Exposing The Myth: Vince McMahon Buried WCW Talent

When people throw out statements about Vince McMahon burying WCW stars, the famed WCW buyout and subsequent 'invasion' of 2001 are often referenced.

Going back to the years before McMahon finally drove Ted Turner's WCW out of business, plentiful former WCW talents had made their way to New York to ink a deal with the World Wrestling Federation. And for so many of them, they went on to achieve success in the WWF.

Being brutally honest, a lot of the WCW names who made the jump from WCW to WWF in the '90s and early 2000s were midcard acts during their tenure in World Championship Wrestling. Names like Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Dustin Rhodes, and Johnny B. Badd had never been main event players in WCW - so, why should they have instantly been plugged in as top stars in the WWF?

As Cactus Jack, Mick Foley had sampled the main event scene during his battles against Sting, and Foley was immediately paired off with the iconic Undertaker upon signing with WWF. Likewise, Chris Benoit's extremely brief stint as WCW World Heavyweight Champion was rewarded by him being positioned opposite The Rock shortly after arriving in McMahon's company. Then there's The Giant, who debuted in the WWF by laying out Steve Austin.

Speaking of The Rock, Chris Jericho - an undervalued WCW star who had only been viewed on a TV Championship or Cruiserweight Title level - got to verbally joust with the Great One during his very first WWF appearance. Jericho himself has talked about how he could've done more to make his early WWF days smoother, yet that didn't stop him from going on to become a World Champion in the company - as, too, did Austin, Benoit, Guerrero, Foley, and Big Show.