WWE Debuts - A Big Debut?

[#SAWFT]

So, I was watching a video on YouTube of people's debuts. There were debuts like Chris Jericho interrupting The Rock, John Cena answering Kurt Angle's open challenge and Santino being chosen as a 'fan' to take on Umaga for the Intercontinental Championship.

For a debut, John Cena's was pretty big. Taking on one of the, then, biggest heels in the company, for me, was an impressive debut. He dominated for most of the match, but Kurt rolled him up for the 1-2-3.

Santino was picked from the crowd when no-one from the locker room wanted to face Umaga, and Mr McMahon didn't dare face him. So, Mr McMahon chose
Santino from the crowd. He got a few punches in, but Umaga dominated. If it wasn't for Bobby Lashley, Santino wouldn't have won his first Intercontinental Championship. But, on his debut, he won the Intercontinental Championship.

My question is, should WWE have bigger debuts?

We see WWE debuts Ryback, Brodus Clay and Antonio Cesaro against Local Jobbers. Should these have had a bigger debut?

Offer some ideas on Debuts you think would improve the current debuts?

 

[berlinbrawler]

I hated Santino's debut. It devalued the already hurting IC title even further. It's a terrible thing to do to the belt.
Used to be that once you got over and had proven your mettle, you got a pat on the back by getting a run with the belt. Then, for years, they just put the belt on anyone, hoping that this would get the wrestler over. Surprisingly this lead to the belt meaning next to nothing for years.

Back to the topic, though. I liked all the other big debuts you mentioned, Jericho's being the most epic one. Big debuts are a risky thing, though, because chances are that for a year or so that moment is going to be the highlight of that person's career. Case in point, only weeks after his debut Chris Jericho was delegated to a losing streak Sunday Night Heat...
Getting a wrestler over takes time. Therefore it's not always wise to present him as a big fish right off the bat. Only works in the rarest of circumstances (Brock Lesnar comes to mind).
So while the squash matches against local jobbers aren't all that exciting, I can see why they are doing it. It's a way of slowly making the crowd familiar with the new face and getting used to that presence.
I have learned that patience is a virtue when observing the product's development. It's like cooking. If you just throw the ingredients in the pot and heat it up, your chili is going to to be as bland as a Randy Orton promo. It needs to simmer for a couple of hours to develop some flavor.

Bottom line, I'm fine with debutants not making TOO big a splash at first, because ultimately that will probably only set them up to fail. It's actually better to have them slowly climb up the ranks.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Nobody makes a debut and is instantly over. But one of the most memorable ones I had was watching Survivor Series 1999. Kurt Angle had been on Heat before but not on a PPV, so it was the first time I had seen him wrestle. Shawn Stasiak was in the ring, and I was already bored with the match - then Kurt came out and did the traditional babyface flag hugging gimmick. I was shocked that WWF would allow a match like that during their attitude peak. The crowd got bored quickly and started a boring chant. Then, something odd and unexpected happened. Kurt Angle took the mic mid match and said words to the effect of "Hey, I am a frickin gold medalist; you do not boo me or chant boring!" and the heat he got, the way he said it, it was a masterclass of swerving the crowd. The crowd booed and the way Angle celebrated after was like as if he won another gold medal. Over the top, but the crowd got "it" and he was over instantly.

That was one of the more impressive debuts I have seen. And I knew then he would be a star. I was right. He is one of the greatest ever wrestlers in history.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

There has not been a big Debut in wwe for a long time know. The reason why guys like jericho had gig impactful debuts is because they were already well known in the wrestling world. Big Show, The Radicals, Goldberg they had all made there name in WCW before coming to WWE. so the crown were already familiar with these guys. if you look at the wrestlers that WWE gave big debuts to that were not well known before have normally all failed. The Great Khali is a perfect example of this and you can't get much bigger then his Debut. The first time you saw Khali he came out and attacked one of the biggest names in WWE history The Undertaker. He then went on to feud with guys like HHH, Batista and John Cena. He was built up to fast and the fans did not have enough time to become familiar with Khali and in the end his Character just did not work. Its resulted in Khali being stuck as a comedy Character. The same can be said about guys like Swagger,Santino and if things keep going how they are then Alberto Del Rio will also join the list of Wrestlers who's debuts were to big.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's of course easier to debut if you have a name elsewhere, Jericho, Taz, Goldberg, The Radicalz all had pretty epic debuts but they were known guys, they were always gonna have big entrances. It's far harder to break a newcomer in the same fashion but it is entirely possible to be over from the debut.

Go back and look at The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1990, from the moment DiBiase said his name the crowd popped huge, even though they had no idea who he was. When they saw him in action and his early double count out with Dusty they wanted more. For the TV crowd the key was Piper's commentary... especially the "ooh he does not look friendly at all." that kinda cemented it cos if even Piper was "freaked out" you knew the guy was special.

