10 WCW Successes Nobody Talks About

8. Focus On Cruiserweights

One thing Eric Bischoff must receive credit for is his foresight that a wrestling show couldn't just be all about the big guys. Arguments have been made that Bischoff flat out stole the idea of importing the best Japanese and Mexican talent from Paul Heyman's ECW, but the fact is that the guy was helping promote shows involving luchadores as far back as 1994. When guys like Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera invaded WCW television, they were a revelation, and the WCW Cruiserweight Title matches quickly became one of the most entertaining aspects of the show. People often forget that, for a few years at least, WCW put a lot of emphasis on smaller, faster workers, and their matches complemented the bigger, main-event draws nicely. Notable examples of great Cruiserweight matches under the WCW banner would be Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko from Starrcade 1997, Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis at Bash At The Beach 1996, and Hog Wild from the same year, pitting Mysterio against Ultimo Dragon. In truth, there are too many to mention here, which just proves the point. Whilst WWE saw fit to make Hornswoggle their last ever Cruiserweight Champ, WCW - even towards the end - were putting on great light-weight bouts. Obviously, promoting Oklahoma as Cruiserweight Champion was a low point, but this list prefers to recall the positives, and there were many, for a few years, in the WCW Cruiser class.