WCW was a great promotion for wrestlers to work on their characters. There was a little more creative freedom for the talent than the WWE syste, and WCW allowed the talents to experiment on the fly with trying to perfect their gimmick. Most wrestlers believe that talents must have some part of their true selves in their characters to succeed.
The history of wrestlers working for WCW featured a mixed bag of talents that had characters like their actual personalities along with those that were the complete opposite. Each wrestler must make their own choice regarding how similar they wanted their character to be. Find out what caused scenarios of each side, with the WCW stars that had characters similar to their real persona along with those that were completely different.
10 Similar: Kevin Nash
One of the major reasons for Kevin Nash having more success in WCW than WWE was getting to use elements of his natural charisma. WWE wanted Nash to be more intimidating than charming as the Diesel character.
WCW preferred Nash to use his comedic side in promos. The likable nature of Nash helped him get over more in WCW and even have a strong face run as the leader of the Wolfpac chapter of the New World Order.
9 Different: The Giant
Big Show’s wrestling career started in WCW as The Giant. Hulk Hogan wanted him to become the new version of Andre the Giant, with a convoluted backstory of being Andre’s long-lost son looking for revenge.
WCW tried hard to make The Giant an intimidating character, but it never connected. WWE didn’t find success with Big Show until adding comedic elements to his character. Big Show is a gentle giant behind the scenes, which caused the WCW presentation to flop.
8 Similar: Booker T
The rise of Booker T as the final top face for WCW stemmed from the real story of his career. Booker received his first main event opportunity after about a decade of hard work in WCW, from the tag team scene to mid-card to the top.
Fans loved the story of Booker, since he was genuinely a likable guy that was respected by the locker room. Some gimmicks don’t need to stray too far away from reality. Booker proved a real-life story could work in a storyline.
7 Different: Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero found his strongest WCW success playing a heel character. The ruthless side of Eddie allowed him to get more over during his memorable feuds against Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Chavo Guerrero.
Guerrero tapped into a tremendous gimmick as one of the most hated men on the roster. The real persona of Eddie was beloved backstage. No one in the industry had a negative word to say about Guerrero since he was such a kind person.
6 Similar: Ric Flair
The partying lifestyle of Ric Flair started to mirror his wild wrestling character. Flair was most known for his gimmick of wearing the most expensive clothes, flirting with any ladies around, and having no filter when feeling the need to be the Nature Boy.
This ended up becoming a problem for Flair, as he started to live his gimmick too much. The overspending, too much partying, and refusal to show more restraint caused Flair to have a few issues as his career reached the end.
5 Different: Raven
The dark character of Raven originated in ECW and found more success in WCW. Raven was among the most effective mid-carders for WCW, often having great matches and delivering strong promos on the microphone.
The real personality of Raven was the exact opposite. Raven was an extrovert that loved partying and hanging out with others. Any wrestling friends of Raven have wild party stories about him, even though he played a quiet loner on television.
4 Similar: Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner made a huge character change later in his career as Big Poppa Pump. The end of the Steiner Brothers tag team influenced Scott take bigger risks, and it helped him become a main eventer for the first time in his career.
WCW wrestlers unfortunately saw the gimmick of Steiner start to become his real-life persona as well. Steiner was viewed as unpredictable and dangerous when crossing the line in promos or even getting into backstage fights.
3 Different: Bret Hart
Bret Hart was one of unhappiest wrestlers in WCW when joining the company in late 1997. Everyone expected WCW to do something noteworthy with Bret, given the WWE departure after the Montreal Screwjob.
Hart treaded water as a generic face in forgettable feuds until turning heel to join the New World Order. The character saw Bret playing a follower of Hulk Hogan, but the future showed us that Hart hated Hogan and considered himself a leader.
2 Similar: Diamond Dallas Page
WCW fans had a legitimate connection with Diamond Dallas Page during his rise to stardom. The face character of DDP in 1997 saw layers of his real story coming into play. WCW fans saw the veteran scratching and clawing to get his opportunity.
Page started to feud with the New World Order and became known as the people’s champion. Fans connected with DDP because he felt like one of the people. The face character led DDP to the greatest success of his career and a true WCW legend.
1 Different: Dean Malenko
Dean Malenko played one of the best serious characters in WCW. The no-nonsense attitude allowed Malenko to get away with not cutting many promos. Malenko was one of the top technical wrestlers in the world, but he didn’t have the charisma of his peers.
The funny twist to come out years later is that Malenko is a generally funny jokester behind the scenes. Malenko just couldn’t channel that into results for his character and instead went with the serious ice man persona.