Forgettable debuts that lead to a good career

[THTRobtaylor]

Bret Hart's WWE debut was very lacklustre, he was a jobber and didn't get put with Neidhart for about a year, indeed they wanted him to be "Cowboy" Bret Hart at one point.

Famously, Vinny Mac gives opportunities so I guess you can say everyone mentioned so far "took theirs" but often guys had no chance in hell cos of Vince. Harley Race is a prime example of someone with a stellar career, given a crap debut ruining any chance he had of getting over, same for Dusty Rhodes and to an extent DDP.

Perhaps the example no one has mentioned really is The Undertaker, he was paired with Brother Love and while most people can remember him being announced by DiBiase as the mystery partner and it was really Piper's commentary that was memorable rather than the match or performance, with a half assed double count-out for Taker and Rhodes. Arguably the Gobbledygooker was the bigger deal to Vince that night.

 

[oneofakind318]

Stone Cold as the Ringmaster is really good one. I also think we have to include the Honky Tonk Man debuting as a babyface in 1986. He received so much hype from Hulk Hogan and the other top faces leading in but just came across as a goof initially and was rejected by the crowd immediately. And it really wasn't his fault. That character was never going to get over how the officials had it planned out, but once he went heel he caught fire and had a pretty strong three year run overall.

 

[Toroc102]

Off the top of their heads does anyone remember who Randy Orton debuted against? Or if he debuted in an angle? Because I sure don't. All I remember is that he used to wear longer trunks and looked skinny as heck to me.

 

[SuperSteve16]

Off the top of their heads does anyone remember who Randy Orton debuted against? Or if he debuted in an angle? Because I sure don't. All I remember is that he used to wear longer trunks and looked skinny as heck to me.

Randy Orton debuted against Hardcore Holly, and yes it was a very forgettable debut, even if he won the match.

A recent example would be Sheamus, who if I can recall just turned up out of nowhere on ECW. Even though he would win the WWE Championship very quickly, his actual debut was very forgettable.