Superstars That WCW Could Have Done More With

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) are two of the biggest and most successful companies in all of wrestling history. Both companies have made many Superstars into household names, main eventers, icons and legends. Throughout most of the ‘90s and early ‘00s, both companies went head-to-head with each other. During this time, there were many of the two companies’ respective Superstars who had jumped ship in between the two companies at one time or another. Eventually, WWE came out on top and put WCW out of business for good. Shortly after, many of WCW’s Superstars ended up wrestling for WWE and some still remain a part of the company today. While WCW had managed to turn Superstars like Sting, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, Scott Steiner, Ricky Steamboat, Vader, Ron Simmons, Jeff Jarrett and The Giant (who would later become known as Big Show in WWE) into household names, main eventers, icons and legends, there are many Superstars that WCW could have done the exact same thing with, but WWE ended up doing it instead. Below is the list of Superstars that WCW blew it with.

• The Undertaker – Very briefly wrestled for WCW under the name “Mean” Mark Callous, but found little or no success. After jumping ship to WWE, he became known as The Undertaker and would go on to become a 7-time World Champion, remain undefeated at WrestleMania for 24 years and is a future WWE Hall of Famer.

• “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – During his time with WCW, Austin wrestled under the name “Stunning” Steve Austin. He would go on to become a 2-time United States Champion and a WCW World Tag Team Champion; however, before he even got the opportunity to become one of the company’s top stars, then-WCW President Eric Bischoff fired him over the phone. After jumping ship to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a little while, Austin would eventually jump ship to WWE. He would then go on to become a 6-time WWE Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion and a WWE Hall of Famer.

• Triple H – During his short time with WCW, he wrestled under the name Terra Ryzing and later under the name Jean-Paul Levesque, but none of this would lead him to success. After jumping ship to WWE, he became known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley (and eventually Triple H). He would then go on to become a 13-time World Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion, a WWE Grand Slam Champion and is a future WWE Hall of Famer.

• Mick Foley – During his time with WCW, he wrestled under the name Cactus Jack, but was not able to find any significant success. After jumping ship to ECW, he started making a name for himself. Eventually, he would jump ship to WWE and wrestle under names like Mankind, Dude Love, Cactus Jack and his own name. He would then go on to become a 3-time WWE Champion and a WWE Hall of Famer.

• Chris Jericho – During his time with WCW, he held the WCW Television Championship and became a 4-time Cruiserweight Champion; however, it was not enough to get him to the main event level. After jumping ship to WWE, he would then go on to become a 6-time World Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion, a WWE Grand Slam Champion and is a future WWE Hall of Famer.

• Chris Benoit – During his time with WCW, Benoit became a 2-time United States Champion, a 3-time WCW Television Champion and a 2-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. He eventually became the World Heavyweight Champion; however, the ending of the match turned out to be controversial and Benoit was stripped of the of the championship and it was declared vacant. Shortly after this, Benoit had jumped ship to WWE. He would then go on to become World Heavyweight Champion and a WWE Triple Crown Champion.

• Eddie Guerrero – During his time with WCW, he held the United States Championship and became a 2-time Cruiserweight Champion, but it was not enough to get him to the main event level. After jumping ship to WWE, he would then go on to become WWE Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion, a WWE Grand Slam Champion and a WWE Hall of Famer.

• Edge – Very briefly wrestled for WCW under the name Damon Striker, but found no success. After jumping ship to WWE under the name Edge, he would then go on to become an 11-time World Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion and a WWE Hall of Famer.

• Rob Van Dam – Very briefly wrestled for WCW under the name Robbie V, but found no success. He would then jump ship to ECW under the name Rob Van Dam. He would then go on to make a name for himself and he remained with the company until it went out of business. Shortly after ECW went out of business, Van Dam went to wrestle for WWE. He would then go on to become a 2-time World Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion and the only man to hold both the WWE and ECW Championship simultaneously.

• Rey Mysterio – During his time with WCW, Mysterio became a 4-time Cruiserweight Champion, a 2-time WCW World Tag Team Champion and a WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champion. This was not enough for him to get to the main event level and he remained with the company until it went out of business for good. Eventually, he went to wrestle for WWE. He would then go on to become a 3-time World Champion, a WWE Triple Crown Champion and is a future WWE Hall of Famer.

• Batista – Tried to get a job with WCW, but the powers-that-be felt that he did not have what it takes to make it in the wrestling business. Eventually, he went to wrestle for WWE. He would then go on to become a 6-time World Champion.

After all the success that all the Superstars listed above have achieved, this begs the question: Would WCW still be in business today if the company had done more with them?