Who has had the best debut or return in wrestling history?

[Exist2Inspire51]

Now I am sure that this thread has been done before but for kicks lets do it again and see if we can get some good arguments out of it. Personally I think that the best debut/return in the history of wrestling was the debut of Chris Jericho to the WWF back in August of 1999. That debut was great. He had the iconic countdown clock which was counting down for months. It was great that he made his debut while The Rock was in the ring. He interrupts The Rock and starts what is the career of one of the greatest in the business. It was also one of those debuts before everyone knew who it was going to be because of the internet. Now discuss.

 

[DeadmanInc2009]

Kane's debut, is easily one of my all time favorites. The build, was so damn amazing. Everything about it, was awesome. I remember watching that PPV in 1997. I was only 9yrs old. And seeing Kane for the first time, scared the hell out of me lol. I can still remember McMahon saying "That's gotta be Kane...that's gotta be Kane." Another one, is Jericho's debut. LOL I remember watching RAW with my Uncle, back in August of 99. And I remember that right before Jericho appeared, my Uncle said "Watch it be somebody like Chris Jericho." And sure enough, it was him. Awesome wrestling moment. Another one my favorite debuts, is the debut of The Undertaker. Awesome moment. And 20yrs later Taker is still kickin ass.

 

[colalella2891]

One of my favorite returns is when Undertaker came back in 2004. That was so sick. Return of the dead man. That blew me away because a legend like him returned to the WWE.

 

[Deadman4ever34]

I think for the buildup, Jericho or Kanes debut was great! I remember when John Cena debuted on Raw, after the draft, that was amazing. I think for all around debut, no buidup, the Undertaker had to be the most amazing! he was so different than anyone else! and his return in 04 was great, but so are the returns of Triple H, the Rock or Steve Austin any time they had time away

 

[thesweetness]

The best (and the worst) debut ever has to go to the SHOCKMASTER!! Every time I watch that clip on youtube, it makes me go into uncontrolable fits of laughter.

I personally always liked when Sting sat out of wrestling for a year and just hung out up in the rafters with his vulture. Then at Starrcade '97 he finally returned to wrestle and beat Hulk Hogan for the Championship. He had a totally awesome entrance that had a Laser-show type thing with a cool voice over. I just really loved Sting when I was young and was so ecstatic for his return.

But seriously Y2J was the best, they had that timer going for months and had everyone wondering what it was all about.

 

[b3zy]

Now this may be a little off to you guys but... Goldust had a hell of a Debut with his segments leading up to that awesome entrance.. Also Val Venis aswell... his debut was hyped!

The worse debut had to be Shannon Moore and punk debut on ECW.. where he just stood there.. and then getting his ass handed to him by CM Punk

 

[stingerlegends]

My favorite was Big Show breaknig through the bottom of the ring and beating Stone Cold half to death. Big Show was made to look unstoppable within the first few seconds. Kane's debut was also pretty bad-ass.

 

[Wolfdemon]

Chris Jericho in 2008 no doubt about it. SAVE_US.222 the first time i saw that promo video i knew it had to be Jericho.The buildup and the hype was so big.As soon as that code lit up on the screen the whole arena was into it.

 

[themegapowers]

In my opinion, I think two of the best were Goldberg(WWE) and Tazz (WWE)

Gold berg just for the fact he interupted The Rock and because its Goldberg lol, Tazz' was good imo, it was well built up and well hyped.

 

[hawaiianbulldog]

I think the best deput was Kane i loved the build for it and it was just crazy but my all time favorite would have to be Cena pushing Kurt Angle to the limit "I'm John Cena" damn that was classic.

 

[KillBill]

How about the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 8? He had just disappeared for 8 months, no where to be seen. Then in Hogans last match, at the time, Hogans getting beat up in the ring, and Heenan was like, "no one can help him, he doesn't have a friend left". Then the Warriors music hits, and he came running down the aisle. That was cool.

Everybody debuting during invasion Angle. In the biggining, when Lance Storm, the Morris, then DDP, etc, it was sureal to see some of these guys on WWE tv.

How about Jake Roberts debut in WCW? Go youtube it, its pretty crazy, he just comes out of the crowd and attacks Sting and DDT's him on chair.

And of course, the debut of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in WCW, no reasons needed.

Theres a bunch others, but none I can think of right now.

 

[Beards17]

this best debut is the undertaker
when he was introduced to fight for millon dollar mans team people were in shock how he went through all the big names. he beat super fly no problme at wrestlemania and won h-is frst title off of hogan. he went through the legends as a rookie and has continued to rule the wwe. im a little biased but think bout it for a while. hes the best.

 

[thebigbadfox]

I think the NWO in the WWE was the best only because I was live at the show and the crowd including me went nuts... first time I saw hogan in person...which was awesome for me.... other than that Jerichos first WWE debut because I loved him in WCW and also the debut of the Radicalz some of my favorite wrestlers too....

 

[S prince]

Debut wise I'd go with Jericho on Raw in 99 cause of the crowd reaction.

Return wise hands down Triple H 2002 at the Garden. Crowd doesn't pop like that anymore.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

KillBill stole my answer on the return side. The return of the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 8 to save Hogan from Papa Shango and Sid Justice was just brilliant. A very high energy moment, and crowd in Indianapolis went insane.

