10 Wrestlers You Didn’t Realise Wrestled For WWE In 1998

7. El Hijo Del Santo

One of the most famous ever Mexican professional wrestlers and a pop culture icon south of the border, El Hijo Del Santo was 25 years into his career when he made his WWE debut as a headline attraction of the company's experimental Super Astros broadcast.

Taped before Monday Night Raw from November 1998 through to June 1999, the show was a Lucha Libre/WWE hybrid show screened exclusively on Spanish television stations designed to tap into the lucrative Latin American market.

Of course, WCW had already gobbled up the audience by 1998, largely thanks to an era-defining Cruiserweight division that championed Rey Mysterio and several other lucha stars that had made waves in Mexico, ECW, and the US independent scene.

The short-lived Super Astros was a typical Titan misunderstanding of the appeal, but did play host to several dynamic encounters that may have given the Light Heavyweight Division some genuine traction had they instead appeared on Raw.

With a good grasp of how to delight North American crowds thanks to a wealth of experience, Del Santo was one of the weekly highlights, along with rising stars Papi Chulo (Aguila/Essa Rios) and the similarly iconic Negro Casas.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett