Top 10 Epic WWE Debuts
If you've gotta make a first impression, why not kick some poor fella's backside while you're at it? Welcome to Watchmojo.com and today we'll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Epic WWE Debuts.
#10: Goldberg
Everyone and their cat new it was coming, but they didn’t know it would be going down this way. At the height of his Hollywood heel run, the Rock’s pie-eating mouth was on overdrive, slamming the fans and gloating about his wrestlemania victory over eternal rival, Steve Austin. So what better way to shut the bloke up, than by blasting that ominous theme music across the Arena. Goldberg showed up, speared the Dwayne and the rest is history.
#9: John Cena
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If you’re going to make an impression at someone else’s expense, who better than Kurt Angle? The Olympic Hero was sounding off and challenging anyone in the back, until what can only be described as create-a-wrestler-template number one turned up to the scene. The man proclaimed himself to be brimming with Ruthless Aggression, whatever the hell that is, and then slapped Angle right across his face. A match followed with Cena almost getting the best of him, in what can be described as a great start to an excellent career.
#8: Tazz
Again at the expense of Mr. broken freakin’ neck, this Royal Rumble debut was explosive. Who was his mystery opponent to be that night? None other than ECW’s Tazz. And as soon as that heartbeat echoed, the crowd blew up with one of the loudest pops in history. Angle had boasted an undefeated record at the time, but he was absolutely decimated by the human suplex machine before suffering his first loss. Though not much can be said for Tazz’s WWE career, this intro was something to behold.
#7: Brock Lesnar
It’s hard to imagine a WWE without this fella throwing a devastating tantrum, on a part-time basis that is, but when he said hello on Raw back in 2002, no one had a clue who he was. Running down to the ring and obliterating all of its hardcore inhabitants, the beast let his presence be known in a big way. Sure, the fans didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but in hindsight it was pretty damned cool.
#6: Sting
He was the greatest wrestler to never perform in the WWE…up until this moment. During a whirlwind Survivor Series match which saw the forces of good take on the authority, things were looking pretty bleak for Ziggler who stood as the last line of defence. Being inches away from sealing the deal, Triple H took matters in his own hand, stopping the poor fella and crushing everyone’s hopes. That is until a certain stinger showed up and saved the bleedin’ day. Cheers Mr. Borden.
#5: Shinsuke Nakamura
Yes, his WWE smackdown Debut was pretty neat what with that violin playing and all that, but Nakamura’s NXT debut blows it out the water. This is one of the rare instances on this list where we new the wrestler was gonna pop up and who he was going to face, but that wasn’t enough to quell the sheer excitement that shook the arena from the second his music played. Fans were elated to see the kicky man strut his stuff and we were treated to a fantastic contest between him and Sami Zayn.
#4: AJ Styles
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With rumors of he, and fellow bullet club members Anderson and Gallows leaving NJPW, you think we would have seen this coming. But even so when and unfamiliar theme started playing during the royal rumble, the fans had no idea what was going on. Then as if like an angel here to save us from Roman Reigns, the phenomenal one walked down to the ring leaving the fans to scream with joy. We would’ve loved to have seen him win the whole thing, but whatever, we were just happy to have him.
#3: The Shield
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Seconds away from winning the WWE championship from CM Punk, Ryback received an unexpected gift in the form of knuckles from three men in black. Who were those men? Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns, three men who have since risen to the top of professional wrestling. Why they did it wasn’t exactly clear but it marked the beginning of one of wrestling’s greatest ever factions – punctuated by a earth shattering power-bomb through the announce table.
#2: Kane
This is where we enter the stuff of legends. As if the first-ever Hell in a Cell match wasn’t monumental enough, hellfire burst from the stage and out came the most terrifying monster in WWE history. Accompanied by a dastardly Paul Bearer, Kane proceeded to rip off the door, wreak havoc, and put his brother down with his own patented move, the tombstone Piledriver. From that moment we knew that Kane was a big red deal.
#1: Chris Jericho
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How can you even put the electricity of this moment into words? As we’ve seen earlier in this list, interrupting Rocky is a surefire way to blow the roof off. The Y2J virus spread across the globe as that now all too familiar millennium countdown lit up the titantron. And who should be the man behind the hype? Chris Jericho himself who delivered an amazing promo that set the tone for his career to come. It was a huge loss for WCW and a huge win for fans of professional wrestling.
