10 WWE Gimmicks Stolen From WCW

5. The Cruiserweight Division

Something Eric Bischoff gets way too little credit for is his implementation of the cruiserweight division in WCW. It was Bischoff who brought high work rate guys like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio to the mainstream. The quality was phenomenal and provided WCW with some of its very best matches. McMahon tried to rip the gimmick off with his own "light heavyweight" division in 1997, for which he brought in several Japanese and Mexican wrestlers to support the endeavour. However, it never really caught fire, and it wasn't until the 2000's that WWE really found success with high work rate smaller wrestlers. To achieve that success, Vince outright stole the gimmicks that got WCW's cruiserweights over. Rey Mysterio came in with his mask, and instantly became a huge star. However, even with all of WCW's great workers, the WWE Cruiserweight Division still ended up extinct in 2007, although the style and worker quality ended up transitioned throughout the card. The fact is, if Bischoff hadn't proved there was a place for smaller workers, you may never have saw the likes of Eddie Guerrero becoming WWE Champion. WCW proved that a work rate gimmick could go a long way.
WWE Writer

Grahame Herbert hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.