10 Wrestlers Who Could Have Been Franchise Players For WWE

Sting showed-up in WWE at least ten years too late. The company got just a single match out of the WCW legend before a back injury forced his retirement, and while his debut is remembered as one of 2014’s best moments, Sting’s WWE run was a fraction of what he deserved.

Once labelled the “Franchise of WCW,” Sting is one of the biggest wrestlers of the 90s. He was a six-time WCW Champion by the time Vince McMahon bought the company in 2001, but Sting, like so many of his colleagues, opted to sit-out his existing WCW contract rather than jump to WWE immediately. By the time it expired in 2002, Sting saw how poorly WWE had utilized his former colleagues and decided against making the move.

Sting was the last of WCW’s major players to join WWE, and he almost changed his mind on numerous occasions. He was originally pegged to come in and work with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIX (2003), but instead opted to sign with TNA, and quickly became a major player.

2003 would’ve been the perfect time for Sting to come in. Austin’s WM XIX match with The Rock proved to be the last of his career, and as he drifted into retirement, WWE lost not only a franchise player, but its biggest anti-hero. Sting’s renegade “Crow” persona would’ve filled the void perfectly, but his staunch loyalty to WCW’s legacy proved decisive once again, and his 2014 debut came far too late.