WCW may have been known for a lot of things, especially for the time it smashed WWE during the Monday Night Wars, but the company also had a habit of giving up-and-coming stars screen time. While these performers may not have subsequently made their names in the promotion, they did get their start in Atlanta, Georgia.

Related: The Final 10 WCW World Championship Matches In WWE, Ranked From Worst To Best

The history of World Championship Wrestling is littered with such names, as the promotion was unable/unwilling to spot talents who went elsewhere and became megastars. As usual, with so much time gone since it folded for good, fans would have forgotten that these names had humble beginnings in WCW.

10 Jamie Noble

Jamie Noble WWE WCW

Jamie Noble may not be your archetypal name for success stories in pro wrestling, but he enjoyed quite the career. And his beginnings were at WCW, where he performed as Jamie-San, a masked member of the Jung Dragons.

Noble may not have had much success in WWE or WCW, but he was undoubtedly one of the most innovative Cruiserweights in his heyday. Not to forget his run as World Champion in Ring of Honor in 2005.

9 AJ Styles

AJ Styles and Air Parris on WCW Monday Nitro

AJ Styles? WCW? Yes, you read right. The Phenomenal One may be a legend now, but he was once part of a throwaway tag team called Air Raid, alongside Air Paris. And his name was, yes, you guessed it, Air Styles!

This was right before WWE bought out WCW in 2001. Interestingly, Styles later jobbed for stars in WWE's B shows like Jakked & Metal during his tryouts phase before finally hitting the jackpot with TNA.

8 Molly Holly

Randy Savage Miss Madness Gorgeous George Madusa

A WWE Hall of Famer today, Molly Holly enjoyed quite the career in WWE, winning the WWE Women's Championship twice. What fans may not know is that she is another name who started in WCW.

Related: 10 Things Fans Should Know About WWE's Molly Holly

She got her start as Miss Madness, a valet for Randy Savage during his Team Madness days. Interestingly, it was under Savage and Dean Malenko that Molly Holly trained, which showed in her in-ring work.

7 Edge

Edge WCW WWE

The Rated-R Superstar is a WWE lifer today, but he got his start with their once rivals. As Damon Striker, Edge was routinely being jobbed out to the Dungeon of Doom members.

However, the future head of WWE Canada, Carl De Marco, noticed him and decided to take a punt on the young Canadian. And the rest, as they say, is history.

6 Goldust

Dusty And Dustin Rhodes War Games

This entry may not be as surprising as the others, considering Goldust's father, Dusty Rhodes, was the booker in WCW during his time there. And during his fledgling days, the future Goldust turned out for Ted Turner's promotion as The Natural Dustin Rhodes.

However, his time there is undoubtedly underrated, if not entirely forgotten, for Rhodes was a multi-time tag champion (with Ricky Steamboat and Barry Windham) and a US Champion.

5 Rikishi

The Samoan Swat Team Paul Heyman

The future thong-wearing, dance-loving, stinkface giving WWE Hall of Famer also started his career in WCW. Rikishi was an upper-midcard name throughout his time in WWE, but he was one of the early Paul Heyman Guys during his early days in Atlanta.

Related: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Rikishi

As one-half of the alongside future Headshrinkers partner, Samu), the then Fatu had an underwhelming stay in WCW. So bland was their time there that their manager was soon changed to Oliver Humperdink.

4 Rhyno

Rhyno in WCW

ECW Original Rhyno also started with WCW, where he performed under the name Terry Richards. It is hard to believe that the future man-beast would have started anywhere apart from the extreme promotion, but that was the case.

Before becoming a force of nature in ECW, a fresh-faced Rhyno, along with Edge and Christian, traveled the highways of Canada, honing his craft. His time in WCW was spent jobbing to the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Road Warrior Hawk, and The Renegade on B shows.

3 Road Dogg

The Road Dogg as Brian Armstrong in WCW

The Attitude Era's resident trash-talker and WWE Hall of Famer is another who got his break in WCW. It helped that Road Dogg has southern roots and his family lineage is part of the Armstrong wrestling family.

Long before he was taking stunners from Steve Austin in WWE and being part of Triple H's DX revolution, Brian James, then performing as Brian Armstrong, was jobbing out to the former Stunning Steve Austin, the ex Terra Ryzin, and Lord Steven Regal. Talk about full circles.

2 Rowdy Roddy Piper

Roddy Piper during his infamous Dog Collar Match against Greg the Hammer Valentine
wrestlingrepublic

A beloved figure who contributed so much to the business before his demise, Rowdy Roddy Piper was a trailblazer in his own right. And his first years were spent honing his craft in WCW/NWA.

Related: Roddy Piper, Bret Hart & 7 Other Guys Who Were On WrestleMania & Starrcade (In The Same Year)

As a young upstart, he was tearing it up in Mid–Atlantic, the former iteration of WCW. He even has the distinction of being one of the few men to feature in the first WrestleMania and Starrcade.

1 Rob Van Dam

RVD In WCW And WWE

Another performer who seemingly flew under WCW's radar before becoming a megastar, Rob Van Dam had a handful of appearances for Ted Turner's organization. The future Mr. Monday Night would turn up in plain singlets and taped up bare feet to match his kneepads.

As Robbie V, the youngster would take on Scotty Flamingo and Vinnie Vegas on the old WCW Worldwide show. If he had won the TV Title tournament match against the latter, he would have been the only man to hold both the WCW and ECW TV titles.