The history of WCW is a sad one at times. This was a company that had countless opportunities given to them on a silver platter and somehow managed to blow it. The brutal truth is that the company destroyed itself with overspending and refusing to look at the long-term implications of moves. Nothing showed that more than when they were on top of the wrestling world, convinced they could do “same-old/same-old” and refusing to build up the new stars they had. Indeed, quite a few times, WCW would blatantly cut someone who would go on to major fame in WWE or elsewhere. There was also how they hired guys who would hurt them majorly. A few cases are notable like Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Glacier and other bad workers who caused long-term damage.

But some really stand out from the pack. People hired for unjustifiable reasons and at ridiculous salaries who not only contributed nothing but actually hurt the company badly. There’s also how WCW basically fired people who would end up hurting them badly by becoming stars elsewhere. While it’s easy to cite some bad workers, a few cases are very notable and did serious damage. Here are 10 stars WCW regretted firing and 10 they regretted signing on and how it all contributed to the company’s ultimate fall.

20 Hiring: David Arquette

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You really can’t do this list without this hire. Yes, WCW had made some bad choices in bringing in celebrities from Jay Leno to Dennis Rodman. But David Arquette is something else. The actor was best known as Courtney Cox’s husband, hardly a major star and was headlining the horrible movie “Ready to Rumble.” He was brought onto WCW with a big cash deal and presented as a nutty fan to help out DDP. During a meeting, in the moment he no doubt wishes he could take back, Tony Schiavone cracked that with all the attention they were getting, they should make Arquette champion. Vince Russo thought that was a great idea and thus, in a tag match, Arquette won the belt.

It was the point of no return for WCW, no one taking seriously a company who gave a belt to a third-rate actor.

He even “defended” it for a bit before suddenly turning on DDP to let Jeff Jarrett get the title. To his credit, Arquette hated it too and gave all the money WCW paid him to the families of Brian Pillman and Owen Hart. But hiring him on really was one of the final nails in the coffin of WCW and why his hiring was so horrific.

19 Firing: Brian Pillman

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Brian Pillman remains one of the most fantastic figures in wrestling history. A fantastic worker and master on the mic, Pillman was a sheer genius who conceived the greatest con job in wrestling history. Pillman came up with the idea of presenting his anger at the company as making him lose his mind. He was acting up majorly, targeting Bobby Heenan’s bad neck on live TV and breaking kayfabe on air. It was amazing and impressive as even his best friends were worried Pillman had lost it. Eric Bischoff claims to be in on it but some suspect he was conned like everyone else and hiding it.

As part of his plan, Pillman asked Bischoff for his release to “make it look real.” As soon as he got it, Pillman went to ECW for a brief bit then a huge contract with WWE. It was marred by his terrible accident that really put his life on a time clock but Pillman also showed how well he could trick WCW into giving him a firing that made his con job a legend.

18 Hiring: Tank Abbott

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While he was hailed as a pioneer of MMA, the fact is that Tank Abbott’s actual UFC record was pretty bad. But that didn’t stop WCW from hiring him on with a big contract and pushing him hard. The idea was Abbott to be built into a monster to face Goldberg which worked on paper. But Abbott himself showed a bad style in the ring, no flash and little understanding of things. He was infamous for threatening an opponent with a knife that WCW tried to brush off.

To have a contract said to be over a million to paid over a few years for such a bad worker was pretty terrible.

Incredibly, in early 2000, Russo wanted to give Tank the World title, ignoring the man had zero standing with the fans and the very suggestion caused Russo to be fired. Tank was soon stuck as the bodyguard for boy-band workers Three Count and left with his contract still not completed, showcasing a terrible hire.

17 Firing: Rob Van Dam

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It’s remarkable seeing all the future stars WCW let slip through their fingers. Steve Austin, Edge, HHH, they all had starts in WCW and all were let go. Among the other guys working in the early 1990s was a promising high-flyer named Robbie V. He was catching on with his bare-footed style and some flash. But like the other cruiserweights of the era, Robbie was effected when new boss Bill Watts banned moves off the top rope and majorly screwed things up.

His work had so much promise but just not doing well and he was among the various workers let go in a wave of cost-cutting moves to make up for the bad business Watts created. Moving to ECW, he took on the name of Rob Van Dam and soon wowing fans with his fantastic high-flying and great attitude. He carried that over to WWE and TNA as an ECW icon and thus yet another great future face WCW just let go.

