>>18163689WWF stars jumping to WCW did a real number on the psychology of the company moving forward.
WWF created some of the biggest stars every to grace the face of the business. When they jumped ship, there was a very real existential crises that was created.
WWF had always been in the business of creating stars. That's what it did best. And Vince knew that star power was essential if the company was to survive so he created more of them to beat the old ones.
After WCW was dead and buried, however, I think he and the company didn't want to repeat the mistake. They shifted towards making the company itself the star. More stars were created, of course, because that's the nature of the business, but they were never allowed to be bigger than the company itself and they always operated as clearly defined characters with contexts that would not exist if they went elsewhere. You might check Joe Anou'i out if he showed up elsewhere out of curiosity, but he wouldn't be Roman Reigns so you probably wouldn't keep watching the competition in the long run.
I'm not saying that the current stars it creates aren't stars. But their stardom is largely contextual within the company itself, by design. They are specifically "designed" not to reach Hogan and Austin levels of popularity, and the ones who grab that brass ring are more likely to jump to Hollywood at this point than anywhere else.
