Exposing The Myth: Pre-nWo WCW Was Trash

These days, wrestling from every corner of the globe is available to viewers at the click of a button. It wasn't always like that though, and seeing grapplers of a more international flavour was a rarity during the early '90s. That is, of course, unless you were a fan of World Championship Wrestling.

Given WCW's history with Jim Crockett Promotions, and JCP's ties to the NWA, the legendary Great Muta was one huge name that WCW brought to fans. For a spell, Muta was viewed by some as being the best in-ring worker on the planet. And so, for WCW to have Keiji Mutoh at its disposal during the promotion's infancy, that was a genuinely big deal - particularly when all a rival company WWF could do was serve up The Orient Express, bungle a talent like Hakushi, or give a brief Royal Rumble cameo to a Carlos Colon or later a Mil Mascaras.

It wasn't just the iconic Muta who WCW spotlighted, mind, for they wowed a generation of young fans by bringing in the truly revolutionary Jushin 'Thunder' Liger in 1991 and into 1992, with Liger then returning to the WCW fold in 1995. Then there was having Tatsumi Fujinami tangle with Ric Flair over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, not to mention doing crossover PPV extravaganzas with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Obviously, WCW continued to push forward with the concept of bringing in the best international names throughout the '90s, particularly when it came to fleshing out the company's phenomenal cruiserweight division.