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WCW holds a special place in wrestling history. Whether it was almost bankrupting the WWF or when they hired Vince Russo and bankrupted themselves, we can all say we have…let’s say “special” memories of World Championship Wrestling. But what about the people who we forgot? Well that’s where Exploder comes in. Take a look at some forgotten WCW personalities.

RULES: Must be an on screen character, but not a wrestler, referee, or manager.

6. DJ Ran

In the waning days of WCW, management did a few things to keep the crowd lively in between commercial breaks. With the Nitro Girls being broken up and given (shudder) speaking roles, WCW needed something new. They found that something in DJ Ran, who did exactly what it sounds like: he spun records to the live crowd, appearing on camera going into or coming back from commercial breaks. Not much to be said here, he did his job well. I mean, as far as a DJ at a wrestling show can do, I guess.

5. Wild Cat Willie

Sometimes WCW would do some…interesting things. One of those things was their mascot, Wild Cat Willie (WCW…get it? Because it’s WC..you get it), the…Wildcat who represented WCW at live shows. What did he do? He was a mascot, what do you think he did? What makes it especially WCW was that Willie got repackaged. That’s right, they made TWO costumes for their mascot.

Still better than Glacier.

4. Chris Cruise

But WCW wasn’t always the land of DJs and cartoonish wildcats, they also had legitimate wrestling announcers. Who knew? In the early 90s, one of those announcers was Chris Cruise who, despite having the name of a third rate action and/or porn star, was actually a damn good wrestling announcer.

He worked for WCW under Jim Herd and Eric Bischoff, being a C string announcer for WCW Pro, the Sunday morning show that featured epic encounters between El Dandy and whoever Buddy Lee Parker was this week. He was eventually replaced by Scott Hudson and now makes his money in the mortgage industry.

3. David Penzer

Keeping the “hey, I kinda remember him” train going, it’s David Penzer, WCW’s perennial ring announcer. Whenever WCW wasn’t paying Michael Buffer to chew the scenery announcing Hulk Hogan coming to the ring, the guy in the suit who announced everyone else was a man named David Penzer. One interesting note, unlike the guy in this or that corner, Penzer was an actual employee of WCW, meaning he had a 401k, health insurance, and everything. Take that, Goldberg.

Penzer’s most famous moment was when he was (technically) WCW champion…for about 5 seconds. During the infamous San Francisco 49ers Cluster@#$ on a Pole Extravaganza, the rules stipulated that the first person to grab the title would be WCW champion. Being WCW, the belt fell out of the box and was picked up by ring announcer David Penzer, who graciously gave up his chance at immortality by handing the title to Booker T.

Penzer later worked for TNA and now does what many in TNA workers end up doing: no longer working for TNA. In seriousness, he’s a realtor and hosts his own podcast, “Sitting Ringside”, so things seem to be going pretty good for the former WCW Champion.

2. Riki Rachtman

Riki Rachtman is a rarity on this list as someone who made a name for himself BEFORE being hired by WCW. Rachtman is a former MTV VJ, hosting Headbangers Ball from 1990 until 1995, and co-hosting Loveline with Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew Pinskey from 1993 until 1996. Again, this was before he was even hired by WCW.

In 1999 and 2000, Rachtman would be employed by WCW as a host of WCW Nitro parties, an idea that was fresh when WCW was on top, but got a little sad near the end. Like the difference between seeing Motley Crue in 1989 and seeing them again in 2019. And that’s a big, big difference.

After leaving WCW, Rachtman has continued his hosting duties on MTV2, VH1, and even opened his own music venue.

1. Pamela Paulshock

What’s there to say about Pamela Paulshock? No seriously, what’s there to say? Ms. Shock was hired by WCW in 1999 as a backstage interviewer because she looked better in a bikini than Gene Okerlund.

Pamela Paulshock played a ditzy character, or at least I hope it was a character, who asked basic questions and was usually shouted at because it’s still wrestling. Outside of winning the Miss WCW Bikini Contest in 2000, yes, that was a real thing, she didn’t do a whole lot. She was a blond interviewer who wore revealing clothes. The again, this was the company that purposely employed Major Gunns, so this was actually a step up.