It’s hard to believe that something this bizarre could’ve been a thing in 1999, but it’s legit. Reddit user grabbinsumpillz uploaded these images with the following text:
“So, I got these from my uncle when I was a kid. Apparently he knew someone that worked around the wrestling industry and gave me these pieces of concept art for my birthday. I tried to look up some info about the series, but found nothing. I’m assuming it’s something that went unaired and they scrapped. Which kinda sucks, because the concepts look pretty badass!”
I had never heard of this project, but after digging around, I came across the briefest of mentions of a WCW cartoon through Variety. A Reddit comment even led me toward finding an archived Geocities page for “Goblin Myk”, a dated blog for former Amberwood Productions employee Michael D. Stevens. Stevens lists “WCW” as a project he worked on during his time spent at Amberwood from August 1998 to January 2000.
Unfortunately, the email address he listed on his page no longer works.
Since all my leads were dead, I asked the one person who might know more about this project — Easy E himself, Eric Bischoff:
https://twitter.com/EBischoff/status/733035685641232384
Well, crap.
Despite Eric having zero memory of a WCW cartoon that went nowhere, images of it still exist. Chances are that these pieces of concept art are just part of a failed pitch that never went anywhere, but questions still remain. Why does Eric Bischoff look like slightly-older ripoff of Mighty Max? Why does Bret Hart have an extra “T” in his first name?? Who thought Tex Mech was a good name to give to a villain!??
Unfortunately, we won’t have any answers until someone uncovers more regarding this project. I’ll have an update here if there ever is one, full photo gallery of the concept art can be found below:
Dave