10 Most Controversial WCW Firings

While World Championship Wrestling provided another major home for talents during the Monday Night Wars, plenty of wrestlers were also let go by the promotion based out of Atlanta, Georgia. 

Sometimes, these firings could be touchy subjects, either because of the supposed indiscretion that caused the dismissal, or because the person who suddenly found themselves without a regular paycheque hadn’t actually done anything ‘wrong’ in the first place.

These are the 10 Most Controversial WCW Firings. 

10. Dustin Rhodes & The Blacktop Bully

Both Dustin Rhodes and The Blacktop Bully (AKA Demolition’s Barry Darsow under a new gimmick) were fired following their King of the Road Match at the Uncensored 1995 pay-per-view. 

The object of the match was to fight your way from the back of a moving 18-wheeler to the front of it and then blow a horn. Both men bladed during the bizarre match, something which producer Mike Graham instructed them to do to the point he may have even provided the blades. 

At the time, though, WCW had a no-blood policy and Rhodes, Darsow, and Graham were all fired following Uncensored 1995. The match itself was also heavily edited due to the blood, having been filmed days earlier outside of Atlanta, and the blood was de-emphasised and not referenced on commentary. 

Many within WCW believed the three men were made scapegoats because WCW were under orders from Turner executives to slash their wage bill, and this gave management an excuse.

9. Davey Boy Smith

The Ultimate Warrior’s fleeting WCW run was a complete and utter disaster on every conceivable level. His rambling debut promo was far too long, the segments he was involved in were very poor, and his major match with Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1998 has gone down in history as one of the worst to ever take place inside the squared circle. 

There was also collateral damage from Warrior’s run, as Davey Boy Smith seriously injured his back while taking a bump on the trapdoor built into the ring for the Warrior at Fall Brawl 1998.

Fast forward six months, and the British Bulldog (who hadn’t wrestled since sustaining the injury) was in hospital with a potentially career-ending, if not life-threatening, spinal infection.

While Smith was being fed through an IV and coming to grips with being told he might be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days, WCW decided to FedEx him his termination papers.

Callously taking advantage of a 90-day injury clause in his contract, the company informed Davey Boy – who had two years left on his deal – that he was jobless.

After realising they had a potential lawsuit on their hands, WCW continued to send Smith paycheques afterwards, while Eric Bischoff claimed to not know the severity of Smith’s situation.

8. Ric Flair

Despite being one of the company’s best in-ring performers and a genuine drawing card, WCW’s then-President Jim Herd wanted rid of Ric Flair when the two parties were renegotiating The Nature Boy’s contract in the summer of 1991.

Herd not only wanted Flair to cut his famous hair, don an earring, and change his name to Spartacus, he also wanted the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion to take a substantial pay cut from a deal worth between $700,000-$750,000 to one that would pay $350,000 and then $250,000 over the next two years. 

Unsurprisingly, Flair didn’t accept the offer and he was fired by Jim Herd two weeks before a scheduled WCW World Heavyweight Title defence against Lex Luger at the Great American Bash. 

The title was vacated, but Flair maintained possession of the big gold belt, which he was entitled to do as he had never been paid back a deposit. His firing allowed Flair to negotiate with WWE and he promptly signed with Vince McMahon’s company. 

This led to the famous scene where Flair showed up on WWE television with the big gold belt and proclaimed himself to be ‘the real world’s champion’. This, in turn, resulted in a lawsuit between WCW and WWE, which was later dropped.

7. Syxx

In October of 1997, Syxx – who had previously wrestled for WWE as 1-2-3 Kid – was sidelined with a serious neck injury, which he subsequently underwent surgery for.

While Sean Waltman was on the shelf, the backstage situation between Eric Bischoff and Waltman’s close friends Kevin Nash and Scott Hall was deteriorating and, in March of 1998, the former Cruiserweight Champion received a FedEx package containing his marching orders. Waltman immediately suspected it was Bischoff trying to send a message to his Kliq running buddies.

Syxx was months away from being able to return to the ring and had a year-and-a-half remaining on his contract at the time. Many of the wrestlers in WCW (even those that didn’t particularly like Waltman) felt bad for him and believed it was messed up to release a guy who was out hurt with an injury sustained in WCW’s ring. 

Years later, Bischoff would contend that Waltman, while a good performer when sober, wasn’t sober often enough and was lucky to even have had a job, considering his inconsistency. 

Regardless, Waltman immediately signed with WWE (as X-Pac) and joined the rebooted D-Generation X.

6. Raven

Like many on the WCW roster in the Summer of 1999, Raven was miserable, and he spent plenty of time complaining about it during a radio interview. 

Shortly after the incident, Eric Bischoff called out Raven during a talent meeting in which he targeted much of the roster, telling Raven if he was so unhappy, he could have his release. Raven immediately accepted, got up and walked out of the meeting. 

