12 Wrestlers Who Looked COMPLETELY Out Of Place In Other Promotions
Something felt really OFF about these guys being in WWE/AEW/WCW/TNA/ECW.
Some pro wrestlers just fit a certain promotion perfectly, so much so that they look like aliens who have crash-landed when they jump to another and start anew. There are exceptions, of course. For example, Steve Austin quickly looked more at home in the WWF/WWE than he ever did as a promising midcarder who was held back in WCW. Similarly, Rob Van Dam took to WWE life like he'd been there forever once the original ECW folded.
Arguably, the advent of the nWo saved Hulk Hogan from gracing this list. His red and yellow Hulkamania vibes were so World Wrestling Federation between 1994-1996 that WCW fans struggled to get onboard. They were even booing Hulkster before he joined forces with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to revolutionise the biz and reshape what was expected from heel factions at the top of the card.
Ric Flair is another absentee. Sure, he was 'Mr. NWA/WCW' to many, but he did impress during multiple stints with Vince McMahon's organisation, and he "retired" on WWE's side too. Thus, there's no space (mountain) for the 'Nature Boy', but some heavy hitters will feature on these pages. Rest assured of that.
Some of wrestling's brightest, best, most dangerous and most technically proficient will be included, and you might be left surprised by a few of them. Everything from WWF/WWE and WCW to AEW, TNA and Paul Heyman's little promotion that could get a look in as well, so there's definitely something for every kind of fan out there.
"Out there" perfectly describes how it felt when these guys showed up elsewhere looking totally out of place.
12. Tito Santana In WCW
No, Tito Santana doesn't have 2 belts draped over his shoulders in the screenshot above. That's his golden robe, one which some lucky collector out there wears when it's bath time. Probably. El Matador's time in WCW came late too - he made a one off appearance as Jeff Jarrett's opponent on the 10 January 2000 episode of Monday Nitro.
What's more, Santana won that 'Dungeon Match'.
Technically, this wasn't Tito's first stint for the competition. Despite being a WWF stalwart throughout the 1980s and into the early-90s, he had worked as part of the co-branded (with AAA) When Worlds Collide show in 1994. That was peripheral to WCW though. Nitro in 2000 most certainly wasn't. This was mainline 'Dubya-C-Dubya', people.
Check out the guy on the right side of that pic above. He simply cannot believe that Tito f'n Santana has come to Nitro. Who knows why? It's hardly like this was on par with Lex Luger's jump during the debut episode back in September 1995. Tito wasn't tearing it up on Raw or SmackDown before coming to WCW. He was an aging veteran who was brought in as a one off.
Somehow, it still looked so, so weird to see him on Nitro. That futuristic WCW logo/entrance, the fiery name plate graphic and an era of car crash TV. Everything combined to make Santana look like he'd been superimposed onto the screen in post. It was so odd to witness.
For the record, Tito's sole mainline WCW match lasted less than 3 minutes. How's a hungry up and comer supposed to develop his skills with that meagre amount of time?!