Finn Baller
Superstar
I'm old, and this is minor... but yes they did have Stunning Steve Austin pegged as a future World Champ back in 1992. He was the PWI Rookie of the Year in 1990, and came in to WCW in '91 beating Bobby Eaton for the TV title off top. All the magazines back in the day had articles about him one day as a future world champ, except it was more in the Ric Flair style. No one envisioned "Stone Cold", with him totally changing his style from a technical wrestler into a brawler.
people definitely thought he had main event potential during the Hollywood Blondes run, obviously not "spark an entire boom period" level but main event heel yes