The Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW took off in the mid-90s, when Eric Bischoff kept signing away some of Vince McMahon's top talents to run his show and form the legendary New World Order faction.
It started with Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall. Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior also followed suit. Over time, Bischoff had crafted a new wrestling empire - one that was finally capable of competing with the WWE.
And as all wrestling fans know, it was Hogan, Nash and Hall that formed the nWo - a villainous stable bent on taking over the wrestling industry. And at the height of their dominance, the nWo carried over 30 members.
As it turns out, one of the top WWE superstars of the '90s nearly jumped ship and was on the verge of becoming one of the nWo's newest members. The Godfather appeared on an episode of Photo Shoot for WWE Network and explained how he almost left WWE and joined up with Hogan and his stable (transcriptions via WrestlingInc.com).
"My [WWE] contract was coming up, and I was in negotiations with WCW coming into the nWo as their bodyguard. And we had arranged a verbal contract. The price was over a three-year deal. And then, I didn't hear from them, and I called the people that I needed to talk to and they weren't returning my calls. And then I'm watching the show one day, and I see Virgil come out as the bodyguard of the nWo.
"I would assume that somebody in the nWo said, 'hey, we could probably get Virgil [for] a lot cheaper, and he's known as a bodyguard.' So, Virgil went there a lot cheaper than what I was gonna go there for. So, I don't really have good feeling over that at all."
Good thing he stuck around in the WWE, because 'The Godfather' character was launched in 1998 - after the Nation of Domination faction disbanded. His character was based around picking up women and offered them up to his rivals, should they agreed to lose to him on purpose.
It was one of the more colorful and popular gimmicks as WWE launched The Attitude Era. Godfather received one of the biggest pushes of his career, and it was this gimmick that led to him being a Hall of Fame inductee in 2016.
Things probably worked out for the best. Godfather would have been one of many WCW talents who was put underneath the card of the main nWo members. Instead, he stuck around with the WWE and wound up a Hall of Famer. Not a bad consolation prize at all.