10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About WCW

4. Homegrown Talent

WCW Raw Fears Ratings
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Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, and other WWE crossovers were fundamentally important to WCW's success (84 weeks wouldn't have happened if not for this trio) but attributing Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff's success to stars made by Vince McMahon is unfair, and doesn't tell the whole story. Sadly, this is something that WWE often does when performing mental gymnastics to explain WCW's more successful periods.

Conveniently ignoring WCW's homegrown stars is ridiculous. In fact, WCW's highest-grossing pay-per-view ever, Starrcade '97, was built on the appeal of one of the company's own players, Sting, dethroning Hulk Hogan as WCW Champion. 700,000 people paid to see that happen, though the match's botched finish taking the gloss off it is one of the most aggressively WCW things ever.

Bill Goldberg was built from scratch in WCW and stood as proof of concept for the company's star-making machine as he rose through the ranks. Diamond Dallas Page was another WCW original, eventually becoming World Champion, and while Ric Flair shot to prominence in places like Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic, WCW's lineage can be traced back to those classic territories.

Booker T? Scott Steiner? Those guys exist too.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.