5 best-ever WWE debuts from the last decade
First impressions are often a vital and unavoidable part of every aspect of life. This is even more true in WWE, where first impressions are incredibly, incredibly important. These moments really do start to pave the way for a Superstar to reach success and become a star in the business.
The first time we see a Superstar tells us so much about them: whether or not they're a heel or a face, what their gimmick is, what entrance music they have, what mannerisms or character ticks they display, how good they are at actually wrestling, how well they can talk on the mic and how much charisma/star power they have. Just to name a handful of things.
Over the years, there have been a great deal of Superstar debuts (as evidenced by the above video from WWE themselves), many of which were excellent and did their job of getting the WWE Universe excited about that Superstar, but only a handful were memorable enough to go down in history as the best ever.
Here's what I consider to be the best ever WWE debuts from the last decade, the ones that made an impact, that were big moments.
#5. The Fiend - SummerSlam (11th August, 2019)
What better place to start than with the most recent debut, the in-ring debut of Bray Wyatt's new Fiend gimmick against Finn Balor at WWE SummerSlam 2019.
It's safe to say that the character was already on its way to a home run following the series of 'Firefly Funhouse' vignettes and the random ambushes on various WWE Superstars and Legends, but SummerSlam really cemented Wyatt's place alongside the greatest in-ring debuts of all time.
Everything about the debut was great: from The Fiend getting a special type of font for his onscreen introduction, there being a darker, heavy metal remix of his old theme song, to him carrying a lantern made out of the severed head of his previous cult-leader gimmick.
Then he got in the ring and he dominated Finn Balor with headbutts, a brutal neck snap, Sister Abigail and the Mandible Claw. During the match he showed conflict whilst listening to his 'hurt' and 'heal' gloves, further developing the character element.
Finally after posing over a prone Balor having been victorious, the lights flash - then go out briefly - and when they came back, on The Fiend has gone, completely disappearing from the ring.
This was pitch-perfect: it was dark, foreboding, portrayed the Fiend as a monster, and absolutely painted the whole thing as a big deal and the Fiend as a star.