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Which WCW/ECW performer was most negatively effected by their companies closing?


Dylan Waco

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I was talking to my brother about this tonight. When WCW and ECW went out of business a lot of guys in both promotions were either not picked up by the WWE or were picked up but with a reduced push/limited role. We were trying to brainstorm guys who were probably most adversely effected. The two names we sort of settled on were Shane Helms and Steve Corino.

 

Helms was in the midst of a fairly substantial push in WCW. They were finally reemphasizing the cruiserweights and Helms was effectively being treated as the ace of that division. He was given a grandiose entrance that made him seem like a big star, was having good matches and appeared to be really making strides in terms of getting over when the company went belly up. If WCW had stayed around you could either see him becoming a fairly big star in his own right or being a guy who was underused and bolted to the WWE where he would up as a main eventer ala Eddie, Benoit, Jericho.

 

Corino is a guy who really got fucked. He was probably one of the best wrestlers in the World at this point, to go along with being a great promo. Very diverse guy who could hang with a variety of styles. Was a regular main eventer in ECW and didn't feel like a bad fit at that level at all. I think he could have been a great heel for Vince, but Vince allegedly hated his scarred up forehead and saw little in him, so when he ECW closed he became an indy trailblazer and a somewhat successful gajin in Japan. Really Corino seems like he would have been a huge star in the territory era, but if ECW had been able to hold on (a pipe dream I know) he probably would have been a much bigger star throughout the 00's.

 

I'm sure there are other names I'm forgetting.

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Mike Awesome. His match at One Night Stand really highlighted how mediocre the last five years of his career had been by comparison. He never quite fit in at WCW, and really didn't fit in at the WWF. Yeah, he had a few relatively high-profile tours in Japan in the early 2000s, but that's not the same as having a good consistent spot in your own home federation.

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I actually think Awesome had already peaked in ECW in terms of stardom and what he could bring. He was never going to be able to survive there without some sort of mouthpiece and the novelty of his act was starting to wear thin. The RVD match that should have happened would have been the apex and I believe could have actually been a good money match for them - but then Awesome left for WCW (not that I blame him). Still after the obvious RVD match I'm not sure there was anywhere to go for Awesome other than down in ECW

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Disagree on Helms, Awesome & Corino.

 

Always was a big fan of Helms but not once did I ever see him as a main event lvl guy. Wrestling is littered with guys who were really good workers but had little going for them beyond that who've been forgotten in the pages of history. Getting to be the Huricane is easily the best thing to happen to him. I don't think anyone who ever saw it will forget it, most who saw it enjoyed it and it's something you can milk for years and years and years on the indy sceen for easy money.

 

I think Awesome had a lot of steam left had he stayed in ECW but like Jingus said he's the type of guy who couldn't fit in well in WCW/WWF and was most suited for Japan.

 

Yeah, he had a few relatively high-profile tours in Japan in the early 2000s, but that's not the same as having a good consistent spot in your own home federation.

Actually he was pretty reg over thear post WWF. Had about a 6 month run in All Japan then another 4-5 month run in NOAH which he probably could have continued but he ended up retiring about a year or so later.

 

With Corino, while he was never pushed as THE guy, he's had a good enough career working Z1 & ROH that I can't say he's much worse off then he would have been had ECW not died.

 

There's a bunch of ppl that fit in this catagory tho. For me the first 2 names off the top of my head who were much worse off when their companies died are Buff Bagwell who I do think would have gotten to main event/world title status & DDP who went from being main event in WCW to treated as a mid card joke in WWF.

 

Jason Jett was liked at the time and showed up in WCW less than a month before they shut down, I think.

Ah yes, that glorious 2 month or so period whear WCW got really great again and tried to re-invent themselves right before they went out of business.

 

Yeah really sucked for guys like him, Kwi Wii, Mike Sanders, all the other Natural Born Thrillers and the rest of the new crop of young guys WCW were bringing up that were SOS (and you know what that means) afterwards. For ECW I always kinda liked Chris Chetti so guys like him, Roadkill, Doring, hell Whipwreck.....shit, I always felt a little sorry for the Musketeer even thinking "boy, there's no whear for you to go now buddy".

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Chris Chetti was an absolutely terrible wrestler. Just awful. The best thing about ECW going out of business is that his career was effectively over.

 

I want to make clear that I don't necessarily see Helms as a main eventer either. My point was that he was in the midst of a push where he seemed to be getting the ball and being told to run with it. Would that have meant much over the long haul? Really hard to say because it is WCW we are talking about. And I agree that the Hurricane is a good gimmick to milk for a post-big league indy run. But my point was more that he is a guy who I think MIGHT have been a reasonably big star in WCW had it stayed around, rather than the guy that would become the Hurricane.

 

Bagwell I don't see. He was near or around the same level for years and it was constantly teased that he was going to break into the upper tier and never did. He was clearly over, but he didn't have the dedication (post-Benoit that almost seems creepy to say btw), and he didn't feel like a guy that was being set up for a run when WCW tanked.

