As many things as World Championship Wrestling was infamous for -- a main event scene full of aging egomaniacs, hiring Vince Russo to make matters worse -- it also very much lived up to the “world” part of its moniker. At its best, WCW showcased some of the most exciting international talent Mexico and Japan had to offer.

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When it comes to Japan, WCW had a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, resulting in the promotion hosting greats like Jushin Liger, Great Muta, and Yuji Nagata as well as outside-of-NJPW icons like Ultimo Dragon and Bull Nakano. But there were also loads of other major Japanese wrestlers who showed up in WCW that you may not have noticed.

10 Meiko Satomura

Meiko Satomura WCW

Long before she founded Sendai Girls and obliterated ladies in WWE’s Mae Young Classic, American wrestling fans got their first look at Meiko Satomura in 1995 thanks to WCW’s working relationship with women’s promotion GAEA Japan. Satomura took part in tournaments to crown the first WCW Women’s Champion and the first Women’s Cruiserweight Champion, but got eliminated in the first round both times. Both titles barely lasted a year.

9 Shinya Hashimoto

Shinya Hashimoto

One of the most popular stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s, Shinya Hashimoto was a dominant force during his year-long reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. In WCW, he teamed up with fellow NJPW star Hiroshi Hase to take part in the 1992 Tag Team Title tournament at The Great American Bash, where they got taken out in the semifinals by the team of Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes.

8 CIMA

CIMA

Best known to fans as the ace of Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling and more recently seen in OWE and AEW, CIMA was one of Ultimo Dragon’s first students at his Toryumon school, and as a result got several opportunities to wrestle on WCW television.

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His first appearance -- billed as Shiima Nobunaga -- was alongside his fellow Toryumon classmates Suwa and Magnum Tokyo as they took on the WCW lucha supergroup of El Dandy, La Parka, and Psychosis.

7 Hiroyoshi Tenzan

An icon of NJPW thanks to his amazing flat top mullet and tendency to Mongolian Chop dudes in the neck, Hiroyoshi Tenzan has been wrestling since 1991 and has thus made a few appearances in WCW. His first appearance on American television was in the WCW vs. NJPW themed Starrcade 1995, where he took on Randy Savage in a losing effort. Later, Tenzan would join nWo Japan and wrestle a handful of matches on Nitro and Thunder.

6 Kensuke Sasaki

Kensuke Sasaki

Kensuke Sasaki retired in 2014 as a highly decorated champion with five IWGP Heavyweight Titles, seven Tag Titles, and a 2-0 record in MMA. He even managed to be one of the more successful NJPW wrestlers to cross over with WCW, defeating Sting to become the United States Champion and even challenging The Giant for the World Heavyweight Title on a couple of occasions. Sasaki’s last WCW match was a DQ loss to Hugh Morrus on Nitro.

5 Akira Hokuto

A star of both All Japan Women’s Wrestling and GAEA Japan, Akira Hokuto is one of the big standouts of the era, and ended up defeating Madusa in the tournament finals to become the first WCW Women’s Champion. Curiously, Hokuto did double duty in the tournament, wrestling as Akira Hokuto as well as in her masked luchadora persona from CMLL, Reina Jubuki. Hokuto would be a thorn in Madusa’s side for her entire WCW run, ultimately defeating Madusa in a title vs. career match at 1997’s Great American Bash.

4 Dragon Kid

Another of Ultimo Dragon’s first students, Dragon Kid has been a staple of Dragon Gate since the promotion’s inception, winning most of the company’s titles during his career. Just like the rest of his Toryumon brothers, Dragon Kid wrestled for WCW, but only had one match.

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Billed as “Little Dragon,” Dragon appeared on the June 29, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, in a losing effort against Eddie Guerrero.

3 Manabu Nakanishi

kurasawa
kurasawa

Manabu Nakanishi retired in 2020 after a nearly 30-year career as one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s more underrated stars, mostly winning tag titles and a single reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Before that, however, he spent 1995 through 1996 on excursion in the US, wrestling for WCW under the name of “Kurasawa” as part of Colonel Robert Parker’s Stud Stable, where he put on a strong effort against Randy Savage on an early episode of Nitro.

2 Chigusa Nagayo

Before she founded GAEA Japan in the mid-1990s, Chigusa Nagayo was a megastar in All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling during the 1980s as half of The Crush Gals, alongside Lioness Asuka. In WCW, Nagayo wrestled under the name of Zero, reaching the semifinals of the inaugural Women’s Championship tournament, losing to Madusa in the semifinals. She’d unsuccessfully attempt to win the vacated Women’s Title at a GAEA show, losing to Devil Masami.

1 Tatsumi Fujinami

Tatsumi Fujinami

An six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a WWE Hall of Famer, and the innovator of the Dragon Suplex and Dragon Sleeper, Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Ric Flair in the Tokyo Dome to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title while he was IWGP Champ. Their rematch happened at 1991’s SuperBrawl, where Flair won the title back, but that wasn’t his only WCW appearance. Fujinami would also team with Takayuki Iizuka (a.k.a. Suzuki-Gun’s Takashi Iizuka) at WrestleWar 1992 against The Steiner Brothers.

NEXT: NJPW: The 5 Best (& 5 Most Disappointing) IWGP Heavyweight Title Matches