World Championship Wrestling was a legitimate threat to Vince McMahon's reign as the king of sports entertainment. With megastars like Sting and Goldberg, along with WWE defectors like Hulk Hogan at the helm, WCW had captured a large portion of the wrestling fan base for a number of years.
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While WCW faithful can recall every wrestler who has ever appeared on Monday Nitro, there are some wrestlers who did not stay for a long time, but were big stars in their own right. Whether they were stars before walking in to WCW's doors, or if they became big afterwards, they will always be in the record books for their appearances.
10 Edge
As far as Edge's early career goes, he was lucky enough to get locked in to a WWE contract at an early age, so he did not toil on the independent scene for as long as some other wrestlers had to. However, that did mean a brief stop in WCW under the name Damon Striker. With two matches against the likes of Meng (Haku) and Kevin Sullivan for the promotion in his career, he spent less than five minutes in a WCW ring.
With so many accomplishments in his WWE career - including a record-setting seven World Heavyweight Championship runs - Edge earned his place in the WWE Hall of Fame. His career in WWE went so well, very few fans remember his short WCW run.
9 AJ Styles
Before he was known as The Face Who Runs The Place, AJ Styles was one of the best cruiserweights on the independent wrestling circuit. But, long before he was the face of Impact Wrestling or on WWE's radar, Styles was a part of the WCW roster during their dying days.
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Vying for the short-lived WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship, Styles teamed with Air Paris in several matches, but ultimately was not successful and was released before WCW closed their doors. Styles' team only won one televised match while with World Championship Wrestling, which took place on a February 2001 episode of Thunder against The Boogie Knights.
8 Owen Hart
While Bret Hart did join WCW during the end of his career and became a multi-time World Champion, Owen spent most of his career in WWE. However, before joining his brother in WWE, Owen did make several appearances for WCW in 1991. Teaming alongside Ricky Morton for tag team action as well as several singles encounters, Hart showed off his skills to the WCW faithful. However, Owen would ultimately join WWE for a long run before his untimely and unfortunately passing in 1999.
7 Rob Van Dam
Long before he became The Whole F'n Show in ECW or a World Champion in WWE, Rob Van Dam was a no-name athlete in WCW during his early career. Known as Robbie V and accentuating his martial-arts background, Van Dam was unknown at this point in his career and hoping for a big break. While he did compete in a Television Championship tournament, his accomplishments were very little before joining ECW shortly after this sting.
6 The Undertaker
Very few wrestling fans would equate The Undertaker with any promotion except for WWE, where he enjoyed one of the most legendary careers in professional wrestling history. However, before he officially became The Deadman during his WWE debut in 1990, he was known as Mean Mark Callous, and appeared in WCW for several matches in 1990.
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Under this moniker, he was in WCW for close to nine months and faced the likes of Lex Luger and Sting, and even got a shot at the United States Championship. However his time in WCW was certainly not at the same level of his WWE career, so it is not focused on much when speaking about his legacy.
5 Jake Roberts
When Jake Roberts arrived in WCW in 1992, it was after a career in WWE that heavily featured him at the main event level. He did enter WCW as a big surprise and with plenty of fanfare, but this part of his career is often forgotten. As one of the biggest wrestling stars to never win a championship in a major promotion, Roberts had a very storied career, but his WCW run is often a footnote. In fact, the only memorable part was the infamous Coal Miner's Glove match, which was his last with the promotion.
4 Christopher Daniels
As a wrestler who has quietly worked for every major promotion in the United States through his career, Christopher Daniels has earned his status as one of the top performers over the years. Despite not staying long in either of "The Big Three" promotions, Daniels is one of the few wrestlers to hold this distinction. His matches in WCW did not amount to much for his career, but he was there almost up to WCW's final days. With losses against Kwee Wee and Danny Dominion in the '90s and 00's, Daniels would likely rather forget these losses.
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3 Kane
While his "brother" The Undertaker did spend more time in WCW, Kane did make one single appearance in 1993 prior to joining WWE's ranks for the majority of his career. With the hilarious name Bruiser Mastino, he faced off with Sting where he was defeated in quick order. Thankfully, Kane wound up joining WWE very quickly after, and enjoyed a career which spanned over twenty years as an unstoppable monster.
2 Hardcore Holly
Better known under his "Hardcore" moniker stemming from his time in the WWE Hardcore Championship division, Bob Holly was a well-traveled performer during the peak of his career. Prior to becoming a long-term employee in WWE, Holly was searching for work in any company that would have him, which included a few short appearances for WCW. He did get in the ring with some prolific wrestlers like Ric Flair, Jackie Fulton and Lex Luger and also in tag team action where he was defeated by The Fabulous Freebirds alongside Dave Johnson. Nothing exactly "hardcore" about these appearances!
1 Tito Santana
Tito Santana was one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWE during his run in the 1980's. As a fiery high-flyer, Santana put on exciting matches as one of the most exciting Intercontinental Champions of the decade. His WWE run began winding down in the early '90s, and as his popularity waned he began making less appearances. However, his one-match appearance against Jeff Jarrett in WCW during 2000 was surprising to everyone, considering he was already close to 50 at the time and had never appeared in the company before.
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