Your favorite pre-debut Promo

[Hyorinmaru]

You all know when the WWE wants to hype a superstar before their debut they run these little promos for weeks to get people talking. Sometimes the superstar goes onto great things (CM Punk) other times the superstar ends up a jobber (Chris Masters). I'm just gonna post a few that I remeber watching since I started watching WWE ('02).

Chris Masters
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Carlito
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CM Punk
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Kofi Kingston
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I'm not limiting anyone to just these 4 so if your favorite isn't on here by all means post it.

My favorite has to be the ones for Masters. When I saw these every week I got more and more excited for his debut. They were well done (Although you can't tell by the Vid wuality) and his character came across great in al lof them. I honestly thought he was going to be a huge name by this time (obvioulsy I was very, very wrong about that). I like the other ones but none got me as excited for a debut as the ones for Masters did.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

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Mordecai was a gimmick that had potential but I don't think they could have done much with it. A Mordecai vs. Undertaker match would have been awesome if not for the buildup alone but I don't see what else the gimmick had in store after that.

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To me, this would have been better than Punk's character. O'Hare was basically telling people not to go to church and to cheat on your spouse. He had the look down pat and was very athletic in the ring. Then they had him feud with Rikishi and he was done after that which was a shame. Word was that his first big angle was going to be against HBK which would have been great given the past troubles of Michaels but apparently the WWE got cold feet and backed out of it. Another missed opportunity.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

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Mordecai was a gimmick that had potential but I don't think they could have done much with it. A Mordecai vs. Undertaker match would have been awesome if not for the buildup alone but I don't see what else the gimmick had in store after that.

The 'E' must have really liked sticking Fertig with gimmicks that were destined to go nowhere in the long run.

[youtube]1qLmWayf0Dg[/youtube]

Another one I personally loved and had high hopes for but looking back on it there was even less of a place to go with Kevin Thorn than Mordecai. At least with Mordecai he would have had an awesome feud with The Undertaker and after that possibly Kane. Kevin Thorn however was doomed from the begining. The only reason that they even came up with Thorn was to gran the ScyFy viewers when ECW started.

*sigh* great promo, great gimmick, unfortunalty destined to fail.

 

[WWTNA]

Mines would have to be Goldust. It made you say WTF?!? It was also entertaining IMO. I also liked Cade & Murdouch's vignettes'. It was funny and made me exited to see how they would do in the WWE. RIP Lance Cade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1hK-oxxiE8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6irY2EHobA

 

[Aberle4Life]

Razor Ramon's debut vignettes in 1992 were very entertaining. He had the same gimmick Carlito would use years later, spitting fruit in people's faces. I can't remember if he originally brought that into the ring with him, but I always enjoyed watching the videos and this was before he ever had a match. He could talk and the gimmick seemed very interesting. Of course, he was already known as Scott Hall from his AWA days teaming up with Curt Hennig, but this was a whole new character indeed. Obviously the Ramon character became a big success and eventually led him back to Scott Hall in WCW using the Razor Ramon gimmick but getting away with it because he was just known by his real name.

Another wrestler whose vignettes-before-debut I remember is Outback Jack from the late 1980's. He'd be in various areas of Australia telling you about himself..I think he may have wrestled an alligator once but can't remember. I don't know for sure, but I think these videos ran longer than Outback was actually relevant in the WWF...hehe. The guy just wasn't good at all in the ring.

 

[Fadeddragon2469]

Ok, Ok...I know this is about WWE but I haaaaaaave to include my favorite promo(s) of one guy in particular with WCW. He was definitely built up to be something amazing. At first I remember thinking it would be some Asian martial arts pro wrestler and then slowly, but surely they began dropping the ball until it completely hit the floor. Once they had the promo with this white dude i knew it was no good. The only thing cool was his entrance and that quickly became an interchangable gimmick that was "bought" by another wrestler. Ok. Here ya go. (oh, and mind you when he debuted I was like 13-14 so to me I thought this could've been really fucking cool)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8IebYyt_Ag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFlNxHiVfdM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnvJnHN1Oo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycr3lXVGtY&feature=related

Horrible. Effin' Horrible.
As far as WWE then I'd have to go with Mordecai as well. So much build up for nothing. Complete waste.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

wow you listed some pretty recent vignettes... guessing you are pretty young? haha though not 2 as your info says... anyways.... I don't think anyone as of late has had much of a promo coming in, definitely not in those examples (not even Punk) Some of the great ones have been listed, Sean O'Haire, Razor, Goldust all come to mind... another one I really liked was Waylon Mercy... I was excited to see Dan Spivey come to WWE since i was a fan of the Skyscrapers and this promo was just creepy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dw8xJ4LWUY

 

[themegapowers]

I would have to say this one from 2000, now I know its not techinchally a pre-debut more of a return promo, however I thought the build up was great.

[YOUTUBE]wxIFWKvVOLA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[the troop]

Mankind's pre-debut promos were fucking great and are among my favorite promos ever. Sadly, I couldn't find any videos of any of the promos he did.

Basically, Mankind would sit in some kind of old basement or dungeon-like location with his rat George and cut promos that let you get an idea of how sick he was. These promos were psychotic, demented, sad, and just great to watch and listen to. They gave people an idea of what was to be expected from him when he debuted; a psychopathic wrestler who liked to hurt himself and others.

I think these promos ran for like 4 months before he even debuted as I remember one where he wished people a happy new year. That shows you how much faith the wwe put in these promos hoping they would get the Mankind character over before he even debuted. I think they were more than effective.

 

[MoizH28]

How bout the one guy WWE could've banked on for awhile but let go. I have to go with Muhammad Hassan on this one every time I saw a promo for this guy the crowd heat bounced off the charts. He was also very solid in the ring who knows where he would be now if WWE kept him around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fzi6FRGGTA

 

[Rshadow]

Sean O'Haire was always my favorite wrestler besides the Rock. He had it all the look, power, presence and the fact that he was muscle with a brain here is an example of how he make people do anything
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She goes ahead and does it
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[Alex]

Oh It's Real, It's Damn Real!!!


[YOUTUBE]MmRUAaYSfes[/YOUTUBE]

TNA had signed Kurt Angle, one of the best wrestlers ever, an Olympic gold medalist and former world champ. It was simple and to the point and I loved it

 

[MMSoldier]

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this has to be one of my favorite promos I have ever seen. After seeing the Streak in wcw, when goldberg was brought to wwe, people wanted to see what would happen.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It has already been posted but Sean O'Haire as the devils advocate character was awesome. The intial series of vignettes introducing the character intrigued me, it was something totally different and really could have gone somewhere. Fuck whoever decided to scrap the gimmick and fire O'Haire.

It seems that the IWC really have a lot of love for O'Haire, and I am one of his followers. He had the look, the incredible physique and a great moveset (what other huge guy does Swanton, sorry, SEANton Bombs?). As we saw from the promos for his new character, he could talk so...so thats the whole package for me. I really dont know why the WWE dropped the ball on this character, and it pisses me of. Sean O'Haire could have been an least an Intercontinental Champion, and maybe even a World Champion if he had been given a real opportunity.

That gimmick was destined to work, and for some unknown reason the WWE pulled the plug. What a joke

Sean O'Haire is the fucking man