Exposing The Myth: Vince McMahon Buried WCW Talent

7. The Lack Of Star Power

Booker T Vince Mcmahon
wwe.com

When it came to the eventual buyout of WCW, many throw shade at how Vince McMahon didn't make WCW feel like a legitimate threat to the WWF.

The problem is, despite the incredible WCW talent who joined the WWF as part of that deal, there was an extremely minimal amount who were perceived as major stars.

Away from Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page, that initial group of WCW names to join WWF had no talent who could proclaim to be main event players. You'll never find a bigger Lance Storm fan than me, and likewise Chris Kanyon was fantastic, but in terms of those who were legitimate top tier names, it really was only Booker and DDP who ticked that box.

Clearly, there's the argument to be made that WWF could have gone all-out and bought out the contracts of big-time players like Sting, Goldberg, 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Scott Steiner back in 2001, but the company opted not splash the cash at that point.

With that in mind then, it's hard to say McMahon buried WCW after the buyout when there was only really two top level WCW stars to join the World Wrestling Federation as part of said buyout.

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.