10 Superstars WCW Completely Wasted

Mike Awesome more than lived up to his name in FMW and then ECW in the 1990s. Surprisingly agile for such a big man, he contested belters with Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka in particular. ECW head honcho Paul Heyman was certainly impressed by the table-breaking carnage that Awesome was perpetuating in the Orient and wanted to showcase it to American audiences.

And so the braincell-eradicating Awesome/Tanaka rivalry made its way to Philadelphia. Balancing his time between ECW and FMW, Awesome soon became the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, with Heyman wanting to build the company around him. Awesome, though, had other ideas.

He had signed a contract with WCW, while still reigning as ECW champ, because Heyman has failed to pay him overdue wages. This was a problem. The ECW locker room were furious, likening it to an act of serious treason. He returned to ECW for one night to drop the strap and then returned to WCW to get on with his career proper.

Or so he hoped. Didn't really turn out that good in the end, as he was saddled with a succession of completely asinine gimmicks like 'The Fat Chick Thrilla' and 'That 70s Guy'. Gone was the Mike Awesome famed for delivering superlative performances between the ropes and in his place was an obese-woman-loving mullet and a pair of flares.

His career recovered somewhat in the dying days of WCW when he began teaming with Lance Storm, but serious damage had already been done. A complete and utter waste of talent.