Biggest debut on WWE History?

[Davi323]

I gotta think that for pure shock value, nothing can really top Eric Bischoff. Here was a guy who ran the OTHER company for years, appearing on WWE TV. For an actual wrestler's debut (including pre-debut hype) I would probably go with either Ric Flair, with the lead up by showing the belt, etc, or Kane. The hype surrounding the Big Red Machine's introduction was amazing. The storyline was built over a few months, and, when he actually made his debut, and destroyed the Undertaker, they turned Isaac Yankem, DDS, and Nailz into a WWE lifer named Kane.

 

[HeartBreakk1dPr]

The Biggest Debut PERIOD is Chris Jericho's back in 1999. It was simply groundbreaking. The fans in the arena went nuts that night and im sure every one at home....including myself had goosebumps. Everything from the big wait up until the moment he appeared was HUGE and worth all the anticipation. No one and I mean NO ONE has or will ever outdue Chris Jericho's debut. The second best would have to be Eric Bischoff, only because no one expected Vince McMahons REAL LIFE Rival to actually work....let alone appear on McMahons show. The biggest debuts came from WCW GUYS....hahaha....eat that WWE!!!! WCW FOR LIFE!

 

[Dead Kennedy]

It can't be anyone else than Y2J. Talk about making a splash. I saw it long after it initially happened, but I just saw a random episode of RAW is WAR and this epiphany happened - Chris Jericho appeared and crushed The Rock, WWF's premiere mic man at the time and of all time, well, at least he crushed him verbally. That level of crowd response has never or will never be duplicated. One man made his debut at the height of the Attitude Era. Hell, the man even wins best return of all time! Sure, everybody knew it was gonna be Jericho, but if you didn't mark, there's something wrong with your head. (That is the actual return segment, not the following career.)

And actually, can't believe I'm saying this, but one of the best debuts goes to John Cena. The one day where he didn't suck was his debut match. He almost defeated Kurt Angle. That counts for something. I've never liked the guy since, but that was one of those "Wow!" moments.

And the debut of "Stone Cold", which is technically not a debut, but the man known as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the man who lifted WWF above the heavens, was born after King of the Ring 1996. Steve Austin, prior to this, was just a mid-card guy who had a cool reign as WCW Tag Champion with Brian Pillman.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

I would agree with you fully if it weren't during a time when using a "mystery partener" angle wasn't being used left and right. And while you are right about the decade of destruction that followed, it's not hard for a 7 foot big man to get over initially n a debut. But dude, I am with you 110%, but let me run something else up the flag pole and see what you think.

Now it seemed to be the norm that whenever MAJOR former WCW characters made debuts in WWE, it was always a shocker and a special occasion. You saw the shock when Goldberg came. You ever say that when the NWO made their debuts and when Xpac came back. Hell, even Jericho and he Big Show seemed to turn heads when they came to WWE tv. But no man ever has debuted not once but twice with the impact each time like just one man.

And that man is Ric "Woo" Flair!

Back in 1991 in the WWF, he suddenly showed up on WWF tv with balls of brass and the NWA World title around his waist. I mean the man made history by being bold enough to pull off a move like this and shocked the world in the process. It was something that had never been seen and began one of the best years of Ric Flairs career by getting right up in Hogans face and calling himself the "Real World Champion".

And the man did it again when he debuted in the WWE the night after Shane and Stephanie McMahon's WCW/ECW faction had been defeated and decimated. The show was closing and the night had been won by Mr. McMahon when a familiar tune played and the crowd went wild. It was The Natecha Bowey! He walked down that isle and accounced himself as having been the man who bought Shane and Stephanie's shares of WWE stock and was now the half owner. Everyone's jaws dropped and they cheered wildly as Mr. McMahon quickly shifted from being the face owener with two ungrateful and greedy children to being the heel half owner who now had to deal with Ric Flair stylin and profilin his way from one side of the ring to the other.

Now tell me that you can't agree with that. I dare ya. lol

As I was reading through all the posts, I was like, hm.. We have mentioned Santino, Cena, and Umaga, but not Flair?

Excellent post, my friend. Ric Flair was the biggest name in the NWA ever.. No one would ever have thought he would jump ship.. It was unheard of.. But Flair did it, and he took his belt with him. Anyone remember dreaming of a Hogan/Flair match wayyy back when? Well, with this debut, everyone's dream was able to come true.. Of course, WWF kinda screwed it up, but still. This was nothing short of amazing..

 

[kingrko]

Kane, purely because he turned the Hell in a Cell match around for HBK, who was the extremely popular face champion. Also, does anyone realize what the eventual sibling rivalry led to? It's possibly the least used and one of THE dangerous matches, which is probablyh why they rarely book it.

Inferno Match

Easily one of the most dramatic match types of the WWE, I remember watching Undertaker and Kane go at it in this match and I actually found myself all tensing up and holding my breath every time the Undertaker came SO close to being burnt.

Also, Undertaker gets the nod for biggest debut, simply for what it led to. Years and Years of totally awesome, addictive wrestling destruction.

If I had seen the Chris Jericho debut, I would definitely give it a nod to, but since I keep hearing about it on these posts....

I give Jericho a nod anyway.