 

DDP is touch because I think his age would have worked against him some and I think he was a hot act that had lost a lot of steam by that point. His gimmick was great at it's peak and insanely over, but that also strikes me as the sort of act that is hard to reinflate. If Bischoff had taken over WCW I imagine he would have been a major piece of that puzzle. If Bisch isn't in charge? I'm doubtful. It's arguable Steiner got a worse break than DDP.

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Also, wow did Kidman ever lose something post-WCW.

This is actually a really good pick. There were periods from 98 on where Kidman seemed like he was going to be a break out star but he just never broke out. Part of that was the shit booking and impossible situations he was put in (the Hogan feud that was never going to end well, hell the Filthy Animals in general), part of that was his own limitations. Still when you watch his series with Juvy from 98 or even some of his work teaming with Rey just before the crash in 01 he seems like someone who should have been a much bigger player.

 

Jason Jett is another really interesting one. I actually have no clue what even happened to him post WCW

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Jarrett created a vanity promotion. I'd say he's actually been among the least impacted by WCW crashing. He found a way to keep going in spite of it.

Yep, Jarrett may have been the biggest WINNER. He got to create his own fiefdom, where he will always be on or near the top.

 

Yeah, but it's TNA

 

He's going down in infamy

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Jarrett created a vanity promotion. I'd say he's actually been among the least impacted by WCW crashing. He found a way to keep going in spite of it.

Yep, Jarrett may have been the biggest WINNER. He got to create his own fiefdom, where he will always be on or near the top.

 

Yeah, but it's TNA

 

He's going down in infamy

 

I'm not altogether sure infamy is a bad thing in the wrestling universe

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Plus his last name is Jarrett. You have to know that even if TNA loses a million bajillion dollars, somehow someone named Jarrett is still going to end up holding a bag of money at the end. I would be surprised if it turned out he wasn't one of the guys ok going forward on that front.

 

Kidman came to mind but I don't know how much more his run could have been. I guess in some bizarro universe I could envision CM Punk and Kidman wrestling, but that's getting into pretty serious goofy supposition. It is a match I'd watch in fantasy land, though.

 

I'd say as a character Scott Steiner got done really bad in WWE, as a wrestling run that was so disappointing compared to the crazy run he got on in WCW when he was just about the one saving grace for their heavyweight division. But Scott has always been pretty well paid so he's not going to suffer in the end probably either.

 

I don't see DDP ever having a long WWE run, but what he got to do was also really disappointing. The stalker gimmick was just unworkable.

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I wouldn't be so quick to discount Jarrett. He's lost most of his power in TNA, he and his father are no longer on speaking terms, and he's completely burned his bridges with the WWE so he's SOL if/when TNA goes under.

Jarrett is more than likely on the back end of his career. He has been able to parlay his TNA career into a way to make money wrestling/promoting in India, Mexico and Japan - far more money than he would have made any of those places without TNA as a vehicle. Even had Jarrett not burned Vince (twice IIRC) there is no way in hell he was ever going to be more than a mid-carder in the mold of a William Regal/Goldust. Not a bad gig at all for a vet, but compared to having your own fiefdom, that includes a totally undeserved tv deal and unlimited funds from a crazed money mark, it really is small potatos.

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Kidman reminds me of Chris Candidio. They were totally overshadowed by the women. After Kidman was managed by Torrie, he was never the same.

 

The only thing that Torrie and Sunny was in their prime they were both smoking hot. On a working front Sunny blows Torrie away with charisma, promo ability,ability to get over, and understanding of the business. What killed Kidman was the Hogan feud.

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The answer is : everyone who didn't fit in WWE from that point on, for various reasons. Which makes quite a bit. Talented dguys like Axl Rotten, who got trapped into a stupid act in ECW, would never been given a chance. Guys like Douglas or Jarrett could not get back in NY, not that either of them wanted back there anyway. Raven, Corino & Kanyon just didn't fit. All the cruiserweights not named Mysterio got fucked.

Awesome was clearly a case of being a japanese guys anyway, and he was not getting younger, with a banged up bodies and no knees.

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I'm not really sure about Helms, he got plenty of mid-level pushes in WWE (mini feud with The Rock at one point...) and was a very over semi-novelty act. I'm think he got to exact correct level he should have done.

 

Kidman I'll agree with, he had a real charisma and star quality about him in WCW and quickly lost that. Probably didn't help that he bulked up so become less of an athletic machine. His tag team and subsequent feud with Paul London were high points, they maybe should have kept them together as it had legs. Just a shame it took a botched SSP for them to do anything interesting with him.

 

Raven as well, as a guy who had tons of charisma and a unique look, over everywhere he went and pretty much wasted in WWE. I know he gets a ton of stick, but for sheer entertainment he's one of my favourite guys to watch in both ECW and WCW.

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