The biggest problem to cause WCW to fall apart in shocking fashion was the amount of egos running wild backstage. WCW signed most of the top 80s stars away from WWE to merge with their already established main event acts. The company overtook WWE for about a year and a half thanks to their star power. However, everyone tried to backstab each other to get to the top. Everyone was making incredible money, but they still weren’t happy being secondary to any of the top stars. It led to quite a bit of drama and tension behind the scenes.

All the issues caused the company to fall apart without leadership being able to step in and stop things from getting out of control. There was a decent amount of personalities backstage universally disliked for various reasons. The reasons range from wrestlers trying to hurt the careers of others to those that were just viewed as being annoying to deal with. We will look at the instances of wrestlers being disliked in the locker room. Some of the wrestlers were able to save their legacies after WCW went out of business while others are still viewed as jerks. These are fifteen stars that everyone hated backstage in WCW.

15 Goldberg

The success of Goldberg made him the last saving grace for WCW as they attempted to return to form. Goldberg was a huge star thanks to his undefeated streak making him the hottest act in wrestling for a short time. WCW wrestlers would have likely been happy with him being the one young star to break out, but his attitude rubbed them the wrong way.

Respected wrestlers like Chris Jericho and William Regal had altercations with Goldberg throughout his career. Goldberg also annoyed others by working stiff in the ring.

The matches of Goldberg saw him destroy his opponents with a few moves and very rarely had to sell any moves. Goldberg delivered his moves as if the goal was to intentionally hurt his opponents. It all coincided to make Goldberg a hated figure in the locker room.

14 Raven

Raven is remembered as a polarizing figure based on the variety of answers wrestlers give about him in shoot interviews. The talented performer was a top star in ECW that allowed him to land a great contract with WCW in the mid-90s. Raven led the Flock faction but failed to ever move up the card and progress as a top name. The backstage attitude of Raven saw him always being vocal about his thoughts. Raven made his opinion known whenever had the opportunity.

Some of the veterans at the time viewed him as being entitled and egotistical.

Those things may be true, but you must respect Raven for standing up for himself. Raven left WCW in 1999 by walking out when Eric Bischoff said anyone upset with the company’s direction could leave.

13 Scott Steiner

The WCW career of Scott Steiner is remembered in two chapters. There was his run teaming with his brother Rick Steiner. The Steiner Brothers were arguably the greatest tag team in WCW history having superb matches and being the mainstay duo of the division. Things changed when the team split, and Scott embarked on a singles career. Steiner adopted the new persona with the moniker of Big Poppa Pump. Along with the physical changes, Steiner started to showcase an unpredictable personality.

He rubbed other wrestlers the wrong way as he would often break script and make his opponents look bad.

Diamond Dallas Page got into a fight with Steiner one night for insulting his wife in a shoot promo. Ric Flair and many others also spoke up about having issues with how Steiner represented the company.

12 Scott Hall

The signing of Scott Hall was arguably the most important one WCW made to start the Monday Night Wars. Hall appeared to start the game changing angle of the New World Order. Most stars to jump ship from WWE to WCW at that point were older performers past their prime. Hall was still in the prime of his career and showed that with his work starting a red-hot storyline.

However, the success Hall brought came with a toxic attitude. Hall often talked down to the rest of the locker room and was viewed as a bully.

The personal demons of Hall saw him start to show up to work drunk if he showed up at all. Most of the wrestlers resented him for being a jerk and bringing a lot of baggage with him.

11 Vince Russo

Vince Russo did so poorly as a writer for WCW that many pundits have speculated that he may have been a plant sent by Vince McMahon to kill the competition. The ideas of Russo were among the most nonsensical stories you’d ever find in the wrestling business. Russo claimed he was responsible for the Attitude Era during his time in WWE, but he would get exposed when given full power in WCW.

In addition to writing terrible angles, Russo was viewed as a horrible booker for wrestlers to deal with.

The mindset of Russo showed no respect for the wrestling business and he didn’t listen to his talent. Most WCW wrestlers to work with Russo have terrible things to say about him since he is partially responsible for the downfall of the company. Russo is one of the most hated men in wrestling history thanks to his reputation.

10 Diamond Dallas Page

Diamond Dallas Page was disliked by quite a few WCW wrestlers for different reasons that the other names on this list. Most wrestlers were hated for being jerks to others, but Page just had a unique situation to get the wrath of his peers. DDP loved to script out his matches move by move to deliver the best possible performance. Wrestlers would get upset at Page coming up to them hours before the show with papers full of notes about the match.

DDP’s desire to be the best often rubbed others the wrong way since his method was different from most of the era that preferred to call most of the match in the ring.

There was also the aspect of Page being a neighbor and close friend of Eric Bischoff. Many wrestlers felt he was receiving more opportunities due to his relationship with the guy running the company.

9 Mark Madden

WCW broadcasters were respected for the most part since they had credibility from years of experience at the table or in the ring. Mark Madden lucked into his role as a color commentator due to his radio gig as a talk show host. The comments of Madden came off as a corny shock jock radio host trying to bring the morning show antics to the wrestling show.

Madden reportedly had negative relationships with quite a few wrestlers. The talent showed little respect for Madden since he did not come up in the wrestling business or do a particularly good job commentating their matches.

Diamond Dallas Page would find Madden many weeks to correct him on his errors creating one of many hostile relationships for the broadcaster.

