12 Wrestlers Who Looked COMPLETELY Out Of Place In Other Promotions

4. The Sandman In WCW

It's Hardcore Hak!

Hak had been The Sandman's nickname amongst his peers for a while before he left Paul Heyman's ECW behind for a WCW pay day in 1998. Dave Meltzer reported that he was on a guaranteed $200,000 for 3 years back then, but Hak didn't see out that tenure in Atlanta. In fact, he was back on Hardcore TV by October 1999.

His year in WCW saw him initially appear as a childhood friend of Raven's, then as a key component in the Hardcore Title division. On paper, this was a dream gig for Sandman - he was paid good cash to work his kind of match, and he wouldn't have to fight for payoffs like most had become accustomed to under Heyman in Philly.

Any ECW hardcores who tuned into WCW Nitro and pay-per-view to see him would've thought they were tripping off some second hand smoke from RVD though. The Sandman just didn't look at home in World Championship Wrestling. The same vibes came from those who were staunchly WCW and didn't watch ECW.

They would've been wondering who this beer-swilling, cigar-smoking fool with the kendo stick and the barbed wire wrapped around him was. Hey, at least Hak's time in WCW led to some fun matches against Bam Bam Bigelow. Small mercies, y'know?

Order was restored once he went back to the land of extreme, however. That suited everybody, because it wasn't like there was any shot at upwards mobility for Hak on WCW's side. He wasn't going to be put in main events vs. Hulk Hogan, Sting or Ric Flair, put it that way.