Having called Bischoff’s bluff, Raven spoke with WCW’s lawyer about obtaining his release and was told he had a 90-day no-compete clause. Raven pointed out that Bischoff had offered him a full release, and it was agreed that Raven could leave on the condition he didn’t sign with WWE for the remainder of his WCW deal, which had around 10 months to run. 

Bischoff later tried to talk the former WCW United States Champion into staying, but Raven’s mind was made up and he headed back to ECW until he could legally negotiate with WWE.

Konnan, Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman also approached Bischoff about getting their releases following the meeting, but he refused their requests.

5. Juventud Guerrera

Juventud Guerrera, a common source of controversy, caused an international incident during a WCW overseas tour to Australia in 2000. After an evening of partying at a Brisbane nightclub, ‘Juvy’ went berserk in a drug-induced rage which involved him stripping naked, throwing chairs, screaming obscenities, and threatening to commit suicide. 

This all occurred next to the hotel restaurant at 10:30 am. When WCW wrestlers and hotel patrons were unable to subdue Guerrera, police were called and the former Cruiserweight Champion was maced, restrained, and carried off to jail, clips of which aired on the local news that night.

Juventud – who had been taking ecstasy and is believed to have smoked some marijuana that he didn’t know was laced with PCP – was fined $3,500 by the court. The luchador was then sent home and duly fired, with some reports stating that Juventud only found out about his release when he read about it online. 

4. William Regal

On the February 9, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro, William Regal became the latest victim of Goldberg’s winning streak. However, this was not the straightforward spear-and-jackhammer job that had beaten just about everyone else to that point. 

The match instead lives in infamy as an awkward, five-minute encounter which exposed Goldberg’s shortcomings inside the squared circle. Just a few weeks later and Regal was fired, with some theorising that Regal had purposely gone out of his way to make Goldberg look bad. That was not the case, however, and per Regal’s own account, he and Goldberg had gone over the match with producer Arn Anderson beforehand and everything had been approved. 

Unfortunately, when the two were in front of the live crowd, Goldberg failed to make his comebacks or take openings as planned, despite repeated instruction from Regal to do so.

Since Goldberg was a star on the rise and Regal was a solid hand on the downswing, he took the fall. To this day, Goldberg bears a grudge and believes that Regal was trying to take advantage of a green rookie on live TV.

3. Ricky Steamboat

There were few members of the WCW locker room who were more respected than Ricky Steamboat. A former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, Steamboat was considered a model professional who conducted himself with the utmost class both between the ropes and outside of the ring. 

The Dragon was still going strong in the summer of 1994 and was booked to defeat Steve Austin for the United States Title at the 28th Clash of the Champions TV special. Unfortunately, Steamboat slipped backwards off the middle turnbuckle during the bout and landed awkwardly, seriously injuring his back.

Ricky worked the next four nights, defending his newly won title against Austin on house shows, but the injury was ultimately career-ending. 

While sitting at home and weighing up his options that November, Steamboat received a FedEx from WCW letting him know they were exercising their right to terminate his contract, which only had two months left to run. As a result, Steamboat sued the company for wrongful termination and the two parties never worked together again.

2. Steve Austin

Eight months after Ricky Steamboat was fired, his opponent during his final WCW match also found himself sidelined with a triceps tear suffered during a WCW-sanctioned tour with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

As ‘Stunning’ Steve recalls, he was at home convalescing when Eric Bischoff called to let him know that, based on the amount of money they were paying him and the amount of time he had been incapacitated, they were exercising their right to terminate their agreement. He got his papers via FedEx shortly after.

Shortly before Bischoff had called him, the WCW SVP had received word from Tony Schiavone that he had overheard Austin telling his then-wife Jeanie to tell Schiavone that he wasn’t there when Schiavone had called, attempting to get him to come to a TV taping to cut some promos.

Many years after the fact, Austin conceded that he understood why Bischoff let him go, even though it sucked and he was bitter about it at the time. 

1. Bret Hart

To say that Bret Hart’s three-year run in WCW was a disappointment would be a major understatement. There were flashes of brilliance, but on the whole, it greatly underwhelmed.

What's worse is that The Hitman’s glittering in-ring career came to a sad, limp end as a result of post-concussion issues stemming from his Starrcade 1999 match with Goldberg.

Less than a year later – on October 20, 2000 – then-Turner head Brad Siegel sent Bret Hart a letter letting him know that he was unemployed. 

While it was hardly a surprise that the financially struggling WCW would release Hart, given that he was a big earner even if he was only making half of his guarantee due to being injured, it was still viewed as a heartless thing to do, considering the severity of the injuries which Hart had suffered while plying his trade for the promotion.

Bret and WCW never clicked, but his unceremonious termination, coupled with the fact that he wasn’t offered a chance to make a farewell speech of any sort, ensured that the relationship between the two sides ended on a sour note.