WCW’s final year showed just how far a popular wrestling promotion can fall with the wrong creative team. There were still some great moments that went down in between the confusing twists and turns. The Monday Night Wars provided strong positives for fans to go back and forth between WWE and WCW, but many gave up on WCW around this time.
Quite a few noteworthy things stand out when looking back at WCW from 2000 to 2001. Not all connected as some just appeared to be interesting ideas that couldn’t hit their potential. However, there were good times of wrestlers getting a chance to break out. Find out more about the overlooked aspects of WCW in their last year of existence.
10 Booker T vs Stevie Ray Feud
Harlem Heat might be the best tag team in WCW history when looking back at their success. Booker T and Stevie Ray won an astonishing ten WCW Tag Team Championships together before Booker started to break out on his own.
WCW reunited the duo just to have them break up for storyline purposes. Ahmed Johnson signed with WCW as Big T and replaced Booker in Harlem Heat 2000. The angle failed to connect, but there should have been more interest in an iconic tag team feuding.
9 The Dark Carnival Faction
The Dark Carnival was an underrated faction for WCW that started off with Raven, Vampiro, and the Insane Clown Posse rappers. However, Raven chose to leave WCW in late 1999 when Eric Bischoff granted releases during a meeting.
The Great Muta and The Demon each joined during WCW’s final year uniting with Vampiro and ICP. WCW had potential with the idea, but the lack of storytelling with the group just made them come off as a stable with wacky personas.
8 Chris Kanyon Turning on Diamond Dallas Page
Diamond Dallas Page was the top face for WCW during the summer of 2000. Many of Page’s closest allies turned on him with his wife Kimberly Page and friend David Arquette betraying him. The third backstabbing came when Chris Kanyon turned on his former best friend.
DDP and Kanyon had strong chemistry going back to their time together in The Jersey Triad faction. The program should have been a huge deal, but it just failed to deliver. Kanyon started impersonating Page and looked like a fool in his biggest push yet.
7 Goldberg's Shoot Promos
Vince Russo loved the idea of blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Goldberg coming back from an injury in 2000 saw him unhappy with how the company was being run now that Russo was calling the shots.
The storyline of Goldberg breaking character in the ring would see him calling out Russo. Fans were left confused, but it could have been a great idea on paper. The top star feuding with management helped WWE at the time.
6 Daffney Breaking Out
The failure of David Flair in WCW saw him unable to get over with a few different gimmicks. WCW hoped that Ric Flair’s son would follow in his footsteps despite not having any experience before signing based on his last name.
The only time David seemed to have natural success was when teaming with Crowbar. Daffney became their manager and David’s love interest and was a huge reason for any fan investment. The over-the-top personality and commitment to the character made them a surprising success story in 2000.
5 Sting vs Vampiro
WCW booked a few programs between rising stars and legends during the New Blood storyline. Vampiro faced off with Sting to provide the unique nature of the two face-painted wrestlers going against each other.
The Human Torch match is remembered most for Vampiro setting Sting on fire and throwing him off to the top of the tron. Sting reportedly didn’t like working with Vampiro and it showed in their matches to make the rivalry become a forgotten part of WCW.
4 The Jung Dragons
The best matches from WCW during their final year featured the Jung Dragons and 3 Count stealing the show. Many fans show love to 3 Count for the memorable boy band gimmick, but the Jung Dragons were just as impressive.
Jimmy Yang, Jamie Noble, and Kaz Hayashi formed the trio that delivered every time they had enough time to have a great match. Their manager Leia Meow added another dynamic to make them a unique act unlike anyone else at the time.
3 Chris Candido in Cruiserweight Division
One of the more promising ideas of Vince Russo was signing Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch. The placement in the cruiserweight division gave Candido a chance to prove he was one of the best wrestlers in the world like Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero did in the division.
Candido and Sytch struggled to fit into WCW’s landscape and both left faster than expected when Sytch got into hot water for having drugs backstage. The short stint of Candido in WCW was overlooked as he could have easily become an important part of the company.
2 Ernest Miller as Commissioner
Ernest Miller is not one of the first names fans talk about when looking at the end of WCW. However, few wrestlers had as many moments as Miller towards the end. WCW even paid the money to have James Brown show up and dance with Miller.
The bigger character shift for Miller saw him becoming the Commissioner of WCW. Main eventers like Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and Goldberg were involved in many segments with Miller attempting to steer the ship as a colorful personality.
1 Scott Steiner Beating Goldberg
The emergence of Scott Steiner was arguably the brightest spot of WCW’s final year. Steiner did a great job establishing his character of Big Poppa Pump when the company was badly needing new top names to step up.
Most fans remember Steiner winning the WCW Championship when defeating Booker T and feuding with him. The overlooked moment for Steiner’s rise came in a huge victory cleanly beating Goldberg in a No DQ match. Goldberg rarely let the creative team make him look weak, but Steiner did it on his way to the top.