16 Hiring: Grand Master P

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This is WCW “logic” to the extreme. In 1999, they were hurting badly as WWE was rising up, they needed a big splash, a huge name, someone who could help them win over wrestling fans. Their solution? Hire rapper Grand Master P to a contract worth roughly $2 million. He was to do a few rap shows and lead a pack of guys called the No Limit Soldiers.

WCW thought this would be a good crossover between wrestling and hip hop, ignoring that WCW’s Southern base weren’t exactly rap fans.

That led to other messes as the Soldiers were just damn bad in the ring and didn’t click with fans at all.

Curt Hennig and Barry Windham formed a group called the West Texas Rednecks who cut a hilarious song called “Rap is Crap” that became a hit. But WCW didn’t want them as the faces in this feud and ended this fast. The Soldiers soon broke up with Master P fading away and a massive waste of money even by WCW standards.

15 Firing: British Bulldog

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When you’re already giving fans a bad show, adding in worst publicity doesn’t help. Davey Boy Smith had a brief run with WCW in 1993, including a World title feud but didn’t like it much and went back to WWE. When the Montreal Screwjob went down, Smith joined Bret Hart in WCW and soon pushed in various feuds. He wasn’t happy with his treatment there but went along with it. At Fall Brawl, Smith was with the rest of the group in a complex War Games match where he was backdropped onto the canvas. As fate had it, Smith landed right on top of a trap door set up for the Ultimate Warrior to show up.

None of the wrestlers were told about it and thus Smith had no way to protect himself. He was out for weeks and while recovering, was sent his pink slip by messenger service. Firing a guy who had been injured thanks to your own incompetence was a black eye that cost WCW even more morale.

14 Hiring: Sid

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From day one, Sid was touted as the next Hulk Hogan. He had a great look and intensity, a man who easily looked like he could kick your ass and enjoy it. But Sid also had a short temper, bad ring work and some truly nutty antics that gave WCW plenty of headaches. His first short run had him challenging for the World title but also nearly breaking Brian Pillman’s neck with a botched power bomb.

After a short WWE stint, Sid returned to WCW with a big contract and soon causing a fuss. That ended with his infamous fight with Arn Anderson that made him persona non grata for years.

But in 1999, Sid was hired back with a contract that basically paid him over $2 million over three years. And for all that cash, WCW got some horrible bouts, some of the most insane promos ever put on television and finally one of the most gruesome in-ring injuries ever seen as Sid broke his leg during the PPV Greed.

13 Firing: Jim Ross

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It’s been painted as mutual but many rumors abound that Jim Ross didn’t so much leave WCW as he was pushed out. A respected figure already as commentator for Bill Watts, Ross was hired by WCW when they bought out the UWF in 1987. He was soon regarded as a terrific play-by-play man with great knowledge of wrestlers and their pasts that made matches fun. Ross was a very capable guy and that worked out well for his commentary and made him a respected voice. However, Ross was annoyed when Eric Bischoff took over and it soon led to some clashes with him over the company’s tone. It culminated in a fight and Ross left for WCW to become “Good ole J.R.” This cost WCW one of their best voices and Ross became a WWE favorite. Firing a guy so respected would hurt WCW’s image.

12 Hiring: Ernest Miller

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On the one hand, the Cat was one of the few things that made 2000-01 WCW something to watch. His wild stuff included dancing like James Brown and a fun stint as the one-screen commissioner. He wrestled a total of 259 matches, almost all losses and usually just the guy to throw into comedy skits and such.

So why is he among the worst hires? We have 1.16 million reasons.

That’s how much Miller was paid over the last three years of WCW. That’s right, this man was earning more money than most of the actual champions at a time when the company should have been opening up their wallets for fresh indie talent to compete with WWE. Instead, this middle-card comedy act was making more cash than most guys in WWE at the time were. Yes, he was fun to watch but not at that price and showcases yet another of the ridiculous wastes of money WCW made.

11 Firing: Sean Waltman

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Granted, he was in rough shape already but Sean Waltman just got a bad run in WCW. In WWE, he rose to fame as the 1-2-3 Kid, his small size hiding fantastic work as a high flyer and doing well as a tag champion and feuds with Razor Ramon. As one of the Kliq, Waltman was known for hard partying but still able to work in the ring. In WCW, he was named Syxx and had promise, winning the Cruiserweight title and his jerk behavior making him a nice heel. But he got in hot water for some partying and then a neck injury.

While he was recovering, Bischoff decided to send a message of control by firing Waltman via messenger service. Naturally ticked, Waltman returned to WWE where his debut had him joining DX and bad-mouthing Bischoff majorly. He would continue as a major heel with several titles and his exit was yet another sign WCW’s control was sinking fast.

