10 Wrestlers You Never Realised Were Signed To WCW

1. The Great Khali

The Great Khali WCW
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Believe it or not, The Great Khali spent eight months contracted to World Championship Wrestling from late 2000 – a full six years before he’d eventually sign a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment.

The real-life Dalip Singh was working as a security guard before landing a job as a police officer in 1993. And it was then that Singh began to start his wrestling training. By 2000, the larger-than-life Mumbai native signed his first professional contract with All Pro Wrestling. Just a few months later, WCW decided to take a chance on the 7’1” giant and signed him to a contract.

The future Punjabi Playboy’s WCW career came to an end when the promotion was bought by Vince McMahon in 2001, and Dalip Singh never actually made an in-ring appearance on WCW TV. After spending time in New Japan, All Japan, and CMLL, Singh would sign with WWE in 2006 and make his main roster debut as The Great Khali later that same year.

By July 2007, Khali would become World Heavyweight Champion.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.