10 Wrestlers You Never Realised Were Signed To WCW

10. Rob Van Dam

Before he was WWE Champion, before he was an icon of Extreme Championship Wrestling, and before he famously asked Taz “which hand?”, Rob Van Dam had a totally forgettable run in WCW.

Having cut his teeth in places such as the USWA and All Japan Pro Wrestling, 1992 saw Van Dam signed to World Championship Wrestling. Upon arriving in WCW, Bill Watts instantly changed RVD’s name to Robbie V – and the writing was soon on the wall for the future Whole F**kin’ Show.

His official WCW debut came in January 1993, yet Robbie V would be Robbie Gone by the time March ’93 came around. In that brief run, the most notable matches that Van Dam had were a loss to Vinnie Vegas (aka Kevin Nash) in a TV Title tournament, and a hugely entertaining high-flying bout against a young Scotty Flamingo, who himself would go on to become an ECW icon by the name of Raven.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 18th Jul 2019

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