10 Hiring: Brutus Beefcake

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When Hulk Hogan was hired to WCW in 1994, he was soon bringing a bunch of his old friends with. Along for the ride was Brutus Beefcake, an old buddy known as the “Barber” in WWE. Beefcake had been hampered by a terrible parasailing accident that required huge surgery marring his looks and hurting his drive.

His role in WCW seemed limited, just him helping Hogan out and being there for him.

But then they had the idea of making him a backstabber attacking Hogan out of jealousy, a storyline seen ad naseum in WWE. Their Starrcade battle was a mess and Beefcake was soon saddled with horrible characters like Zodiac, the Booty Man and more. He was just hired because he was on Hogan’s good side and it was a poor decision by the WCW higher-ups.

9 Firing: Paul Heyman

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The circumstances of Heyman’s firing from WCW are so epic that to this very day, Heyman is legally prohibited from discussing it. He joined in early 1989, taking it to Jim Cornette in a feud and then moving onto stuff as both a commentator and manager. With his brash manner and bulky cell phone, Heyman was well suited for WCW and helping out. In 1992, he took off managing the Dangerous Alliance, a fantastic collection of heels that dominated WCW majorly and promise for more.

Heyman, by his own admission, is not the type to play nice with others and thus clashed with WCW majorly.

It all led to a massive blow-up that led to huge lawsuits and Heyman still can’t even talk about it today. Heyman was seriously ticked off and that pushed him on as he joined to help create what would become ECW. Heyman made his hate of WCW clear as ECW changed the wrestling landscape and may not have been so driven if not for this ugly firing.

8 Hiring: Hulk Hogan

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In terms of short-term finances, hiring Hulk Hogan did help WCW. It gave them more mainstream attention and his heel turn would push WCW to the heights of success. However, his hiring also killed much of the spirit of WCW. Hogan was everything WCW was meant to be against, flash and substance, bad matches and poor character stuff. Worse was his creative control which allowed him to bring in slews of running buddies in in a matter of months, WCW turned into a retread of late 1980s WWE. This led to falling PPV buys, bad ratings, terrible house shows and some of the stupidest wrestling moments ever seen.

Even when Hogan was a heel, it led to problems. His refusal to give Sting a clean win at Starrcade 97 ruined a year of build and his further tantrums over not being the biggest star would hurt the company more. That’s not to mention the outrageous money he was paid at a time WCW was hurting badly. Even his exit made him look great with the controversial Bash at the Beach 2000 moment that jarred fans too much. Hogan’s ego always had him first and WCW learned the hard way that making him happy hurt them too much.

7 Firing: Ric Flair

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It’s the worst decision Jim Herd made that destroyed his entire WCW tenure. In 1990, Sting finally won the NWA World title off of Ric Flair and clear he was meant to be the star. The pro-WCW Apter mags talked of Flair being done and Sting the future. But Sting’s reign was ruined by bad booking that hurt business and so Flair was given the book. The first thing he did was regain the title and prove he was still around. Things were going better but Herd and Flair soon clashed as Herd wanted Flair to cut his hair, go around like a Roman gladiator and rename him “Spartacus.” Flair, naturally, refused and things got worse. As the Great American Bash PPV came up, Flair wanted more money, thinking as the champ, he had the leverage.

Instead, Herd fired the World champion a week before the big PPV of the year. The Clash was a disaster with the fans chanting for Flair and Lex Luger winning the belt over Barry Windham. Flair, meanwhile, was signed to WWE in no time for the dream feud with Hulk Hogan. While Flair would return, this firing hurt WCW badly and they never really recovered.

6 Hiring: The Ultimate Warrior

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As 1998 continued, WCW was slowly but surely losing the Monday Night War. WWE was stepping up with new stars and fresh approaches while WCW still had the New World Order going wild.

They needed to do something to make a big splash and Bischoff thought the answer was to hire on the Ultimate Warrior.

He would finally give wrestling fans the rematch WWE had robbed them and make a huge deal of it. However, the Warrior, never a stable guy to begin with, seemed to go over the edge in bizarre promos and stuff like the infamous “mirror” bit. Hogan himself has admitted to making a lot mistakes making the buildup sillier. The payoff was their utterly atrocious Halloween Havoc battle, one of the worst PPV matches of all time. Hogan and Bischoff are the first to say it and even Warrior had to agree as they were a total mess and the match booed hard. The company paid Warrior a fortune for a few terrible appearances as he left immediately afterward to make the hiring a horrific thing for WCW.