Can I offer the debut of John Cena among the greatest ever? The guy interrupts a promo / challenge by Kurt Angle, and with his trademark intensity tells Angle he is in the WWE to provide RUTHLESS AGGRESSION. He then takes Angle to the limit in a singles match.

The return of Triple H from the quad injury - again interrputing Kurt Angle - to announce his part in the Royal Rumble - was also brilliant. It also served as notice, because HHH was HUGE in the upper body when he came back.

 

[bigp523]

Jericho original WWF debut in 1999 was incredible. To have him interrupt the Rock was brilliant, and just showed the kind of character he will be.

I feel like wrestling debuts/returns have pretty much been ruined. Having promos happen six weeks in advance ruins the element of surprise, and by the 6th week I am bored with it.

 

[markmeout]

I liked Carlitos debut he had the best startoff for a newbee. He beat cena for the title in his first match. His body guard then stabbed cena short after. He verbally assulated everyone including torrie willson. He was hugely pushed and hyped and made you feel he was going to be huge. But then injury and luck of motivation occured and well carlito is now equal to shelton benjiman. Carlito was so damn cool lol too bad hes a jobber

 

[captain.charisma]

I know this is the WWE section so I'll probably get some shit for this since it's TNA but how about Jeff Hardy's debut at Slammiversary to challenge AJ Styles for the X Division Championship, you just hear music, no idea who it is, then, boom! Jeff Hardy. Yea, it wasn't a great match, but who cares. The pop he got was huge (well, TNA huge...).

 

[EGfan4life]

One of my favorite returns was Batistas. All 8 of them. lol jk.

One of the returns I've seen is probably Jeff Hardys. He came back and tagged with Matt, and also feuded with him. He went to on to win the WHC, which was special, considering all he's been through and all of the countless classics he's had with Matt, Edge/Christian, Dudleys, etc.

One of my favorite debuts, was Bobby Lashley's. He dominated from the start and instantly achieved greatness. He reminded me of Brock Lesnar. WWE made a mistake letting him go.

 

[D-Will316]

For me my favorite RETURN was at Backlash 2000 when Stone Cold returned from being "ran over". I chose this one simply because the crowd literally blew the roof off of the place when the glass shattered.

Favorite DEBUT was Muhammad Hassan. He drew INSTANT heat in his segment w/ Mick Foley. Mankind's debut I liked to (attacking The Undertaker).

 

[byrnside]

So many of these were easily going to be my top picks, mainly Jericho's debut on RAW in '99 when he interrupted the Rock.

So for now, I'm going to have to go with Matt Hardy's return to the WWE, I think it was in '05? After he got fired because Lita dumped him for Edge. That was one of the coolest programs I've seen to this day, because it was real. The build up was incredible, when Edge and Lita would come to the ring, the crowd would chant "Hardy!" or "You Screwed Matt!" Those couple matches when he interfered and just attacked Edge, classic.

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

i have 3 returns that was just awesome
1. jeff hardys return to RAW i wasn't looking on WWE.com and it was just unexpected to see his return cuz i was waiting for him to show up in TNA and i heard his music and i was just shocked
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin return after his neck surgruy in 1999 was just awesome how he was looking for the sorry son of a bitch that ran him down
3. Stings return at Final Resulation in 2005 after Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown beat down Christian and then the lights flickered on and off and you heard Stings voice it was just awesome and the crowd was just going nutz

 

[only1soe]

Y2J is up there on everyones list for sure.

I also have to go with Macho Man's debut where his first match he was already in full developed character.

 

[FridayNightDelight]

I think Jericho's debut in WWE was great. He came from WCW and on his first night in WWE, he got to interrupt The Rock. He cut an awesome promo and got the audience in to his character.

 

[tnarage2]

i have 3 returns and 3 debuts that are great.

DEBUT

1. chris jericho raw in 1999 idk what month it was i had no idea who it was until i saw the name jericho on the titantron and him itterrupting the rock was great
2. kane- with paul bearer returining and giving promos saying that kane is still alive. then at bad blood it was hbk vs undertaker in the first ever hell in a cell. i like when kane ripped the cage was awsome and. it was the start of the greatest (kayfabe) sibling rivalry in wwe history.
3. john cena - it was in 2002 on thursday night smackdown kurt was doing his promo and then cena came out into the ring . and kurt asked him what is your and he said MY Name is JOHN CENA. and when said ruthless agression was great and he knocked out kurt was great as well.



RETURNS

1. undertaker - in 2000 & 2004 both returns was great in 2000 with him returing during an ironman match. and took out the DX- coperation was awsome. in 2004 the return of the deadman was insane with promos in the royal rumble and and kane was shocked and that distraction you know eliminated kane. and at wrestlemania XX he returned and beat kane. to make his 12th wrestlemania win.

2. chris jericho in november 2007 ok randy was doing his celebration thing a runner was running with the touirch then all of a sudden bam. the guy gets knocked out by y2j . and then the save us thing was great but know its like jericho is was gonna be the hero now he is the villan.
3. john cena january 2008 it was the royal rumble match 12 people were in the ring beating the hell out of eachother. then the count down was great. then cena's music hit i couldnt belive it the crowd was electric that night i think it was probablly the best return in royal rumble history. and cena winning the rumble was great but dumb to challenge orton at no way out.