Scott Riggs, Kenny Kaos and other failed solo pushes in WCW

[The Rick Jericho]

What other superstars do you remember that WCW tried to push but they just failed?

I can think of the two in the title of the thread. Anyone else immediately come to your mind?

[saneiac]

The Renegade
The Maestro
Kwee-Wee
Prince Iaukea

Does the K.I.S.S. Demon count? He was a contractual obligation that they pretty clearly didn't want to push, but had to anyway.

[bob]

David Flair

[Jindrak Mark]

There's a few from 1999 like Riggs.

Van Hammer was brought back and given a bit of a winning streak that went nowhere.

Dustin Rhodes returned late in the year in a fairly high profile role but didn't get over at all.

Any solo Rick Steiner push after 1998 was dreadful but 99 was the worst. He sucked so bad and was beating people like Sting, Benoit, Booker and Saturn on PPV. I remember a big Nitro 6 man tag billed as an all-star main event and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I think it was Goldberg, Sting and Hogan v Nash, Sid and Rick. I guess Scotts Hall and Steiner weren't available at the time.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Alex Wright a couple times.

Wrath until Kevin Nash killed his push dead.

[Phosphor Glow]

Glacier

they put hella vignette time behind him and pushed him hard and it just didn't really work, he was lower midcard like a few months after he debuted

[Main Event Mark]

Lightningfoot Jerry Lynn

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

The Dog. What the hell was that?

[thecrusherwi]

Apr 22, 2022 18:46:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

There's a few from 1999 like Riggs.

Van Hammer was brought back and given a bit of a winning streak that went nowhere.

Dustin Rhodes returned late in the year in a fairly high profile role but didn't get over at all.

Any solo Rick Steiner push after 1998 was dreadful but 99 was the worst. He sucked so bad and was beating people like Sting, Benoit, Booker and Saturn on PPV. I remember a big Nitro 6 man tag billed as an all-star main event and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I think it was Goldberg, Sting and Hogan v Nash, Sid and Rick. I guess Scotts Hall and Steiner weren't available at the time.

Funny you mentioned both Van Hammer and "Bite Me" Rick Steiner. Van Hammer had his winning streak in the spring and early summer of 1999 and eventually they made a big deal about how Van Hammer had earned a PPV title shot. That title shot ended up being vs Rick Steiner for the TV Title at Bash at the Beach. Rick Steiner squashed him in about three minutes. And then Van Hammer was back to being nobody again.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Apr 22, 2022 19:50:49 GMT -5 Main Event Mark said:

Lightningfoot Jerry Lynn

You're thinking of Jerry Flynn. Dude was a member of Jimmy Hart's First Family, had a nothing feud with Ernest Miller at one point, and was gone by 2000, I believe.

[bob]

Apr 22, 2022 19:56:55 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

The Dog. What the hell was that?

I don't know, but I loved it for how stupid it was

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Apr 22, 2022 20:33:04 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

Apr 22, 2022 18:46:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

There's a few from 1999 like Riggs.

Van Hammer was brought back and given a bit of a winning streak that went nowhere.

Dustin Rhodes returned late in the year in a fairly high profile role but didn't get over at all.

Any solo Rick Steiner push after 1998 was dreadful but 99 was the worst. He sucked so bad and was beating people like Sting, Benoit, Booker and Saturn on PPV. I remember a big Nitro 6 man tag billed as an all-star main event and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I think it was Goldberg, Sting and Hogan v Nash, Sid and Rick. I guess Scotts Hall and Steiner weren't available at the time.

Funny you mentioned both Van Hammer and "Bite Me" Rick Steiner. Van Hammer had his winning streak in the spring and early summer of 1999 and eventually they made a big deal about how Van Hammer had earned a PPV title shot. That title shot ended up being vs Rick Steiner for the TV Title at Bash at the Beach. Rick Steiner squashed him in about three minutes. And then Van Hammer was back to being nobody again.

Can I just say that as someone in my first year of fandom, I really liked Hammer's Cobra Clutch Slam?

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

that was the thing about WCW. more often than not if a guy's push wasn't working they'd just drop it. they wouldnt even retool it or turn it around or anything. I think their massive roster gave the people in charge a very sink-or-swim mentality.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Lash LeRoux

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

Renegade

[thegame415]

Wait, that was considered a push for Riggs?

What about Rick Martel's random push in early 1998?

[tafkaga]

Apr 23, 2022 23:19:33 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

Wait, that was considered a push for Riggs?

What about Rick Martel's random push in early 1998?

Martel won the TV title and had a series of really good matches with Booker T before he got injured and couldn't continue.  It's an example of a random push that worked imo.

[tafkaga]

Chris Adams. Dude just seemed like a relic out there, but they pushed him on SN and Thunder for a while.

[Psicofreak667]

At one point WCW tried to push Brad Armstrong. The first push was as a pretty generic cocky heel, and Brad just didn't play that role well. Then they put him in the No Limit Soldiers, where, seeing as he was the only one of them that could work, spent most of his time playing Ricky Morton in tag matches, so even though he was being "pushed" he looked like a chump. Then they reunited him with his brother Scott and proceeded to do nothing with them. Then they made him a Road Dog ripoff named Buzzkill. Then they gave up.

[Mozenrath]

Apr 22, 2022 20:38:13 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Apr 22, 2022 19:50:49 GMT -5 Main Event Mark said:

Lightningfoot Jerry Lynn

You're thinking of Jerry Flynn. Dude was a member of Jimmy Hart's First Family, had a nothing feud with Ernest Miller at one point, and was gone by 2000, I believe.

I mostly remember him for weird matches with Goldberg that seemed designed to show he could throw kicks. (Not that Goldberg should, exactly, but he could.)