What debut would get the biggest pop?

[Immaculate]

I wanted to entitle this thread "Would AJ Styles receive the kind of pop Jericho did, if he were to debut in WWE?" but I figured it'd be best to ask which wrestler would receive the biggest pop if they were to debut in WWE now.

Now before Chris Jericho debuted in WWE, what I remember of him in WCW, was that he was the only white guy in the Cruiserweight division (at one point) and therefore, the smallest (white guy) in WCW. He went on to become a Cruiserweight and TV champion and probably became most popular during his Ralphus/Goldberg angle where he repeatedly called out Goldberg, but never actually fought him. After he lost his TV title to Konnan, he feuded with Saturn.

Then this happened.

[YOUTUBE]1Lw98sEPLkI[/YOUTUBE]

So my question is, is there anyone today who could make a debut like that in WWE? Now I know Hardy, Angle, Mr Anderson would all receive a decent pop if they returned. But who has been established outside of WWE that could get the hugest pop? I know some of them have worked in WWE before, (Morgan, Styles) but they've made their names in TNA.

I think AJ Styles is similiar in a way too Jericho and while TNA is not as big as WCW was, Styles status in TNA is higher then what Jericho's was in WCW.

Who do you think gets the biggest pop and how would the pop compare to Jericho's?

So you have an idea of who I'm talking about: Styles, MCMG, Beer Money, Morgan, Wolfe, ROH, AAA and anyone who did not spend a significant amount of time in WWE and never reached Raw mid card status.

 

[TheCultClassic]

This is challenging. None of those have the personality to get over like Jericho. I feel that Aries would be one, but only for marks like myself. The wrestling world has changed so much in 11 years.

 

[ScruffDog]

I don't think anyone would get a pop like Jericho got, not even AJ. Then fan base now is different that it was back then. The WWE fan base is mostly young kids who have now idea of anyone outside of the WWE. Back in the day, most of the fan base would watch both WWF and WCW, so most of the audience was familiar with Jericho before he got there. I think these young kids may have heard of AJ, but don't know what he can do.

Another thing that helped Jericho’s pop, was pyro, pyro always gets a big pop. Also Jericho may have the best entrance theme song ever.

 

[The Brain]

I don't think AJ would get anywhere near the pop Jericho did. The wrestling audience was much bigger in 1999 than it is now and WCW had a much bigger following than TNA does. Jericho was looked at as a great wrestler that was held back by WCW and going to the WWF was going to allow him to be a superstar. Fans were excited to see this happen and it happened right away when his debut inturrupted The Rock. AJ would probably be the opposite. He has never been held back by TNA. He probably wouldn't achieve as much in WWE as he did in TNA. I doubt he would have any kind of impact. Also WWE isn't in a war with TNA like they were with WCW. Jericho coming to WWF was a battle victory for all WWF fans in the war with WCW.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I really don't think there's anyone who has not spent much time, if any, in the WWE, that could debut today and receive a pop comparable to what Jericho received at his original WWE debut. Nowadays, in the world of the internet (and associated spoilers) it would be difficult to pull off a significant debut without advance knowledge that it was going to occur. And the expectations of the modern day wrestling fan are such that almost any debut could occur, and a significant percentage of the population would probably say "meh."

Of course there would be a tremendous pop for a returning Kurt Angle or Jeff Hardy, or even Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair for that matter, but keeping in line with the OP's parameters, these guys really would not count in his hypothetical.

So the obvious answer would be the icon Sting. Here's a guy who has never wrestled one day, not one match in the WWE, and even at this late stage of his career, I think if he pulled some sort of surprise debut, he would get a pretty substantial pop. I don't see this ever occurring, but if he did decide to jump ship and come to the WWE, and it could be kept a secret, I think he'd receive a pretty loud ovation.

I'm not so sure that AJ Styles would get a particularly loud ovation. The IWC would go absolutely ballistic, but I imagine a lot of casual fans would have no idea who he even is.

 

[trevor62794]

The only person i could think of that would get a comparible pop to Jericho's is Sting he is known all over the world and has not spent anytime in WWE

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

Right now, I doubt there's anybody that would get a good debuting pop. Let us face facts here. If Daniel Bryan can't get a good pop, and Kaval can't get a good pop, then nobody can.

