10 WWE Stars Who Wanted (But Failed) To Jump To WCW
10. The Headshrinkers
With a legacy hearkening back to the days of "High Chief" Peter Maivia and the WIld Samoans as well as ex-WWF champions Yokozuna and The Rock, plus modern day representatives Jimmy and Jay Uso the Maivia/Anoa'i family tree has strong roots in World Wrestling Entertainment. Samu and Fatu started off their careers as a territorial tag team that reached World Championship Wrestling by 1989 as the Paul E. Dangerously-managed Samoan Swat Team. By 1992, the SST made their way into the WWF as The Headshrinkers, and with Yokozuna also in the company in that era, the family was well-represented. After leaving the WWF for WCW in 1993, many of Hulk Hogan's most significant WWF opponents followed him to WCW, however Yokozuna - a man with whom he did not significantly feud, but could've made for a money opponent - didn't show up, and was not offered a contract. However, when Samu left the WWF in 1994, leaving Fatu to team with Headshinker Sione (aka The Barbarian), the team soon parted ways as The Barbarian soon left for WCW in 1995 to form the Faces of Fear with Meng. Ideally, Fatu would've jumped alongside Sione to bring the Headshrinkers to WCW where contacting Samu (who had gone on to form the Samoan Gangster Party with Matt "Matty Smalls," later aka "Rosey" Anoa'i) wouldn't have been very difficult. Had Fatu jumped with Sione, the idea of Samu, Fatu and Matt Anoa'i making the jump to WCW would've been a huge personal slight to the McMahon family, who had been employing members of both families for two generations. Ever wondered why Rikishi (aka the former Fatu) was entrusted with such a major push in 2000-2001? Seven years prior he had proved himself loyal to the WWF.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.