The legacy of WCW is remembered for multiple reasons, but one huge positive was the variety on the roster. WCW had arguably the deepest roster in wrestling history with performers of every style on the show. Technical wrestling used to be considered a less exciting style in the past, but it has grown more desired through each era.
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WCW had their fair share of legendary talents to excel in that area of the sport. The technical wrestlers were the ones who didn’t necessarily need weapons, high spots or power spots to deliver a compelling match. Each name in question showed that substance could be more valuable than style. The following wrestlers deserve to be considered the best technical wrestlers in WCW history.
10 Bret Hart
The technical wrestling greatness of Bret Hart is most remembered for his time in WWE, but the WCW run did see him still having the same strengths. Eric Bischoff falling into the habit of signing any major names without full plans on how to use them led to some high-profile signings struggling.
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Hart did his best in his rare moments of relevance in WCW to still be a top ten technical wrestler in the company’s history. Matches with the likes of Booker T, Chris Benoit and Diamond Dallas Page saw Bret leading the way as an in-ring genius.
9 Eddie Guerrero
The earlier years of Eddie Guerrero’s WCW career saw his technical wrestling skills as his calling card. WCW pushed Eddie to have great in-ring matches during his stint as a generic babyface character. Even when Guerrero turned heel for stronger character work, his wrestling ability never waned.
WCW benefited from Eddie being technically sound enough to work with wrestlers of every style. Guerrero did unfortunately have a lower ceiling in WCW with minimal pushes, but he showed he was more than a great worker by breaking out in the main event scene for WWE.
8 Fit Finlay
One of the WCW mid-carders to become respected for his technical wrestling ability was Fit Finlay. WCW didn’t always use Finlay consistently, but he delivered great results whenever he was given a fair chance to succeed or do anything fun.
Matches against the likes of Chris Benoit, William Regal and Booker T showed that Finlay could wrestle bell to bell with the best of them. WCW tapped into two unique styles of wrestling with brawling and technical skill sets each being what fans most associated with Finlay.
7 Jushin Liger
The working relationship between WCW and New Japan set the template for future NJPW agreements with Ring of Honor and now AEW. Jushin Liger and The Great Muta were the rare Japanese talents to deliver a legacy from their limited stints in WCW.
Even though fans most remember the incredible mask and colorful gear first from Liger, his technical wrestling skills were the most consistent part of his presentation. Liger having stellar technical matches with Brian Pillman made their rivalry one of the most underrated in WCW history.
6 Curt Hennig
WCW signed Curt Hennig shortly after his WWE run as Mr. Perfect ended. Hennig received more time higher up the card, but he had lost a step from his peak years. This shouldn’t take away from what he was still able to accomplish as such a technically sound performer.
WWE even came up with the name of Mr. Perfect since everything he tried in the ring came off perfect looking. Hennig still had strong technical wrestling matches in WCW against the likes of Bret Hart, Ric Flair and Diamond Dallas Page. WCW trusted Hennig to lead lesser in-ring names like Goldberg during his WCW Championship reign as the ultimate sign of respect.
5 Ric Flair
The legendary career of Ric Flair helped showcase how over a technical wrestling style can get in the main event picture. Most wrestlers to develop reputations for having long matches usually exceled at technical wrestling as the foundation of their matches.
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Some fans would argue that Flair’s best technical work came before WCW years, but he thrived at start to help get the newly renamed company established. Flair had his iconic series of matches with Ricky Steamboat at this time. The only knock against Flair was that he lost a few steps and his general confidence in the later years of WCW.
4 Lance Storm
WCW signing Lance Storm was a bit surprising since technical wrestling was essentially his entire identity in ECW. Storm was always criticized for not having much charisma or talking ability, but he was flawless in the ring when it came to the technical wrestling style.
The submissions and counters used by Storm felt like he was helping evolve the technical wrestling style. WCW was actually the place where Storm had his greatest success with a pro-Canada/anti-American heel persona. Storm got a lot of fan hate for his gimmick before having top tier technical matches.
3 Ricky Steamboat
Ricky Steamboat’s career playing out in WWE and WCW before the Monday Night Wars unfortunately led to a lot of his greatest memories being overlooked. An argument can be made that Steamboat was the first talent to showcase technical wrestling at a mainstream level for WWE in the Golden Era.
However, it was the WCW tenure that saw Steamboat having higher profile matches and getting respected for his style. Steamboat had technical wrestling classics against Ric Flair, Rick Rude and Steve Austin all during his WCW time. Few wrestlers had as many great televised matches as Steamboat while in WCW.
2 Dean Malenko
WCW signing Dean Malenko surprised a lot of fans since he was among the shortest wrestlers on the roster. The lack of microphone skills and character work saw Malenko having his detractors when joining the bigger company. Malenko was viewed as someone that could just have good technical matches. However, WCW found success from that by fully making it part of his character.
Malenko was known as the ice man for lacking emotion and doing his talking in the ring. The cruiserweight took off with Dean as the top heel and the high-flying wrestlers trying to dethrone him. Malenko was arguably the greatest Cruiserweight Champion in WCW history as a premiere technical wrestler.
1 William Regal
The wrestling landscape in the United States had never seen a wrestler quite like William Regal when he joined WCW. Regal wrestled all over the world and came up in the United Kingdom scene where technical wrestling and variations of it was the most popular style.
The offense of Regal was all based on technical moves of slowly breaking down his opponents with unique submissions and general holds. WCW fans were captivated enough to treat Regal as a credible heel in his biggest matches against Sting, Ric Flair and Fit Finlay. Regal inspired many future wrestlers to continue pushing technical wrestling forward.