If anything, a return pop would be the only good pop available. I'm sorry for having to shit all over your thread and go completely off topic, but this is all I can provide.

If anybody were to return and get a good pop then it'd be Kurt Angle or Jeff Hardy. Both of these guys would get the same reaction, just because of their vast fan bases. Kurt Angle would be warmly welcomed back because arguabally, he was one of the WWE's greatest ever superstars. Jeff Hardy, and this is my opinion, would be welcomed back, just because of the fact that it's Jeff Hardy. Most little boys want to be him, and most little girls want to be in his pants when they aren't even sexually active. Jeff Hardy is a poor-man's 2006-2007 John Cena. Again, that's only my opinion.

Just for the sake of adding to the topic of the thread though, I think Sting would recieve the biggest pop if he went to WWE. Even now, at 51 years old, him debuting in the WWE would cause the IWC to implode and the WWE universe would just erupt.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've pretty much got to go with consensus on this. I don't think any of the homegrown TNA talent would get anywhere near the sort of reaction that Jericho did. When Jericho came to the WWF in 1999, WCW was a legitimate competitor with the WWF when it came down to audience. The Monday Night Wars was in full swing and a lot of people watched both companies. That's not how it is regarding TNA and WWE at this point in time. Right now, if TNA pulls in 1.5 million viewers, then it's considered a big night for the show. Over the course of this summer, with the exception of the past few weeks, Raw has done generally between 4.8 and 5 million viewers on average.

Most of the people that watch WWE Raw don't watch TNA iMPACT!, which means guys like AJ Styles wouldn't be nearly as well known. In all honesty, I think the reaction would be more along the lines of what Daniel Bryan gets. Bryan gets some respectable cheers from the crowd but, more often than not, the fans don't go apeshit crazy for him on a regular basis, at least not yet but that might change.

 

[The Crock]

Nobody could ever repeat the pop that Chris Jericho got. That was just a different time in the professional wrestling industry. The Monday Night Wars were going on and people more often than not, watched both shows (Nitro and RAW). This was right around the break of the Millennium too, Y2K and all that stuff, and the little vignettes were making people go crazy. Then finally, the countdown came and he debuted against The Rock. The most popular wrestler at the time, and maybe even of all time. The crowd was already way hot anyway because Rocky had been working them over for a good few minutes by then. That was just the perfect circumstance to debut a guy like Jericho.

Now, if anybody from TNA debuted in the WWE I doubt they would get this kind of pop. The crowd doesn't really care that much anymore, and most WWE don't really watch TNA. It's always one or the other. It wouldn't work out. Maybe they'd get moderately loud cheers, but nowhere near Jericho.

 

[The Chosen One of WZ]

Yeah now a days most ppl watch one or the other not both.

To answer the question though AJ Styles would get the biggest pop but not as big as Y2Js

The only person that would come close is maybe Sting.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think if the same thing happened, with the countdown etc, and then the words "AJ STYLES" came up in huge letters on the titantron, I DO think there would be a big pop, as AJ is well known and the major star of TNA, but it would not be at the level of the Jericho pop, which is still one of my favorite moments in wrestling.

TNA are growing every year and becoming more established, but they are nowhere near the level that WCW was at in 1999, as WCW was drawing a hell of a lot more viewers and people were much more aware of what that promotion was doing and who the stars were. Not enough people are aware of TNA and that would prevent Styles from getting an epic pop.

Now, if AJ did ever come to WWE and was allowed to show what he can do in the ring, the younger fans would LOVE him, his high flying, exciting style would be so over it would be insane!

 

[DemonToSome]

I'd have to go with Sting. AJ would get a reaction I'm sure, just not sure how big. I don't really know what percentage of the WWE "Universe" is children, but I'm sure it's a large chunk. Having said that, I'm not sure how many of those kids are WWE marks and how many watch TNA but based on the ratings, I'd say that a lot of those kids have no idea who AJ Styles is.

In regards to Sting, I'd say that the same is true, but being that WWE owns WCW and NWA footage, they'd be able to let fans know who Sting is and what he's done. Most people should know who Sting is regardless though.

So yeah, definitely Sting.