10 Wrestlers You Didn’t Realise Wrestled For WWE In 1998

4. Steve Corino

Having solidified himself on the North East independent scene working for Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling in 1995, future ECW Champion and Ring of Honor stalwart Steve Corino worked his way on to WWE's rolodex in 1996, and was used as enhancement talent for two years before working his first match for ECW in December 1998.

The 'King of Old School' had his most consistent run with the company in the summer of 1998 just before Paul Heyman made him famous for bloody streetfights and expletive-laden promos, competing in a series of C-show matches against the New Midnight Express, Kai En Tai, The Oddities, and fellow Extreme alumni Julio Dinero.

Unrecognisable as a skinny, clean shaven youngster, Corino had at least perfected a technical style that made him look believable against the company's lower card acts, but the dissonance between his rookie persona and the edgy loudmouth that enraged the ECW faithful is a testament to Heyman's unique eye for a talent's true strengths.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett