Exposing The Myth: Vince McMahon Buried WCW Talent

4. The World Champions

Booker T Vince Mcmahon
WWE.com

There is clearly an argument to be made that certain former WCW competitors had the potential to become genuine main event WWE stars if afforded the opportunity, but there's also the undeniable fact that so many ex-WCW guys did manage to reach the peak of the mountain in Vince McMahon's company.

If you want to look at mainstays of WCW who were given the chance to run with the ball, names that instantly come to mind are Ric Flair and Goldberg. But elsewhere, other WCW stars to be given a shot with WWE's biggest prizes range from Booker T, to Chris Jericho, to Rey Mysterio, to Eddie Guerrero, to Chris Benoit, and Big Show.

That, of course, is without even contemplating Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and even The Undertaker as being wrestlers who passed through the umbrella of World Championship Wrestling. Oh, and that Terra Ryzing and Jean-Paul Levesque fella who went from feuding with Alex Wright to now being one of the most powerful people in the wrestling industry.

The point being, if somebody had the talent or managed to connect in the right way, being a former WCW star didn't hold WWE back on making somebody a World Champion.

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.