[8] He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as a wrestler and a road agent and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
[4] Although never a world champion, Malenko achieved championship success in ECW, WCW and the WWF, winning 11 total titles across the three organizations.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Malenko the #1 wrestler in the world in 1997, and he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame in 2015.
On January 24, 1992, Malenko defeated "The Superstar" for the Suncoast Pro Wrestling (SPW) Southern title in Palmetto, Florida.
[12][13] Malenko became known as "The Shooter" and was given a gimmick similar to an Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter (due to his resemblance to Royce Gracie).
[19] On April 8 at Three Way Dance, he and Benoit lost the tag titles to The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock).
[34] Malenko then entered a feud with Guerrero, angry over the fact that he had caused him to lose his Cruiserweight belt and began to attempt to win the United States title from him.
[37] Gene Okerlund then confronted Malenko post-match, aggressively citing his many losses in the past several months and asking where he would go from this point.
Malenko entered the battle royal dressed as masked wrestler Ciclope and won the match, after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand, and eliminated himself.
[40] Malenko was fired in storyline, but returned at Road Wild 1998 as the special guest referee during Jericho's defense against Juventud Guerrera.
Malenko and Benoit also battled The West Texas Rednecks (Curt Hennig and Barry Windham) during this period.
[28] After the Horsemen were finally disbanded in May 1999 due to Flair's abuse of power, Malenko joined up with Shane Douglas' faction, The Revolution, which was formed in July 1999.
They battled many teams throughout the year including West Texas Rednecks, First Family, The Filthy Animals and The Varsity Club.
Early on, Malenko instinctively left the ring to regroup and was disqualified under the match stipulations because his feet hit the arena floor.
Malenko first appeared in the crowd with the infamous Radicalz – himself, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Perry Saturn – who all made exits from WCW at the same time.
[49] The feud led to a triple threat match at Judgment Day 2000 where Guerrero retained the WWF European Championship against both Malenko and Saturn.
[50] After both Guerrero and Benoit drifted away from the Radicalz, Malenko teamed with Saturn for a few weeks before quietly disappearing off television as the WCW/ECW Invasion storyline began in summer 2001.
[57] Malenko's third-last wrestling match took place at the 4th Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in August 2001, where he teamed with longtime friend Perry Saturn and defeated Raven and Justin Credible.
[58] That December, he defeated his student, Chad Collyer, by disqualification in the WWF farm promotion, the Heartland Wrestling Association, in what was Malenko's final match.
[64] Malenko next appeared on the March 31, 2008, episode of Raw to join The Four Horsemen and other WWE superstars in a farewell tribute to Ric Flair.
[66] Malenko appeared along the rest of the WWE roster after the April 23, 2012, episode of Raw to celebrate John Cena's 35th birthday.
On the June 5, 2018, episode of Smackdown Live, Malenko appeared during the contract signing between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.
[70] On May 24, 2019, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced that Malenko had joined them as a senior producer, which he makes occasional appearances on TNT since his last match on the December 27, 1999, episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
[71] He made an appearance in Philadelphia following the October 8, 2021, edition of Rampage when Tony Khan called him out alongside Jerry Lynn, Taz and Chris Jericho to thank them for inspiring him.