Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman On Why He Felt The Need To Leave WWE For WCW

Sean Waltman knows that he may not have landed a job with WWE in 1993 if not for the preceding steroid scandal that seemingly forced WWE to invest in the likes of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels over the prototypical giants. Right out of the gate, Waltman scored an upset victory over Razor Ramon in just his third match, put on a wrestling clinic against Bret Hart, and subsequently defeated the likes of Ted DiBiase and Bob Backlund. Clearly, the WWE brass was very invested in Waltman, who never thought he'd see the need to wrestle for another promotion. All that changed in the mid-1990s when WCW began making power moves by recruiting WWE's most established stars. 

Reflecting on his jump from WWE to WCW in 1996, Watman feels he had maxed out on how high he could climb on the WWE card. 

When asked on the "Insight" podcast if he had a shot at entering the WWE Championship picture had he not made the switch, Waltman was very blunt about the reality of the situation.  "Not as 1-2-3 Kid — no. I [had] to absolutely go to WCW. Vince had this, you know ... When somebody thinks of you in a certain light, it's really hard to change the color of that light. So, I had to go, and I think I was successful in WCW — I accomplished the things I needed to down there. I was fortunate enough to be part of the NWO."

When Waltman returned to WWE in 1998, he gained more relevance within the company as a member of D-Generation X. More Importantly, Waltman believes McMahon's perception of him had changed drastically. "Vince looked at me differently," Waltman admitted. "Not too long after I returned, I'm working with The Rock for the title on a pay-per-view [Capital Carnage] in the U.K."