In the early 1990s, one of WCW’s most recognizable stars was “Stunning” Steve Austin.
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Austin was fired from WCW over the phone in 1995 while recovering from an injury.
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After winning the1996 King of the Ring, "Stone Cold" was born with a defiant yet definitive statement — “Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your @$$!”
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ustin forever changed sports-entertainment and helped WWE topple WCW’s rating dominance, eventually leading to WWE acquiring The Rattlesnake’s former employer.
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As WCW Champion, Booker T led the charge during the WCW/ECW invasion in 2001.
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Winning the King of the Ring tournament is an impressive accolade, but Booker T took the coronation seriously and transformed himself into King Booker.
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As the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes carried on his father’s blue-collar legacy early in his career in both WWE and WCW.
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In 1995, Rhodes embraced a new persona of “The Bizarre One,” Goldust, moving away from the shadow of his legendary father..
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Following a year of retirement to film a series of movies, Hulk Hogan changed sports-entertainment when he joined WCW in 1994.
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At Bash at the Beach 1996, the sports-entertainment world was rocked when Hogan betrayed Sting, Lex Luger and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, joining Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form The New World Order.
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After departing WWE in 1994, Johnny Polo went through a shocking transformation and re-emerged in ECW as Raven.
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At Survivor Series 1996, third-generation Superstar Dwayne Johnson debuted as “Rocky Maivia,” a smiling competitor with a bright future in WWE.
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Rocky was not well-received by the WWE Universe, however. In fact, they loathed him. This triggered Johnson’s true persona — The Rock — to emerge.
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During the late 1980s and ’90s, Scott Steiner was highly regarded as one of the top tag team competitors in all of sports-entertainment.
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During a WCW Tag Team Title defense against The Outsiders at SuperBrawl VIII, Steiner turned on his brother and joined The nWo.
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Big Poppa Pump — a loudmouth, bleached blond powerhouse — was unleashed and Steiner hit the weight room twice as hard, bulking up his physique.
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The man called Sting was WCW’s most charismatic and popular competitor.
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Ditching the colorful attire for simple black and white, The Stinger silently stalked Hollywood Hogan and The nWo, carefully planning each strike for more than a year.
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In 1995, Hunter Hearst Helmsley debuted as a pretentious, etiquette obsessed Superstar.
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Following HBK’s retirement due to injury, Triple H carried on the legacy of DX, but started to show off a much edgier and brutal attitude.
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In the 1980s, Vince McMahon was known to the WWE Universe simply as an interviewer and play-by-play commentator alongside Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
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At Survivor Series 1997, the WWE Universe was granted its first look of the ruthless businessman who launched a media empire.