10 Superstars WCW Completely Wasted
9. Mr. JL (Jerry Lynn)
WCW had many, many talented cruisers on their books and between the Mexican luchadors, Japanese imports and American talent there was no shortage of spectacular high-flyers at Eric Bischoff's disposal. Some of them, like Rey Mysterio Jr., Ultimo Dragon and Dean Malenko, got a fair shake. Others, however, were not so lucky, and got lost in the shuffle.
Jerry Lynn was one of those cruiserweights whose talents were completely wasted by WCW. Brought in on a nightly deal, he broke his arm during an early match with Dean Malenko and was forced to get a day job while it healed. Once he had fully recuperated, he was given an improved one-year, $1,000 per week contract and moved to Atlanta.
Mr. JL, with his Power Ranger-esque mask and costume, didn't do much other than job in WCW. He had some good matches against the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit. According to Lynn's RF Video shoot interview, it was one or more of those three men that ruined his gig with WCW.
On the second night of a summer 1996 tour of New Japan Pro Wrestling (whom WCW has a working agreement with at the time), Lynn broke his foot in a match with 'Wild Pegasus' Chris Benoit. He worked through it and actually ended up hurting his shoulder in a match the next evening, but finished the tour despite being in considerable pain.
Lynn says that someone (presumably Benoit and Malenko, since Lynn did have positive words to say about Eddie) told the New Japan and WCW offices that he was faking in order to get out of working and that he wasn't really hurt at all. This ruined his chances of having a run in New Japan and convinced WCW that he didn't have what it took to be a star, despite the company initially having plans for JL in the cruiserweight division.
From that point on, Lynn was left to waste away on shows like Worldwide and Saturday Night, before he was fired in July of 1997. After that, Lynn moved to ECW, where he routinely had fantastic matches with everyone from Lance Storm and Justin Credible to Rob Van Dam and Tajiri, becoming a star in his own right.
WCW missed the boat with Jerry Lynn who was, let's face it, eighty millions times better than Jerry f*ckin' Flynn.