10 Most Entertaining WCW Cruiserweights Of All Time
2 (tie). Dean Malenko
The rock upon which WCW's Cruiserweight division was arguably built, Dean Malenko wasn't a high flyer, but in being a spectacular technician knew exactly how to get the most out of the division's unusually gifted combatants and was responsible for some of the best matches of the late 1990s while in World Championship Wrestling. As well, Dean Malenko was the perfect comedic straight man for Chris Jericho's wacky character turn in WCW, as in their 1998 feud, Jericho used Malenko's stoic demeanor as a springboard for his ribald comedic nature. Though Malenko was known as the "Man of 1,000 Holds," he called himself the "Man of 1,004 Holds" on a March 30, 1998 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, reading from a long computer printout (ostensibly of wrestling holds knew) through a commercial break. The segment may be one of the most hilarious moments in WCW Monday Nitro history, and sparked a feud that lasted for five months and involved a masked Malenko winning a Battle Royal, a promo involving Jericho marching through the streets of Washington, DC, the constant involvement of WCW Commissioner J.J. Dillon, and a plethora of tremendous matches, too.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