5 Firing: Mick Foley

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While it seems mutual, Mick Foley has made it clear he considered himself pushed out by WCW. With his wild brawling and inhuman ability to take damage, Cactus Jack was a good face for the company, including great feuds with Sting and others. He gained infamy for the match in Germany with Vader where Jack lost most of an ear and then power-bombed on the concrete floor. However, WCW then saddled him with the horrible “Lost in Cleveland” skits that ruined a lot of his drive. Foley kept up because of the contract but still felt lost and annoyed. The kicker was when he had a rematch with Vader, once more a concrete power-bomb and the announcers completely no sold it.

Foley decided it was worth getting the axe and maybe sued to get out of a company that clearly had no idea how to handle him.

After a good stint in ECW, he moved to WWE and soon stardom. Indeed, WCW paid badly with the infamous moment when he won the World title and they made a “butts in the seats” comments that cost them majorly. Thus, letting Foley go was one of the worst decisions WCW made.

4 Hiring: Bill Watts

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On paper, hiring Bill Watts in 1992 should have been a great move for WCW. The Cowboy was well known for his fantastic booking of Mid-South, a terrific creative mind and able to help create stars. But Watts soon began showing he had little idea how to handle a 1990s promotion in the same way. His rules were way too old-school for fans to get behind such as banning moves from the top rope, which destroyed the growing light heavyweight division. His old-school kayfabe-preservation rules like faces and heels never to be seen together marred travel and angered the workers.

Worse was Watts’ decision to push his son Erik as a new star, ignoring the kid’s lack of real potential and horrible lack of training. He had Ron Simmons win the World title but gave him crappy challengers didn't do enough to make him shine more. There was also bad moves like the “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” stuff and slashing costs which drove a lot of talent to leave. To top it all off, Watts’ borderline racist past comments were discovered and led to his firing. While there were a few good bits here and there, Watts’ tenure convinced WCW to never let someone with wrestling experience be in charge which cost them bad over the years.

3 Firing: The Undertaker

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WCW really has to be kicking themselves for this one. In late 1989, Mean Mark Callous had a very impressive look. With his biker-motif and amazing size, Mark was pushed as a member of the Skyscrapers and while raw, he had potential, especially with his top rope walk.

WCW didn’t see any long-term potential in him and thus had Mark cut loose.

Hired by WWE, Mark was given the newly created gimmick of The Undertaker. And what looked to be yet another forgettable cartoonish character instead became one of the single most successful acts in wrestling history. It paved the way for classic matches, The Streak, numerous notable feuds and more. Undertaker was always loyal to Vince for this chance, never tempted to jump ship and remains an icon of the business. Thus, WCW gave away one of the biggest faces of WWE and failed to grab the star he would be.

2 Hiring: Vince Russo

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Vince Russo may not have totally killed WCW but he sure helped put the final nail in the coffin. He managed to con WCW into thinking he was the key reason for WWE’s success, making it sound like Vince McMahon was out of touch and it was Russo’s vision that pushed the Attitude Era. This, of course, ignores the stars abounding and how Russo’s later work was pretty terrible.

Before anyone knew it, Russo’s influence was felt and not in a good way.

Guys were given awful scripts and openly acknowledging the whole thing was a work, ruining the illusion of wrestling. The T&A stuff got worse and Russo also believed in quick title changes that rendered the belts meaningless. His short attention span meant you could build up big angles with no payoff and the terrible TV was soon too much to take. Giving himself the title belt was just the topper, as the damage was already done. Russo just sent WCW into the tailspin they never recovered from and thus his hiring has to be the worst the company ever made.

1 Firing: Steve Austin

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It’s the firing that changed the course of wrestling history. Steve Austin had the makings of a star from day one; everyone could see it. In WCW, he was “Stunning Steve,” winning the TV title then he and Brian Pillman terrific as tag champions the Hollywood Blondes. Politics broke them up at the height of their success but Austin still survived, moving on to win the US title. Ric Flair saw the potential in him as a main eventer but Eric Bischoff didn’t agree. Austin would end up being given the US title after Ricky Steamboat was injured but lost it in 30 seconds to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Austin had a bad triceps injury and was rehabbing it when Bischoff fired him via FedEx.

A ticked off Austin headed for ECW where his promos bad-mouthing WCW made him a star. That led to WWE and the rest is history.

Thus, with this firing, Bischoff set the stage for WCW’s collapse and paid big time in not seeing Austin’s potential.