WrestleWar ’89), Wrestling Observer Match of the Year (1989, Vs Ric Flair, Clash of the Champions VI), Three Matches Rated Five Stars by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Lowlights: Bringing that stupid dragon outfit back with him when he returned from WWF in 1991, having a career ending back injury against Steve Austin and subsequently getting fired via FedEx by Eric Bischoff in the Fall of ’94.
Essential Matches: Vs Ric Flair (Chi-Town Rumble), with Dustin Rhodes Vs Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko (Clash of the Champions XVII), with Shane Douglas Vs The Hollywood Blondes (Clash of the Champions XXII)
And now to a wrestler just slightly more liked than Kevin Nash. *sarcasm mode off* From a pure wrestling standpoint, Steamboat would be considered one of the greatest wrestlers to step foot in WCW, on the basis of his six month run in 1989 alone. During that short period, Steamboat produced an absolutely staggering amount of classics. It seemed like every time he stepped in the ring, he would crank out a classic match. His series with “Nature Boy” Ric Flair produced some of the greatest matches in professional wrestling history. Not only were none of their matches less than great but I’d venture to say they didn’t produce a match that wasn’t a classic. The fact that Ricky Steamboat returned to WCW in the early ’90s and had another great run was icing on the cake. In the second run, Steamboat helped mentor numerous, great young talents such as Dustin Rhodes, Shane Douglas, and Steve Austin and helped them on their paths to become huge stars of the ’90s. Unlike somebody like Lex Luger or the Outsiders, Steamboat is the rare wrestler that his peers (at least, the ones that matter/aren’t bearing an obvious grudge) have very little bad to say about. Steamboat is the consummate wrestler’s wrestler.
#6. Diamond Dallas Page
(January 1991 to March 2001)
Titles: Three Time (Three Time, Three Time) WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Two Time WCW United States Champion, Four Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (twice with Kevin Nash, twice with Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow (Freebird Rules)) , WCW Triple Crown Champion
Highlights: PWI Feud of the Year (1997, Vs Randy Savage), PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1996), Wrestling Observer Most Improved of the Year (1996),
Lowlights: His first five years in the company, pretty much. Had to do an angle with Evad Sullivan. Jay Leno’s tag team partner. Played one of the villains in Ready to Rumble, which led him to directly cause David Arquette to win the WCW World Title
Essential Matches: Vs Randy Savage (Halloween Havoc ’97), Vs Chris Benoit Vs Raven (Uncensored ’98), Vs Sting Vs Ric Flair Vs Hollywood Hogan (Spring Stampede ’99)
I don’t think anybody proved more people wrong in his WCW career than Diamond Dallas Page. Him even appearing in the opening match seemed like a longshot when he decided at the age of 35, he decided to make the transition from manager to pro wrestler. For the first five years of his career, Page was relegated to being cannon fodder, a prime candidate for the future endeavors list. But the thing about Page is that he never gave up busting ass and working to try and improve as a wrestler. He toiled away for hours on end at WCW’s Power Plant training facility to try and get better in the ring and on the mic. When he got the shot to be a part of a breakout angle in early ’97 when he turned down a spot in the New World Order, he took the ball and ran with it. Page was everything that Hall, Nash, and Hogan weren’t and that’s why he was the perfect choice to be a top enemy for the nWo. The nWo were all about guaranteed contracts and movie and TV deals while Page was just a fun loving, overgrown bro from Jersey who cherished every moment he had in the squared circle. Towards the end of the company, working for WCW was just a job (and not a particularly enjoyable one) for a much too large portion of the roster but you never got the sense with DDP. One of the most likable qualities about him is that he seemed to enjoy being in the ring at all times, whether he was a heel or face, or whether he was wrestling Goldberg in a PPV main event for the World Title or tag teaming with David Arquette on an episode of Thunder (…for the World Title. Damn you Vince Russo!). I was a bit afraid that amongst all of the huge names that worked for WCW, DDP might get lost in the shuffle. Luckily, it appears that DDP’s name and hard work to get to the top will be remembered for a long, long time!
BANG!
Well, the undercard is finished! We’ve seen the TV Title, the Cruiserweight title, the Tag Team title, the US Title, and even the WCW International World Title (whatever the hell that means) defended. Now it’s time for the main event. Bring out Michael Buffer (to pronounce the names of the wrestlers) because next week, we count down the five greatest wrestlers in World Championship Wrestling history. Who’s the biggest of the big boys? Call the WCW Hotline at 1-800-909-9900 (Kids get your parents permission Check into Culture Crossfire next week and find out!
