10 Wrestlers You Didn't Realize Wrestled For WCW In 1993

While World Championship Wrestling wasn’t hitting Monday Night War level of success in the year 1993, there were certainly notable events in the year, including heights like the Sting vs. Vader classic at SuperBrawl 3 and the notorious debut of The Shockmaster. Still a year away from Hulkamania invading, WCW still boasted midcarders like Stunning Steve Austin and Cactus Jack, who’d become future sensations themselves.

But what about the wrestlers fans don’t remember? Let’s take a look at 10 wrestlers who fans likely had no idea wrestled for WCW in 1993, including not only future stars, but also memorable legends and wrestlers who are better known as backstage figures.

10 Johnny Ace

Before he was a controversial backstage figure in WWE, John Lauinaitis was a pro wrestler known as Johnny Ace. As one-half of the skateboarding tag team Dynamic Dudes, Johnny Ace was a regular in WCW from 1989 to 1990, where he and his partner Shane Douglas never managed to capture any titles. Three years after they disappeared from WCW, Johnny Ace randomly resurfaced at a house show in October 1993, where he took a loss to Terry Taylor.

9 The Patriot

Wrestling fans likely know Del Wilkes — better known as the masked Patriot — for his 1994-1995 run with WCW, where he held the World Tag Team Championship with Marcus Alexander Bagwell as Stars & Stripes, or for his 1997 WWE run where he seemed strangely out of place. But months before officially becoming part of WCW, The Patriot got squashed by Lord Steven Regal on an episode of WCW Worldwide. The episode was shot in mid-November 1993, but ended up airing in January of the following year.

8 Taz

When it comes to ECW wrestlers showing up in WCW, fans may remember Sabu having a brief run for the company in 1996, or The Sandman’s stint as Hak in 1999. When it comes to Taz, most would believe that the closest he got to WCW was that weird scenario where he (then signed to WWE) was enlisted to take the ECW title off of recent WCW hiree Mike Awesome.

Believe it or not, Taz — as “The Tazmaniac” — wrestled a single dark match for WCW in early February 1993. Held before a taping of WCW Saturday Night, the future Human Suplex Machine put away Joey Maggs.

7 Nick Bockwinkel

Debuting in 1954, Nick Bockwinkel found his niche as a heel in the Midwest’s American Wrestling Association in the 1970s and 1980s, where he held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship four times. Bockwinkel wrestled his last matches as a full-time wrestler in 1987, but resurfaced for the odd match in 1990, 1992, and finally in 1993 for WCW. It was at Slamboree ‘93 — dubbed “A Legend’s Reunion” — that Bockwinkel came out of retirement for his final match ever, where he wrestled fellow legend Dory Funk Jr. to a 15-minute time limit draw.

6 Sam Houston

Best remembered as the half-brother of Jake “The Snake” Roberts — though “remembered” might be putting it strong — Sam Houson wrestled for WWE in the late 1980s and WCW for a 1990 to 1991 run, but had a short return to WCW in 1993 for four matches. While two of them were house shows, the other two were televised. In early September, he and Mark Starr were defeated by Harlem Heat, and at the end of the month he and legendary jobber Pez Whatley fell to The Nasty Boys.

5 Scott D’Amore

Scott D’Amore & Butch Styles wrestling for WCW in 1993

Fans of Impact Wrestling know Scott D’Amore for his run as the manager of the heel faction Team Canada, and in more recent years for being Impact’s boss and on-screen authority figure. Before that, the Canadian legend often appeared on American wrestling television in squash matches for WWE and WCW, including a couple in 1993. In December, D’Amore wrestled a match on Main Event, defeating Diamond Dallas Page by count-out. He also wrestled a match the following day, losing to The Colossal Kongs in a tag team match.

4 The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express

One of the great tag teams of the 1980s, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express — Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton — were last together in WCW in 1990, before Morton turned heel and joined The York Foundation. The RNRs returned to WCW in 1996, but in between they made a few appearances for the promotion in 1993.

All three of their bouts — including one on pay-per-view at SuperBrawl 3 — had The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express clashing with The Heavenly Bodies of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. One of these bouts was even for the Bodies’ SMW Tag Team Title.

3 Mustafa Saeed

Taz wasn’t the only ECW star who surprisingly showed up in WCW in 1993. A year before The Gangstas formed, New Jack’s tag team partner Mustafa Saeed wrestled his first WCW match in 1990, but went on to compete 14 times in 1993 — seven of which were on TV. The lineup of stars Saeed clashed with is an impressive one, including Harlem Heat, Lord Steven Regal, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart,” Davey Boy Smith, and fellow ECW star Cactus Jack.

2 Scott Norton

Most WCW fans would know Scott “Flash” Norton for his mid-to-late 1990s run with the promotion, where he was one of the nWo’s many enforcers and randomly defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Lodi and Van Hammer. But Norton actually had his first run with WCW back in 1993. Only lasting a couple of months, Norton wrestled a series of squash matches on Worldwide and Saturday Night, with his most high-profile opponent being The Z-Man, a.k.a. Tom Zenk.

1 Rob Van Dam

Before he became a fan-favorite in ECW and held the TV Title for a record 700 days, Rob Van Dam spent six months wrestling in WCW in 1993, where he performed under the modified ring name of Robbie V. Opponents during Robbie V’s short run in WCW included the future Raven, Kevin Nash, and The Barbarian. While he would have been a perfect candidate to compete for WCW’s Light Heavyweight Championship, the division went defunct in the previous year. That said, he did have one televised shot at some gold when he unsuccessfully took on Paul Orndorff for the WCW World Television Championship.