10 Most Successful Outsiders In WWE History
They shouldn't have fit in but they soon became part of the furniture.
WWE has never taken kindly to outsiders. While WCW built their entire business strategy around cherry-picking talents from the then-WWF during the Attitude Era, the philosophy was quite the contrary up at Titan Tower: build stars from within, and watch the cream rise to the top.
It worked with the likes of The Rock, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Yokozuna, Bret The Hitman Hart, and many others over the years. Vince McMahon viewed these stars as his creations, and valued them higher than talent who came from other companies, such as Goldberg, Sting, and Raven.
There are exceptions to every rule. For every guy that Vince McMahon created like a John Cena, there was the counter-cultures choice CM Punk to collide with him. While most outsiders to the company failed to draw money after being placed in a tough spot right out of the gate, there were several breakout stars who climbed over the mountains placed in front of them to become iconic stars of their era. AJ Styles could very well be the next wrestler to break out whilst retaining his persona from a previous company.
The criteria for this list is huge, so it's been narrowed down with a bit of grace. For example, you will not see Stone Cold Steve Austin on this list. Why? Because he was a Hollywood Blond before he stepped foot inside of a WWE ring; the character of Stone Cold was created after he started work for the company.
Same goes for the beloved Eddie Guerrero, whose tenure in WWE was summed up by lying, cheating, and stealing - another WWE creation, just like Austins run as Stone Cold. Those on this list were either a less-fleshed out version of the character they became and found success with in the company, or they amplified their past success on the biggest stage of them all.