A Look At WCW's Dungeon Of Doom, Their Goofiest Stable Ever

WCW introducing the Dungeon of Doom faction gave them a strange act that was meant to succeed at the main event level. Kevin Sullivan was a creative mind backstage, but he found his way into the biggest push of his career as well, leading the Dungeon of Doom. Various wrestlers with intimidating or monster heel gimmicks like The Giant, Kamala, and Lex Luger were placed together.

The group entered feuds with upper card names and was presented as a top act at the start. WCW never found the success expected from such a push, but they did give the Dungeon of Doom a lot of time to try to make it work. The goofiest stable in WCW history featured the unlikely wrestlers put in some unusual scenarios.

The Members Of Dungeon Of Doom

WCW tried to push a few different wrestlers by placing them in the Dungeon of Doom. Kevin Sullivan getting more promo time was a huge change for his career. A select few names did get treated like upper card main event heels like The Giant, Lex Luger, and Vader. However, it was mostly mid-carders trying to find more relevance in the act.

RELATED: WCW's Dungeon of Doom: The 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Members

WCW looked for any larger wrestlers or talents with an established spooky gimmick to bond them together. The Shark, The Zodiac, Kamala, and One Man Gang were some of the talents to have lost most fan interest before joining the group and never recovering. WCW adding odd names like Konnan, Hugh Morrus, and the Faces of Fear just made it feel even more out of place.

Jimmy Hart turning heel against Hulk Hogan to become the manager of the Dungeon of Doom was the biggest move to add greater importance. The Giant’s main event push with Hart at his side was the top run for any of the wrestlers involved. WCW putting such a strange group of wrestlers together made it harder for them each to stand out with few success stories for the members.

The Faction's Goal Was To Feud With Hulk Hogan

WCW had one real goal in mind when coming up with the Dungeon of Doom and that was to feud with Hulk Hogan. WWE made a lot of money having Hogan feud with the monster heel characters, so this was an idea to take that to another level. Ed Leslie’s The Zodiac character joined to have Hogan’s former best friend involved in the storyline. Kevin Sullivan shaved Hulk’s mustache off for the ultimate humiliation.

The Giant was introduced as Andre the Giant’s son to create another chapter of Hogan’s legendary rivalry with Andre. Jimmy Hart even cost Hogan the WCW Championship to become the manager of the Dungeon of Doom. WCW just wanted to make as much money as possible with Hogan feuding with the Dungeon, but the audience lacked that emotional investment.

The feud continued to get more bizarre when the Dungeon united with the Four Horsemen by creating the Alliance to End Hulkamania. WCW placed Hogan and Randy Savage in a doomsday handicap cage match against eight members of the two groups. The Dungeon of Doom ended up looking foolish in the bigger picture after months of Hogan getting the better of them as their only direction.

Dungeon Of Doom Was Ultimately A Failure

There were some memories and big matches for various members of the Dungeon of Doom, but that didn’t make them a hit. WCW fans often view the group as one of the more ridiculous acts that showed how poor the product could be. Even the hits like elevating a new star like The Giant featured the moment of him beating Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship via DQ and having the infamous bear hug with The Yeti.

WCW even tried to make it a bigger storyline that Hogan’s character would need to look at his dark side to confront the Dungeon of Doom. Hogan started wearing all black for a few weeks and a more serious side, but it didn’t connect at all. Lex Luger’s time in and out of the group added another inconsistent layer to keep the audience confused at various points.

The biggest problem however was the inability to adapt to the changing product. Wrestling fans started to want more layers and shades of gray to wrestling. The Dungeon of Doom was the most generic version of an evil group meant to put over Hogan as the good guy yet again. WCW’s version of The Suicide Squad turned out to be wrestlers struggling to get over and coming off as outdated acts.