10 Incredible Transformations From Jobbers To WWE Champions

In case you've missed every single WWE documentary on the subject for the last two decades, WCW was horribly inept.

Yes, the New World Order had a transformative impact on the North American wrestling landscape and probably saved Vince McMahon from himself, and yes their brand of pro wrestling was so beloved by a portion of the audience that the same portion ignored the entire industry forever once it disappeared, but by god if the Brooklyn Brawler and Bruce Prichard and Gerald Brisco say all they did was steal talent with their billions of dollars then g*ddamn PAL, WCW sure was the sh*ts.

Tricky, mind, having a laugh at all this. Becuase sometimes it really, really was.

Hulkamania became so much more than a marketing slogan when the pop culture icon ventured South in 1994. 'The Hulkster' needed money, assurances and the security of loads of his mates getting hired and pushed to buy into some big promises Eric Bischoff was making about the company's future. Jim Duggan was one of those buddies, but established midcard mechanic Steve Austin was not.

We were thus gifted the criminal deconstruction of the 'Stunning' character live on air. Making his pay-per-view debut after barely a month with the company, Duggan was a replacement for the injured Ricky Steamboat and ploughed through the future biggest star in the industry for the United States Championship in just 35 seconds. He won the subsequent feud too.