While there are tons of people that look back at the prime of WCW fondly, it’s not all that controversial to say that the company booked more than a few weak champions. While something like that often comes down to each individual's opinion, there really wasn’t a single belt that was safe from at least one forgettable champion.
It may not come as a surprise that many of the weakest, most forgettable, and worst booked championship runs came toward the end of the company's lifespan, but that does seem to be where they struggled the most. Even some of the most iconic wrestlers of all time weren’t spared from WCW championship runs with widely forgettable gimmicks.
10 Lieutenant Loco
Chavo Guerrero is often regarded as an incredible performer that deserved more from the big promotions he spent his time with. In WCW, he was known as Lieutenant Loco for a time and was a part of a comedic group in which he managed to pick up the cruiserweight championship among others.
To be fair to the Misfits in Action (who will be making more appearances later), Chavo was stuck with some awful gimmicks and storylines during his time with WCW. Lieutenant Loco is not a portion of his career that fans look fondly on, but it was better than his obsession with a fake horse.
9 Alex Wright
Alex Wright was paired with another name that easily could have made the list in a tag team known as Boogie Knights. Wright was a relatively impressive wrestler at times, but he never managed to climb to the main event level.
It is fair to say that kids do tend to enjoy the silly dancing gimmicks that tend to bog down the wrestling scene. Unfortunately, most adults and teens roll their eyes at anyone with any kind of dancing gimmick outside of Fandango. It is fair to say that things may have been different for Wright if he managed to avoid the Boogie Knights.
8 Corporal Cajun
The man known as Corporal Cajun was a part of a group that was both so loved and so reviled by fans that when he managed to pick up the tag team championship with Lieutenant Loco, they lost them only minutes later.
To the surprise of many, the silly group actually was relatively popular and that popularity only seemed to rise, but it would be a stretch to say that any of the men in the Misfits in Action had a good gimmick. Despite that, they did their jobs, and they clearly did them well.
7 Oklahoma
Most fans hated this gimmick above any other due to the sheer disrespect for Jim Ross that was on display. Many would call the gimmick a cheap-heat gimmick, but the man behind the gimmick, Ed Ferrara, managed to pick up the cruiserweight championship at one time.
The entire gimmick was just to make fun of Jim Ross. It was done in seriously poor taste as Ed Ferrara actually even made fun of Ross’s Bells Palsy. Jim Ross has even said that he found the gimmick to be hurtful, and apparently, Jim Cornette even spat on Ferrara due to the disrespect of his friend.
6 The Renegade
Wrestling fans really tend to dislike copycat gimmicks. They don’t dislike those kinds of gimmicks in a good way either, many fans simply view them as disrespectful to both fans and performers. The Renegade was one of the worst offenders of that.
The issue wasn’t even really the in-ring work, it really all came down to people not liking first being faked out by an Ultimate Warrior tease, and then receiving someone that clearly wasn’t the immensely popular wrestler. It’s a fate that could befall literally any wrestler, and it’s truly unfortunate.
5 Lenny Lane
It’s probably safe to say that the gimmick in question that Lane used for a period of time in WCW is one that would never appear on any wrestling program in the modern era. While he was a part of the potentially problematic team he managed to pick up the cruiserweight title.
People no doubt remember the Hollywood Blonds, but how many people remember the West Hollywood Blondes? While it was never said outright, it was implied that Lenny Lane and his partner were rather controversial and rude representations of gay men. Even stranger, the team was revealed to be brothers just making the whole gimmick even worse in the eyes of many.
4 Scotty Flamingo
Most people tend to agree that when Raven is utilizing any gimmick outside his work as Raven, it’s just not the same. Many may not know that he was once known as Scotty Flamingo while he was with WCW.
While Raven has openly admitted to both not liking the gimmick and not liking the wrestling style that he was apparently forced into, he actually did win the light heavyweight title. This was years before he would become the iconic Raven character.
3 General Rection
Many may not remember the exact name of the leader of the Misfits in Action due to the numerous childish names he went by, but he really did go by names like General Rection and others that just don’t need to be typed out.
Comedy groups can be well-loved, but incredibly forgettable, and that’s often how the MIA can feel. While the General did win the United States heavyweight title twice, many people have forgotten thanks to the relatively childish humor that was probably viewed as edgy at the time.
2 Kenny Kaos
Many people may not even remember Kenny Kaos as he’s one of those wrestlers that really didn’t have much of a gimmick at all. He was really just a big guy that came out of WCW’s training center known as the Power Plant, and he didn’t even really win a championship but was handed one.
The best thing to do with a big man with essentially no gimmick is to pair him with another big man. While he was originally in the team High Voltage, he actually became a champion alongside Rick Steiner. They didn’t even lose the titles either, they had to relinquish them due to injury.
1 The Mamalukes
There have been a lot of cheesy gimmicks throughout wrestling, but a group of wrestlers pretending to be members of the actual mafia is one of the cheesiest. Despite the lackluster gimmick, the team did see some success, even if that success was toward the end of WCW’s lifespan.
The team managed to win the tag team championship on two separate occasions and even had a group reign with the hardcore title. They weren’t around all that long, but they definitely seem to be a relic of a bygone era of wrestling.