The ECW legacy is still strong with a hit list of memorable wrestlers. Paul Heyman’s vision allowed the talent to have more creative freedom and a great chance to show their full potential. WWE and WCW often struggled with pushing the same talents before or after the ECW time. The wrestlers still received huge contract offers to leave ECW for bigger promotions.
We will look at the instances of the ECW talents struggling to get over or receive a fair opportunity after joining WWE or WCW. The shorter ceiling for a push in WCW made that a tougher place for the new stars to make an impact. WWE offered more of a chance to get over, but their criteria for wrestlers would hurt the talents by trying to change them. Find out how things played out with five ECW wrestlers that flopped in WWE and five that flopped in WCW.
10 WWE flop: 2 Cold Scorpio
The buzz of 2 Cold Scorpio in ECW earned him a reputation as one of the most exciting wrestlers in the industry. Scorpio had outstanding matches against the likes of Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Shane Douglas. WWE signed in the mid-90s to play the character of Flash Funk.
Fans had no idea what to make of the act that featured a dance routine of Funk and his dancers before matches. Funk failed to gain momentum and peaked as a lower mid-carder. WWE gave up on his push and this was his final chance with a mainstream promotion.
9 WCW flop: Mike Awesome
WCW made a huge move adding Mike Awesome to the roster in 2000. The company was desperately trying to rebuild with new stars after the outdated formula of only pushing the legends finally blew up in their faces.
Awesome joined WCW during his reign as ECW Champion due to his contract expiring before he lost the title. WCW gave him an early push, but they gave up on him within a few months. Awesome was given lower card comedic gimmick to make his run a huge flop.
8 WWE flop: Public Enemy
The tag team of Public Enemy was one of the first acts to break out in ECW. Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock would first sign with WCW for a solid run. They weren’t the top team in WCW, but the accomplishments made the run work out.
WWE eventually signed Public Enemy during the Attitude Era and it was a disaster. The rest of the locker room had issues with them culminating in the APA destroying Rocco and Johnny in a stiff match. WWE released Public Enemy upon realizing they weren’t going to be a good fit.
7 WCW flop: Shane Douglas
Shane Douglas made a name in ECW shortly after his first WCW flop. One of the constants from Douglas was his brutal comments ripping apart WCW and Ric Flair for holding him down. Vince Russo signed Douglas to come back to WCW specifically to feud with Flair.
The real-life drama wasn’t as well-known from the audience before the age of the internet expanded. Fans didn’t invest much into the program and Douglas came off poorly as not being equal to Flair. The rest of his run would see things grow worse for the disappointing stint.
6 WWE flop: Jerry Lynn
Jerry Lynn's breakout work in ECW finally gave him the platform to showcase his skills at full potential. Lynn became one of the most exciting stars after signing with ECW. The freedom gave him the chance to have career-changing matches against Rob Van Dam.
WWE signed many of the relevant names from ECW in 2001 when the company closed its doors. Lynn joined the roster and had a short-lived push in the Light Heavyweight division. The problem is most of his matches came on the secondary Heat show. WWE released him before the year ended.
5 WCW flop: Sabu
Sabu clearly was best made for ECW with his innovative and violent wrestling style. WCW made Sabu one of their first major signings from ECW when bringing him to the company in 1995. To their credit, Sabu received a solid push and was able to use the tables as his weapon of choice.
Matches against Disco Inferno and Mr. JL provided fun table spots, but Sabu didn’t fit into the WCW landscape. Both sides agreed to end their time together after a few months. Sabu eventually returned to ECW and never signed with WCW again.
4 WWE flop: Tazz
The hype for Tazz was show in Madison Square Garden for his debut at the Royal Rumble 2000 event. Tazz was beloved for his run in ECW as the top face for many years. The move to WWE would see him get crowd support when defeating Kurt Angle.
Tazz, unfortunately, would not win over management as his push ended within weeks. The fall from facing a rising superstar like Angle to moving into the hardcore division was a huge drop. Tazz did nothing wrong in theory, but WWE lost interest in him. The run as a commentator saw bigger success on the broadcasting side of WWE.
3 WCW flop: Bam Bam Bigelow
Bam Bam Bigelow spent time in all three major promotions throughout the 90s, but his best time clearly came in ECW. The end of his WWE run allowed Bigelow to have a bigger role in ECW as a legitimate main eventer. Bam Bam’s momentum would see WCW come calling him.
The push for Bigelow in WCW saw him coming in as the new rival for Goldberg. They clearly had huge plans for Bam Bam given he was starting against the hottest star in the promotion. Bigelow struggled to come off as an equal to Goldberg and gradually fell down the card failing to remain in the upper card picture.
2 WWE flop: Raven
WWE had Raven on the roster a few times, but the most important one started in 2000. Raven was coming off a main event ECW run, and a solid WCW mid-card run. Fans had a strong interest in the character coming to WWE during its hottest period.
Sadly, Raven never got the chance to show his full potential. WWE started off by placing Raven in the lower mid-card. WWE didn’t see anything special in Raven as they pigeonholed him into the hardcore division for most of his run.
1 WCW flop: The Sandman
WCW made a unique signing when adding The Sandman from ECW. The new name of Hak was used as he tried to make an impact with his kendo stick weapon. Sandman clearly was out of his element since he was never known as a great worker.
Hak's matches with Raven and Bam Bam Bigelow gave him his best opportunity to break out. It just never worked out as Sandman was made to wrestle in a smaller promotion. WCW released him and he returned to ECW for the end of the promotion’s run.