WCW had a bad reputation of taking great stars and misusing them. Perfect examples include Steve Austin leaving to become Stone Cold, Mark Callous leaving to become Undertaker and Terror Risin leaving to become Triple H. However, those were names that became massive stars.
On top of those wrestlers, there were wrestlers who should have been major professional wrestling stars but ended up languishing in WCW. These wrestlers could have been major names but never made it past mid-card in WCW and most never really made it outside of WCW either for one reason or another.
10 MIKE AWESOME
Mike Awesome got a short chance to be on top when he was in ECW, where he held the company's world title. However, while he was ECW Champion, Awesome decided to leave for WCW. He dropped the title, ended up in WCW, and was misused his entire career there. He was put into Vince Russo created gimmicks and ended up as a joke, never becoming the star he could have been. In what universe would "The Fat Chick Thrilla" and "That 70s Guy" get over?
9 BRAD ARMSTRONG
The Armstrong family is one of the biggest and best from the territory days. The Armstrongs match up to the Von Erichs, but without the tragedy. However, when it comes to Bob Armstrong's sons, the only one that became a star was the least talented as a wrestler — Road Dogg. The best of the bunch, Brad Armstrong, never got a chance in WCW, where he spent most of his career. He had the talent but never got the rub.
8 DEVON STORM
Late in WCW's history, they signed a young man named Devon Storm and then immediately gave him a gimmick he was never able to overcome. He started out with Ace Darling as The Extreme but soon moved into a faction with David Flair and Daffney, calling himself Crowbar. Despite his talent, he was stuck in hardcore matches and WCW released him in 2001, right before WWE bought the company. He never reached any real level of success in his career.
7 CHRIS KANYON
Chris Kanyon came to WCW as a gimmick that could have killed anyone. He was Mortis, a villain sent in as the antagonist for the Mortal Kombat-themed wrestler Glacier. He wore a green mask and was managed by James Vandenberg and soon that feud flopped.
Announcers during all Kanyon's matches bragged about his unique wrestling style and his creative move set. Despite this, Kanyon only had success when working as one of DDP's lackeys in the Jersey Triad. He went to WWE and didn't make much of a dent there.
6 GLACIER
While Mortis was able to escape the Blood Runs Cold storyline in order to at least work with DDP and move to WWE. The man that the gimmick was built to push did nothing outside of the gimmick. Raymond Lloyd portrayed Glacier in WCW. He was undefeated for almost a year but never moved higher than the mid-card and when the Blood Runs Cold angle ended, he went on a losing streak and left in 1999.
5 SCOTT NORTON
Scott Norton should have been a massive star in WCW but he was never used to his full capabilities there. He was mostly a tag team wrestler, working with Ice Train in Fire and Ice. He later joined the nWo as one of their minor members and teamed with Buff Bagwell in Vicious and Delicious. Norton had more success in Japan, but he never reached the level a man of his power deserved.
4 ALEX WRIGHT
Alex Wright was very young, and very talented when he joined WCW. The company signed him when he was 19 and he made his debut as Das Wunderkind. The young German came in and worked as a babyface who danced to techno music when he entered the ring. Fans hated him.
WCW was smart and turned him heel. He got a chance to work in Japan to improve, but WCW didn't know what to do with him, despite giving him some minor title reigns. In 1998, they put him in a jobber tag team with Disco Inferno and then made him the heel Berlyn in 1999. In 2001, Wright finally gave up and retired at the age of 26.
3 EL DANDY
Don't doubt Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Really, out of all the Latino luchadores that WCW signed in the '90s, no one talked about El Dandy. That is until Hart mentioned him in an interview with Mean Gene where he offered to defend his title against El Dandy.
It was a mocking interview, but it could have done a lot to push Dandy into a solid cruiserweight if WCW was serious. They weren't serious. El Dandy was successful in CMLL, but WCW just let him lose matches.
2 ELIX SKIPPER
Elix Skipper had a ton of talent. He showed a lot of his talent as a TNA original and a member of Triple X. Two of the members of Triple X were stars in Christopher Daniels and Low-Ki. On the other hand, Skipper didn't do anything despite show amazing athleticism. He was also part of WCW in its later days but was wasted as a minor cruiserweight star there.
1 MIKE RAPADA
Mike Rapada was known on the indie scene in the '90s as the Colorado Kid. WCW brought him in to work for them before he was the NWA World Champion. While Rapada held that prestigious title, it was during a period where the NWA was a dead promotion and was on life support. WCW could have used his talent but they didn't. Instead, the company brought him in, had him win a few minor matches, and then ignored him after that.