At one point in the 90s, WWE, WCW and ECW they were three of the biggest wrestling promotions on the planet. The three companies featured some of the most iconic wrestling superstars of all time, including Steve Austin, the nWo and The Dudleyz.
WWE bought WCW in 2001 ending the Monday Night Wars. A few years later, in 2003, WWE bought ECW’s assets as well. The purchases not only changed the way fans consumed wrestling, but led to a long list of superstars rising to the top of the card. Other wrestling stars were completely left out of the wrestling world. This list will examine five fighters whose careers flourished after the buyouts and five whose careers died.
10 Career flourished: Booker T
Booker T brought the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to WWE after the company purchased WCW. Unlike a ton of WCW talent that was buried by WWE creativity in the years that followed, Booker T was a main event star in the company.
He ended up holding every major title in WWE except for the WWE Championship. In 2013, Booker T was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a solo wrestler. Arguably his time in WWE trumped all of his success in WCW as it helped him become a household name.
9 Dead Race: Lex Luger
Lex Luger rose to fame in the early 1990s in WWE. Luger was even the co-winner of the 1994 Royal Rumble match. He joined WCW in 1995, which was a huge acquisition for the company when Luger arrived eight days later. summer festival.
He was a huge star in WCW and held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice. WWE was not interested in taking Luger’s contract back, and he retired from the wrestling scene after WCW left. He made sporadic appearances in Impact Wrestling, but overall the end of WCW was the end of his career.
8 Career flourished: Rob Van Dam
The biggest star that ECW highlighted in wrestling is Rob Van Dam. Although he didn’t get a world title in WWE until 2006, he was always one of the biggest draws of the company.
Rob Van Dam was PWI’s #1 wrestler on their 500 list in 2002. Although he was “the guy” in ECW, he became the face of both ECW and WWE (that ended abruptly) when the company relaunched ECW in 2006. He became one of the biggest stars of all time and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.
7 Dead Race: Vampire
Vampire was not a big star in WCW, although he had a lot of interesting stories in the company. In 2000, he was voted one of PWI’s Top 50 Wrestlers while he was in WCW.
WWE had no plans to pick up his contract and Vampiro spent most of his time abroad in Mexico and Japan. Although he had a wrestling career after WCW, he never reached the level of his prime in the company before the WWE buyout.
6 Blooming career: Ric Flair
Ric Flair had several successful runs in WCW and one in WWE prior to WCW’s purchase in 2001. At one point, “The Nature Boy” was the biggest draw in WCW. He and Sting even fought the last match to air on an episode of Nitro.
Ric Flair, unlike other legends (such as Arn Anderson), was not buried by WWE upon his return. In fact, he arrived as one of the owners of WWE. He had a decent run as a suit and later helped establish Evolution with Batista, Triple H and Randy Orton. He became a beloved legend in WWE and wrote a great second chapter that does not seem to be finished yet.
5 Dead Race: Buff Bagwell
Buff Bagwell made a decent impact as a member of the nWo. He was even once voted “best trick” by Wrestling Observer News. His WCW career was excellent and he held the WCW Tag Team Titles six different times with four different partners.
His contract was reinstated after WWE purchased WCW, but his time in WWE never amounted to anything notable. Although he spent some time on Impact, his career never recovered after WCW’s demise.
4 Blooming career: Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio was one of the most underused wrestlers in WCW. His fight with Eddie Guerrero in beach party 1997 it has become iconic now, but was severely underrated overall. He was even unmasked in WCW.
His arrival in WWE in 2002 was received with great fanfare. From the moment she arrived, she killed off fans and that hasn’t abated in the two decades since her debut. Mysterio is one of the biggest names in wrestling history and WWE’s acquisition of WCW was the point where he really started his big push into the world of wrestling.
3 Dead Race: Disco Inferno
Disco Inferno rose to fame in WCW. He held several mid-card titles in the company and was voted “best gimmick” by Wrestler Observer News in 1995.
Although he had lost a lot of momentum in WCW in the year 2000, his run was pretty solid overall. After WWE bought WCW, he spent time on Impact, but never became as memorable a name in wrestling as he was in his WCW days.
two Career flourished: Eddie Guerrero
Despite being one of the most talented wrestlers on the WCW roster, Eddie Guerrero never managed to shine in the company’s main event. He ran the middle card for two years, but was never awarded a WCW World Heavyweight Championship run that would have changed the wrestling world.
He left WCW (with the Radicalz) a little over a year before WCW went out of business. His WWE career really began in 2002 and he eventually became one of the biggest stars in WWE history. The demise of WCW caused a surge in viewership for SmackDown. Eddie became one of the biggest names in SmackDown history. He even won the WWE Championship by competing for the brand.
1 Dead Race: Stevie Ray
The Harlem Heat are often considered the greatest WCW tag team unit of all time. Stevie Ray and Booker T held the WCW Tag Team Titles on ten different occasions.
Although Booker T became a huge star in WWE, Stevie Ray decided not to sign with WWE. He never wrestled a single match for the company and retired shortly after WWE’s purchase. Harlem Heat was still inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019, making Stevie Ray one of the few WWE Hall of Famers who never wrestled for WWE.