10 WCW Greats That WWE Didn't Know What To Do With

7. Dean Malenko

The Man of 1,000 Holds. The Iceman. Double Ho Seven. One of these things is not like the other. Why didn't WWE just call him Chilly McFreeze and be done with it? Dean Malenko came to WWE in early 2000 along with his Radicalz stablemates Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero. They were treated as high-profile defectors who left WCW and took WWE by storm. Malenko captured the Light Heavyweight title, but that is about it for him. Deano Machino was never going to be a major star in WWE, but as Chris Jericho proved in WCW, Malenko's no-nonsense persona could have been played as a perfect foil to the types of characters that dominated WWE in 2000-01. He would've been a solid midcarder or tag-team partner. Instead, we got a cheap James Bond rip-off who tried to date Lita.
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.