10 Wrestlers Who Nearly Defected During The Monday Night Wars

You won't believe who the 4th member of the NWO nearly was (actually you will, he is pictured).

By Scott Carlson /

Bulldog Nwo At the height of the Monday Night Wars, Raw and Nitro were highlighted by an almost-weekly parade of wrestlers defecting from one company and showing up on the competition€™s program soon after. Think about some of the biggest moments from both promotions during that era: Lex Luger shows up on the first Nitro, Scott Hall interrupts a Nitro match, Chris Jericho interrupts a Rock promo, and the Radicalz take a seat in the front row of Raw. Defections were the norm in the mid- to late 90s through the closing of WCW in early 2001. Look at the WWF and WCW rosters from those days and you€™ll find plenty of examples of superstars who performed for both companies (in Rick Rude€™s case, televised on the same night). But there also are several wrestlers who were either rumored to or very nearly did jump ship one way or the other at some point €“ but for some reason, they decided to stand pat. Some of these guys staying put had a huge impact on the outcome of the Monday Night Wars. So let€™s look at 10 wrestlers who nearly jumped from one promotion to the other during the Monday Night Wars and see what their departures could have meant to the WCW/WWF battle for rating supremacy.