The Power Plant found success as a training facility operated by WCW for many years. WCW employee Jody Hamilton opened the center at WCW’s home base in Georgia in 1989. The school would undergo multiple changes throughout the years meant to teach prospects before putting them on television. WCW viewed the Power Plant as a smaller version of what WWE does with the Performance Center today.
Wrestlers and pundits viewed the school with polarizing reactions. Many loved the Power Plant since it helped future stars like Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page benefited from learning there. Bret Hart publicly trashed the school for not training wrestlers the right way which led to injuries. Find out which talented Power Plant trainees never achieved the success hoped for with the wrestlers that wasted their potential.
10 Tank Abbott
Former MMA fighter Tank Abbott signed with WCW to eventually have a feud with Goldberg. WCW sent Abbott to the Power Plant with the hopes of him learning how to wrestle effectively by the time he was called up.
Abbott never progressed well as a wrestler and struggled to get over. WCW eventually gave up on Tank becoming a main eventer and made him a comedic character. Abbott transitioned into a dancer for the 3 Count faction.
9 Chuck Palumbo
WCW saw something special in Chuck Palumbo after training him at the Power Plant. Palumbo was called up to WCW with a few other prospects to form the Natural Born Thrillers heel faction.
The push saw Palumbo having matches with the likes of Kevin Nash, Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page. WCW ended before Palumbo could thrive or flop in the role. WWE signed Palumbo after buying WCW, but he flopped with various characters and opportunities.
8 David Flair
Ric Flair’s son David Flair landed a WCW contract before even having any formal training. WCW believed they could teach David enough at the Power Plant to become an on-screen character involved in a main event storyline.
David never showed enough to warrant the push he received turning on his father to join the New World Order. WCW saw David become a huge bust and one of the worst signings in company history.
7 Gangrel
Few fans realize that Gangrel started off at the Power Plant before moving forward in his career. Gangrel spent some time training there with the hopes of it landing him a future job at WCW after learning the tools of the job.
WWE was eventually the first major promotion to push Gangrel as the leader of The Brood. Gangrel unfortunately never could get momentum building to become a major player and saw his potential never fulfilled.
6 Van Hammer
WCW loved the look of Van Hammer with the huge muscles and height helping him stand out. Van Hammer had a couple of different characters throughout the years from the musician to Raven’s muscle to a member of the Misfits in Action.
The potential of Van Hammer was never showcased due to the weak in-ring skills. This is one of many examples people like Bret Hart and Dave Meltzer could have used when arguing that the Power Plant was a failure that trained wrestlers poorly.
5 Shannon Moore
Even some of the better in-ring talents from the Power Plant struggled to find success in the wrestling world. Shannon Moore had some great matches with Evan Karagias and Shane Helms in the 3 Count boyband faction.
WWE signed Moore and utilized him in a few different roles to lackluster results. Moore never became a noteworthy star in the wrestling business despite working for multiple promotions. The Power Plant can’t be blamed for this negative story.
4 Glacier
WCW hyped up the debut of Glacier when coming up with his unique gimmick. Eric Bischoff was inspired by the Mortal Kombat video game franchise and wanted a character that had a similar presentation.
Glacier trained at the Power Plant before moving up with his big opportunity. Fans didn’t know what to make of Glacier with the artificial snow falling during his entrance to the confusion over his character. Glacier ended up missing the mark and never was a huge player for WCW.
3 Alex Wright
The upside of Alex Wright saw Ric Flair and other important minds believing he could become a future world champion for WCW. Wright attended some more classes at the Power Plant with management wanting him to be ready for television.
The matches from Wright impressed, but fans didn’t connect to his dancing character. Wright was relegated to teaming with the significantly lesser talented Disco Inferno to show just how much he missed out on hitting his potential.
2 Elix Skipper
WCW placed Elix Skipper in the Team Canada faction towards the end of the run. Skipper looked like a breakout star with great cruiserweight matches and impressive character work in the faction segments with leader Lance Storm.
The final few months of WCW’s time saw them placing Skipper into a tag team with fellow cruiserweight Kid Romeo. Unfortunately, we never got to witness their full potential. Skipper had some classic moments in TNA, but he could never find long-term success in the wrestling industry.
1 Sean O'Haire
The athleticism of Sean O'Haire made him one of the most intriguing wrestlers to ever train at the Power Plant. WCW viewed O’Haire as a future top star and made him arguably the most important member of the Natural Born Thrillers faction.
O’Haire signed with WWE after the purchase of WCW with big plans still in play for his future. The one main roster push on Smackdown ended in disappointment. Various personal issues further doomed O’Haire from ever hitting his potential.