8 Jeff Jarrett

Jeff Jarrett is slated to enter the WWE Hall of Fame this year, but he was never a true star in WWE. The career of Jarrett saw him achieve more success at the top of the card in WCW. Jarrett jumped ship from WWE to WCW in the late 90s when his friend Vince Russo joined the company as head writer. A close relationship between the two saw Russo guarantee Jarrett a main event spot if he came to WCW with him.

Jarrett had a lot of backstage heat due to his close bond with Russo helping his career.

Up to that point, Jarrett was a mid-carder for most of his career in both WWE and WCW. The fact that Russo looked out for him and made him one of the few mid-card names to get a huge push caused resentment towards him.

7 Lanny Poffo

Most fans have no memory of Lanny Poffo having any role in WCW since he never wrestled for them. However, he benefited greatly from Eric Bischoff giving money around like candy to anyone that requested it. Randy Savage used to this advantage when negotiating his contract to join WCW. The leverage of Savage saw him get his brother Lanny contract.

WCW paid Lanny six figures each year for five years even though he never did anything for the company.

Lanny stated a few old friends were upset at him for taking money without contributing to WCW. However, Lanny wanted to work and contacted them on multiple occasions. No one in the office ever responded to him and he just kept getting pay checks to hang out. We now know why he once used the name of The Genius.

6 Kevin Nash

The political game backstage in WCW sunk the company to its eventual death. Kevin Nash happened to be one of the best at playing the game leading to the other wrestlers hating him. From day one, Nash tried to stir things up with the wrestlers backstage.

WCW talented grew sick of Nash when he would try to get them all to change things to adopt a similar product style to WWE.

Nash’s power continued to grow to the point where he was somehow given the role of head booker running WCW. Naturally, he used his new role to give himself the honor of ending Goldberg’s undefeated streak. Wrestlers felt Nash held them down and attempted to manipulate them to turn on each other. Most of the WCW wrestlers were even upset when WWE brought Nash back in 2002 fearing they’d have to deal with him again.

5 Lex Luger

Lex Luger was considered one of the most overrated wrestlers of the 90s by fans and wrestlers alike. The talent of Luger lacked compared to the peers he worked with on a weekly basis. Luger essentially got by being jacked and having enough athleticism to get by. The reputation of Luger backstage was even worse than in the ring when it came to his attitude.

Many of the wrestlers viewed Luger as being too arrogant and they lost respect for how he carried himself.

One specific story that summed up Luger’s attitude featured him mocking Brian Pillman for practicing high-flying moves before a show. Luger mocked the idea of Pillman wanting to learn new things or wrestle a different style than him. Other wrestlers have felt the same snobby attitude from Luger making him a hated man in WCW.

4 Juventud Guerrera

Juventud Guerrera is the only Cruiserweight from WCW to find his way on this list. Most of the Cruiserweight performers were happy to be there and were commended for their work ethic. Guerrera followed suit when it came time to deliver impressive performances in the ring, but he developed a bigger ego that came with the fame and money from working in WCW.

The attitude of Juventud saw him becoming unprofessional to work with. Guerrera would get drunk and make a fool of himself quite often.

WCW eventually fired him in 2000 for getting arrested during a tour of Australia. Juventud got wasted and started running around naked screaming at the top of his lungs in the hotel lobby. Rey Mysterio and other respected wrestlers spoke out against Guerrera being a pain to deal with.

3 Buff Bagwell

The career of Buff Bagwell saw him thrive in WCW despite never making it anywhere else. Bagwell signed with WCW and received opportunities over a decade. Buff could never become a World Champion or main eventer, but he certainly had a relevant role on the show. The pushes for Bagwell seemed to bother many of his peers that had no respect for him.

Bagwell had the reputation of being a prima donna. Wrestlers didn’t like having to work with him due to how poorly he carried himself backstage along with the underperforming in the ring.

Buff saw this finally catch up to him when he joined WWE. The original plan was to have WCW run as its own brand with Bagwell as one of the faces of the show. Buff did so poorly in the ring and backstage that it impacted WWE to end all plans of WCW continuing.

2 Hulk Hogan

You can’t talk about hated people backstage in WCW during the Monday Night Wars without mentioning Hulk Hogan. The power of Hogan saw him essentially running the company quite often due to his contract. Hogan had a creative clause that allowed him to say yes or no to any plans involving him on the show. This would have been bad enough, but Hogan also got involved in the plans for other wrestlers. Bret Hart believes Hogan influenced the booking behind his career going downhill after coming to WCW as a massive star.

Most of the young wrestlers felt Hogan tried to undermine them by making them look like jokes rather than future stars that could challenge him.

At one point, Hogan stated Billy Kidman couldn’t draw flies at a flea market during a radio interview. Hogan tried to hold down everyone else leading to him becoming a hated figure backstage.

1 Eric Bischoff

The controversial run of Eric Bischoff as the man in charge of WCW saw him rise to fame as a savant and quickly fall back down to get humbled. Bischoff developed a negative reputation right away with the cold way he hired respected talents like Steve Austin and Mick Foley.

The ego of Bischoff would grow to another level when the success of the New World Order turned WCW into a juggernaut and he became an on-screen character.

Bischoff stayed close to guys like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash giving them just about anything they wanted. The other wrestlers like Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Chris Jericho despised working for Bischoff due to how little respect he showed them beyond the big contracts. Many of the WCW wrestlers were livid when WWE hired Bischoff to come back on the same roster as them. Bischoff received some ribbing for months as revenge for the torture he delivered as one of the most hated men in WCW history.