 

[Mattyboy]

I would have to go with Kane during the Bad Blood (In Your House) PPV. It came during the first (ever) Hell In A Cell match Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels. I will never forget the look on Undertakers face, seemed pretty genuinely surprised (though sure he wasn't) That debut will always stick out in my mind the most. Not to mention the match itself was AMAZING.

I agree with that, i remember watching that match. Awesome battle between Taker and HBK, then the lights go out, the eerie music hits and theres Kane!He looked so evil aswell, like something from a horror movie. And when he ripped the cell door off...man.

Kanes debut is for me the one which had the biggest impact.

 

[Heir To The Throne]

First that comes to mind was Chris Jericho. I was at the live show, and I just started watching Wrestling about 8 or 9 months before that, and I never watched WCW before that. So really seeing him come in like he did was huge. Especially live, I thought it was great.

Another one was Lesnar. He came in, dropped people, won the KOTR, and won the World Title from THE ROCK of all people, all in a matter of five months

Another was Big Show. now this was before Jericho, so I've only been watching Wrestling even shorter. But for some reason, I've heard of "The Giant". And seeing him do what he did, was awesome. Show's was great.

 

[Mr-excitement]

But no man ever has debuted not once but twice with the impact each time like just one man.

And that man is Ric "Woo" Flair!

Back in 1991 in the WWF, he suddenly showed up on WWF tv with balls of brass and the NWA World title around his waist. I mean the man made history by being bold enough to pull off a move like this and shocked the world in the process. It was something that had never been seen and began one of the best years of Ric Flairs career by getting right up in Hogans face and calling himself the "Real World Champion".

Now tell me that you can't agree with that. I dare ya. lol

Cn't tel ya I don't, because I DO AGREE. I read the whole thread waiting to see who really knew the history and Flair's debut and the buildup was HUGE, it was not sudden though and the title was there THREE MONTHS prior to Flair's arrival with Bobby Heenan who kept telling everyone Flair was on his way.

That Superstars program where Bobby Heenan showed up and told Monsoon the real champ was coming soon was amazing especially when he said "You want to compare Hogan to this man, fine then let's compare Hogan to Ric Flair."

Monson and the Anvil did a double take, man that was huge!!!

 

[footman645]

Chris Jericho definitely had the biggest debut in WWE history. The countdown, the nickname (does anyone find it odd that "Y2J" lasted longer than Y2K, which it was making fun of?), and the debut itself were all great. Kane's debut was a close second, and The Big Show and Ric Flair's debut deserve to be mentioned, as well.

 

[Mr. TM]

I would have to go with the majority and say Chris Jericho. When that clock hit 0, and Chris came out, I was in love. He cut and amazing promo with the Rock and the fans were nuts. His WCW waters knew who he was, and most smart people knew it was going to be Jericho, but there was still the anticipation. Years later he would be the first Undisputed Champion, and still be preforming at the top of his game.

 

[shalliin]

I"ve read 8 pagest of these now ,and I have to say there are a lot of things i agree with. Taker in the SS match and everything he's done since then, Kane's interference, Flair's dramatics with the belt and then being in as part owner, The first appearence of the Heartbreak kid when he put his own partner Marty Jennetty through the window of the interview show, Chyna's first appearance has been neglected. Or how about Yokozuna, I couldn't believe someone that size could move, nevermind move like he could.

But I have to say, the biggest, most important debut was not of a single person. It wasn't a tag team or a Clique. No, the biggest and most influential debut of all time has to be......
WWF Raw is WAR!
I dare you to argue that anything or any single person has had as much impact internationally on wrestling as the creation and airing of that first episode of Raw. Think about it:
with no raw, there is no where for to air the matches that we've all loved and seen. No where to build upt or create the fantastic rivalries and odd characters that have entertained us since the early 90's. There would no monday night wars, or even no monday nitro since WCW would never have had the gall to create a monday night wrestling show since their big show at the time was saturday. The careers and personalities that defined the attitude era would have had no were to invoke their essence and draw in the fans that grew to follow them so rapidly. WWE would have remained as a 4 yearly PPV, straight to home video matches and house shows, with smaller programs like what later became heat, velocity and their other various 1 hour recap shows. Except all they would have recapped would have been house shows and PPV's. Raw lead to the In Your House PPV's which later become the ones that we know in love. The original 4 were Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, Survivor series. Then they added King of the Ring. And then the In Your House's that were then subtitled. People started using the subtitle for the name of the PPV and that has lead to Armageddon, Vengence, Backlash, and so on. WCW had to try and keep up with WWE and so we then had 1 PPV a month per company, 2 in total, and later ECW PPV's.
And without RAW, none of it was possible.

 

[ChrisJerichoFanYTWOJAY]

as you could tell by my name i am a HUGE Jericho mark. So i am going to have to agree with everyone that said Jericho's debut was the biggest. What was the best was that the debut was kept quiet pretty good. Now when someone switches companies the word gets leaked out faster than carlito gots jobbed out. So Jericho debuting was the all time best debut

 

[njperfection]

Not to beat it to death but I would have to go with Jericho and the WWE as well. The build up to the whole thing was amazing. From the countdown clock, to the pyro, entrance and music it is easily one of the best debut's of all time. Not to mention they threw him in The Rock's segment. The is a huge part of it. They made it a big deal from the get go.