The Bizarre Tale Of The Misfits In WCW
When The Misfits joined Vampiro in the WCW, as much chaos ensued behind the scenes as in the ring.
The Misfits were the originators of the horror punk music genre in the late 1970s, but in 1983, founding singer Glenn Danzig left the band to pursue other endeavors. They appeared to be finished.
In the mid-'90s, however, after resolving lawsuits with Glenn about the use of the band name, founding bass player Jerry Only assembled a new lineup and began touring and recording new music. Only was willing to do anything to draw attention to his band, and The Misfits were soon appearing in small-budget films, doing work for ESPN's X-Games, and in late 1999, the band appeared for a completely unexpected two month run in WCW. At this time, WCW was solidly losing the Monday Night Wars against the WWF, and the bookers were doing anything they could think of to prop up their television ratings, including bringing on musical acts such as KISS, Megadeth, and rapper Master P.
Brought onboard through their relationship with wrestler Vampiro, The Misfits arrived with zero experience in the squared circle, and were quickly introduced to the very real violence that can occur in the ring.
And while fans of punk music may have been shocked to see the musicians step into the ring, there was a whole lot more happening behind the scenes that the fans didn't see...
10. They Were There To Replace Insane Clown Posse
Vampiro had been a big star for several promotions in Mexico and Japan through the 1990s, but when he arrived in WCW in 1998, the company’s creative team had little idea what to do with him. After being left on the sidelines for most of a year, he began getting a push as part of a stable with Raven and Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J of rap duo Insane Clown Posse, called “The Dead Pool.” The group got over and had a short-lived feud with Rey Mysterio Jr., Eddie Guerrero, and Billy Kidman, culminating with a six-man tag match in 1999’s Fall Brawl.
In mid-September, ICP left the promotion, citing other touring obligations. They would return to WCW in mid-2000, but in the meantime, Vampiro was left without a stable, and WCW’s creative department was again left without any idea what to do with the performer. Since it no longer seemed appropriate for Vampiro to use ICP’s music for his entrance theme, creative asked the real-life Ian Hodgkinson for suggestions. As he was a punk rock kid at heart, he suggested they let him play with a band. The creative team had no idea what he was talking about, but he told them to trust him, and he started looking for a band that could fill the role.
That led him to horror punk icons The Misfits.