Cena's debut was "special" cos he was seen to "raise his head above the parapet" with Mr. McMahon and then almost beat Kurt Angle. No Rap, no 5 moves of Doom or Fruity Pebbles. Just a vanilla looking kid having a great match out the box with an on fire Kurt Angle. I remember saying to my lil bro "That guy's gonna be huge"... and he was...

Commentary was important back then, you had guys like Ahmed Johnson who debuted without a big angle, just in a match, but JR was saying "Many are saying this guy is a future WWF champion", when someone like JR is saying that on your debut, it kinda makes you special.

In Jericho's case you need to read his 2nd book to understand that losing streak, Vince just didn't "get him" in the early running and Chris overcompensated... he very nearly got canned...but the debut ultimately lived up to the hype.

Santino's was more because the character at the time sucked. They debuted Savio Vega the same way with King Of The Ring 1995 and the go home show. He nearly won the tourney and it got what would have been a vanilla and bland character mega over in one night. It didn't last but for a spell Savio was very popular indeed.

 

[theBec2101]

It's alot harder now to have big debuts. This is due mainly because of the internet. Someone would find out and it would get leaked out and boom, so much for the debut of that wrestler. And then when to sites try to spoil it and it doesn’t seem to be the case such as Jechico winning the Rumble everybody gets mad and hurt. So its is our fault that nothing really surprises us cause we would want to find out and we would. Look at the Aces and Eights they were leaked pretty fast. So just except it. It doesn’t matter we will always not be happy with something.
Anyway....
Undertaker debut was awesome to bad he was playing on the wrong side
Santino-Not that bad, he can actually wrestle, his gimmick doesn’t show it
Cena-was good and so was the match with Kurt, he too can wrestle
Kane-EPIC, one of the best ones

 

[Workrate]

Yeah, the problem with debuts now is that most of the guys who come in are developmental talents, not established names from another major company. And then, when they do bring in a top guy from another company, they tend to completely repackage him and ignore his past (examples: Monty Brown, Chris Harris). There are exceptions to the rule (examples: CM Punk, Daniel Bryan) whose reputations proceed them, but even still, their debuts aren't the same as, like, Scott Hall walking through the audience on Nitro or Chris Jericho interrupting The Rock.

I suppose you could also argue that things are leaked ahead of time more regularly now, killing the surprise, but everyone knew Jericho was the millennium man back in 1999 or whatever it was, but that didn't kill the excitement. I'm more inclined to say that audiences themselves have changed rather than dirt sheets have come in and ruined everything. Wrestling audiences have always been snarky and cynical, but it seems to be worse now than ever before. That doesn't help.

 

[The Average Guy]

Can we say that the last big debut was the debut of the original nexus? I know that they were all on NXT but this was there first time being seen on a major WWE program.

But again there rise happened so fast that it was only a matter of time until they fell into irrelevance.

As already said its hard to make a big debut with characters nobody is familiar with and people are familiar with the debuting star it probably already got spoiled on the internet. Then if it gets spoiled and happens people complain WWE i to predictable and if it doesnt happen than they simply complain that it didnt hapeen.

 

[CyberPunk]

Debuts can make or break a wrestler. Kane's debut was one of the most anticipated ones. Hell, no one knew Undertaker but he got big as soon as he debuted. John Cena, Chris Jericho debuts were great as well. In recent times, Nexus and Del Rio come to my mind. But more than anything, I feel that the character of the debutant plays a major role. Undertaker was completely unknown when he debuted, but his character was compelling. John Cena entered as an underdog rookie who answered Vince's ruthless aggression call.

These days, the debuts are rather generic. Squash, squash, squash, then may be one meaningful feud and then stuck in the mid card. I do not mind a slow build, in fact, I love a slow, calculated build like Bryan's. But some characters need that impactful debut to get noticed. I feel Dean Ambrose or even a Bray Wyatt can use such a debut. Why not test waters with these guys? Nothing to lose looking at the kind of talent WWE posseses.

 

[LeviCook]

I think debuts are pretty important. As said, now days you just see a debut of whatever wrestler is debuting dominate a random jobber. They do this for a couple of weeks and then they're over? I think that's something that is hurting wrestling today. Now i'm not saying make every debut a Santino debut, but something different. I even feel like some times superstars that have been around for a while are forgotten about because WWE expects them to stay over which isn't the case. For example, Jack Swagger. Swagger's career has continuously spiraled down hill for the last couple years. They expect us to boo someone who recently has done nothing to deserve to be booed. I think for both debuts and already established superstars we need more promos. More promos will allow a character to get over and stay relevant with the fans. A promo can build character for a debuting superstar to get a point across of who they are. A promo can allow superstars to stay in touch with the fans and give them a reason to care.