WCW had a mixed track record for homegrown stars, but Brian Pillman is one name that deserves more recognition. The former NFL career of Pillman ended when he made his move to wrestling. WCW was the place where Pillman wrestled to build his name value. Pillman’s ECW and WWE stints are often discussed more since it came during a bigger wrestling boom.
However, it was WCW that had the most noteworthy moments from Pillman’s career. The various character changes, memorable matches and accomplishments made Pillman one of the most underrated WCW legends. A lot more attention should be placed on his time in the promotion. Each of the following things will shine a bigger light on Pillman’s WCW work.
10 Original Breakout Cruiserweight For WCW
The WCW cruiserweight division became a huge success in the latter half of the ‘90s, but many fans forget that they tried a similar concept before that. WCW had a Light Heavyweight Championship and division using the same logic of the wrestlers of a lighter weight.
Brian Pillman was easily the breakout star of the light heavyweight division after winning the title twice. New Japan’s Jushin Liger coming to WCW led to his feud with Pillman carrying the light heavyweight division before WCW made changes to the cruiserweight name change.
9 Using The "Flyin' Brian" Name
WCW strongly believed in the high-flying style of Brian Pillman suiting him that it led to a name change. The moniker Flyin’ Brian was used to promote Pillman as his official name for the ring announcer and commentators to say.
Pillman was still referenced as his last name occasionally, but it was very much a scenario like the recent WWE name changes that came out of nowhere. The nickname could have been fine without trying to replace his actual name with it.
8 Losing A Loser Leaves WCW Match Without Leaving
Barry Windham was one of the more underrated main event stars for WCW often competing in big matches behind the core of Ric Flair, Sting and Lex Luger as the only names above him. WCW placed Brian Pillman into a personal feud with Windham to help him gain more credibility.
The feud culminated with a Loser Leaves Town match won by Windham that forced Pillman out. WCW didn’t plan to send Pillman home, so he showed up under the disguise of The Yellow Dog to stick around. The storyline saw Pillman getting reinstated after disrupting the show for a few months.
7 Steve Austin Was Backup Plan For Tag Partner
WCW found strong success from the makeshift team of Steve Austin and Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blondes. However, it wasn’t the original plan for Pillman when WCW wanted him in a team. Former rival Barry Windham teamed up with Pillman on a few occasions.
WCW changed those plans upon realizing Windham was still pivotal to the singles upper card picture. Austin was an underrated mid-carder in need of something new and joined forces with Pillman. Neither man was thrilled about the tag division, but they proved their talent together as the Hollywood Blondes.
6 Hollywood Blondes Feuding With Four Horsemen
The biggest sign of faith in the Hollywood Blondes by WCW was that Brian Pillman and Steve Austin entered a feud with the Four Horsemen. WCW was trying to use a face version of the Four Horsemen when the Hollywood Blondes started working against them.
Austin and Pillman mocked the ages of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, while hosting parody segments of Ric’s A Flair for Gold segment. Arn and Paul Roma ended the WCW Tag Team Championship reign of the Hollywood Blondes shortly before the team split up.
5 Was Major Part Of Four Horsemen Reuniting
Brian Pillman pivoted from a feud against the Four Horsemen to joining a storyline to reform the group within a few years. Arn Anderson and Ric Flair were at odds when Pillman started to align with Anderson to gain an advantage as the heels.
Flair played a face character begging his rival Sting to team up with him against Anderson and Pillman. Sting was once again fooled in the swerve of Flair setting him up to create a new version of the Four Horsemen with Arn and Pillman as the first members.
4 California Brian Name Change
WCW tried to rebrand Brian Pillman after he left the company for over a year. The name California Brian was used to indicate that he spent that time in the state attempting to get cast on the mega-popular Baywatch series at the time.
This experiment lasted one week with WCW going back to the normal Brian Pillman name and dropping the California tie in. Pillman played a tweener character to set up the Four Horsemen time and eventually the Loose Cannon gimmick.
3 Time Limit Draw With William Regal
An underrated accomplishment for Brian Pillman was the ability to go toe to toe with William Regal in a time limit draw. Both wrestlers were mid-carders trying to move up the card and show their individual greatness.
Spring Stampede 1994 featured the show-stealer between Pillman and Regal for the WCW TV Championship. The match seemed to be going towards Pillman’s favor until they reached the fifteen-minute time limit draw to extend Regal’s title reign.
2 Loose Cannon Gimmick Upsetting Horsemen
Many fans forget that Brian Pillman was still in the Four Horsemen when he developed the Loose Cannon persona. It was an interesting twist to see a wrestler in the respected faction develop a new identity against their support.
Arn Anderson visibly grew upset at Pillman flying off the handle and doing things that essentially broke character. Pillman’s feud with Kevin Sullivan placed Arn in the middle between them until Pillman left the company as part of an initial worked shoot angle.
1 Was Supposed To Join Alliance To End Hulkamania
WCW placed together a super heel group of members of the Dungeon of Doom and Four Horsemen to form the Alliance to End Hulkamania. The double decker cage match saw Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan facing off with eight heel wrestlers.
Brian Pillman was originally meant to join the group for another heel wrestler to form an advantage against Hogan and Savage. Reports indicated that Pillman didn’t want to get squashed by Hogan after the Loose Cannon persona. Pillman pulling out of his return here led to him leaving to eventually join WWE.