10 Lesser-Known Ridiculous WCW Moments
Who are you to doubt WCW?
In the 16 years since WCW went out of business, there's been no shortage of words written about the toppling of the once-profitable wrestling behemoth. Suffice to say, in 1997, the company was beating the WWF so handily that they almost put Vince McMahon out of business - but four years later, WCW was dead.
Analysts have explored how all of WCW's insane practices - both on- and off-screen - doomed the company, and as such, much attention has been given to things like Kevin Nash booking himself to end Goldberg's winning steak or Vince Russo deciding to put the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on David Arquette.
Less significant - but equally baffling - things like movie crossovers (featuring Chucky and Robocop) and ridiculous title changes have also been covered ad nauseam.
For this piece, I've decided to focus on some of the ridiculous WCW moments that haven't gotten the same amount of coverage over the years - ones that are all but forgotten in time. Ultimately, one could argue that they didn't make much of a difference, but for fans watching at the time, they were just as baffling as everything else.
Note that "ridiculous" doesn't necessarily mean "bad," but by and large, there's a pretty strong correlation...
10. Big Jake Strauss
By early 2000, WCW was badly falling in the ratings and losing money quickly. In order to stem to the tide, all that could be done was to find a new star and hope that he would bring more eyes to the product.
So what would WCW do? Poach a hot star from another organization? Push a talented younger worker into the top spot? They could have done those things, sure - but instead, they sent Paul Orndorff to recruit the man with the largest arms in the world.
In a video that aired on an episode of Nitro in March of 2000, Orndorff went to the Arnold Classic to meet with "Big" Jake Strauss, a bodybuilder with 28-inch biceps. The minute-long clip ended with Strauss agreeing to a deal with the company, and Orndorff seeming to promise a bright future for the freakish athlete.
Of course, Strauss never appeared on WCW TV again.