WCW tried their best to create memorable moments during their strongest times in the ‘90s. Fans loved the Monday Night Wars due to the unpredictability on both shows. WCW signed many noteworthy names and introduced new characters with impressive debuts. The most memorable debuts were done to create new stars for the promotion, but the results were quite mixed.
Quite a few wrestlers endured mediocre runs or worse after the interesting debut. WCW often struggled to push every talented wrestler since they had one of the largest rosters in wrestling history. Other scenarios saw the booking or talent lead too such failure. Find out just what caused such stories to fall apart. The following WCW wrestlers went nowhere after having big debuts.
10 Sable
WCW went with a unique route during their sole time having Sable appear on television. Sable was sitting in the crowd in the first row shortly after her departure from WWE. It left wrestling fans wondering about her future.
The problem was that WCW didn’t actually sign her to a contract and she never returned. Sable and WCW did the segment as a tease for a potential future run that never played out. WWE eventually brought back Sable in 2003.
9 Big T
WCW signed the former Ahmed Johnson under the new name of Big T to start a new version of Harlem Heat. Stevie Ray needed a new tag partner after his falling out with Booker T and shocked the world with the prior WWE star.
The introduction received heat for Harlem Heat 2000, but the rest of his run was a flop. Big T won the rights to the letter T in his name by defeating Booker T in a strange storyline. WCW regretted the idea of Harlem Heat 2000 after a few months.
8 The Renegade
Unknown wrestler Rick Wilson received a huge opportunity with WCW under the gimmick of The Renegade. Hulk Hogan was teasing a new alliance implying to fans that Ultimate Warrior would return to join him.
The big reveal saw The Renegade helping Hogan in his match against Vader and Ric Flair. Fans ended up hating the gimmick in the following weeks as a cheap rip off of the Warrior character and it went nowhere.
7 Brian Adams
Former WWE star Crush made the jump to WCW under his real name of Brian Adams. The big debut came in 1998 when Adams attacked Bret Hart to reveal he was the newest member of the New World Order.
Any wrestler at that time would be ecstatic about debuting in the most popular faction by attacking a respected top star. Adams unfortunately could not build much momentum and came off as a lower mid-carder compared to the other nWo members.
6 Ted DiBiase
WCW introduced Ted DiBiase with a huge role in 1996 as the fourth member of the New World Order with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. DiBiase played off his old wealthy heel gimmick as the new benefactor funding the nWo.
The idea worked well until Eric Bischoff joined the faction with his real role running WCW referenced. It erased any relevance or purpose DiBiase had as the group’s unofficial manager. DiBiase eventually left the group and had a weak run in WCW with resentment still held towards Bischoff today.
5 The KISS Demon
Brian Adams and Dale Torborg each had moments playing the KISS Demon character. Eric Bischoff promised KISS that he would create a successful character inspired by them as part of the agreement for their live performance.
Adams played the KISS Demon during the performance introducing him in a major way. Torborg was tasked with the gimmick once it started since Adams didn’t feel comfortable in the role. The KISS Demon basically ruined Torborg’s career as a huge flop.
4 Seven
Dustin Rhodes re-debuted in WCW after a long time away with the mysterious Seven character. The vignettes added a lot of interest with fans finding comparisons in the presentation to The Undertaker.
Seven debuted by coming to the ring in unique fashion floating to the ring in the air. It turned out to be a big swerve with Rhodes claiming the gimmick was a joke and was done playing a laughingstock. Rhodes had his worst run in WCW yet afterwards with the lackluster results.
3 Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior joining WCW was viewed as a huge moment when confronting Hulk Hogan. WCW now had every major WWE ‘80s star with Warrior, Hogan, Randy Savage and Roddy Piper all on the roster.
Fans appeared excited for Warrior challenging Hogan since they never had a rematch from their WrestleMania 6 classic. The match and segments between the two completely exposed Warrior as no longer having the same value. WCW was disappointed enough to part ways with Warrior after putting over Hogan.
2 Glacier
Eric Bischoff had a short run of trying to create mid-card characters based on the Mortal Kombat video game series. Glacier was his first major project of that genre when airing vignettes for weeks before the debut.
The strange entrance of darkness with artificial snow falling and a weak laser show confused fans as he did karate moves. Glacier struggled to get over and had a lower mid-card run for the rest of his WCW career.
1 Bam Bam Bigelow
WCW had a great idea to use Bam Bam Bigelow better than WWE ever did when signing him in 1998. Bigelow was signed to feud with the undefeated Goldberg and debuted by attacking him during an episode of Nitro.
The brawl saw Bigelow looking like a real threat with security trying to keep them apart and fans reacting with excitement. This push didn’t last in the long run as Bam Bam lost all relevance in the booking after putting over Goldberg.