Overhyped WWE Debuts That Completely Flopped

In all walks of life, you simply get one probability to make a very good first impression. If you happen to walk as much as someone, shake their hand, and introduce yourself politely and professionally, people will likely remember you as that guy who was very friendly upon first impression and potentially wish to get to know you higher. Nonetheless, for those who walk as much as someone, by accident stand on their brand-new shoes, and tell them that they smell like a nightclub bathroom at the top of a Saturday night, people aren’t exactly going to be going out of their technique to see you again based on the primary impression you made.

It’s the same case in skilled wrestling, as latest arrivals to corporations like WWE are sometimes given weeks of vignettes and teaser clips, or in the fashionable era, QR codes and online discourse. If someone makes their debut for WWE after weeks of anticipation, that moment can be remembered immediately, and sure make the rounds on social media for years to are available in posts titled “Five years ago today, Person X made their iconic WWE debut!” But the identical will be said for the other: the celebs who’ve been promising the WWE Universe something special upon arriving, only to either flub their lines or find yourself in a storyline that ultimately kills any initial interest people had in them.

So sit back, calm down, and join me on a journey through the WWE history books to debate five debuts that had the wrestling world buzzing within the weeks leading as much as them, and even had people excited once they initially happened, but would eventually fall flat for a wide range of reasons, each out and in of their control. These are five WWE debuts that were overhyped, but ultimately flopped.

Commencing with a person who wasn’t technically debuting for WWE as he had appeared for the corporate a few years prior, but when we’re being honest with ourselves, if someone got here as much as us and said that the Scott Steiner of 1993 and the Scott Steiner of 2002 were two completely different people, no less than a few of us would imagine them. Besides, 2002 saw the WWE debut of a person higher known by many because the “Big Bad Booty Daddy.”

Steiner had been one among those fortunate souls to have time left on their Time Warner contract when WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, meaning he was in a position to sit at home and flex his muscles until the cash ran out. His contract would run out just after the Invasion storyline ended, and after a yr traveling world wide with the World Wrestling All-Stars, in addition to making some appearances for Latest Japan Pro Wrestling alongside his brother Rick, the “Big Bad Booty Daddy” signed with the WWE in late 2002, and arrived in the corporate at that yr’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.

His arrival at Madison Square Garden had been hyped for weeks, and after destroying each Matt Hardy and Christopher Nowinski, he had all of Latest York City shouting his catchphrase “Holla If Ya Hear Me!” But sadly for Steiner, that is nearly as good because it got for him. Steiner’s initial popularity meant he was rushed right into a feud with the “Reign of Terror” version of Triple H that had killed more people’s interest in WWE on the time than the corporate would really like to confess, and the feud was a disaster. It was widely considered one among the worst rivalries of the early 2000s, and in August 2004, Steiner had been released.

It is a tale as old as time itself. A wrestler makes it big outside of the WWE bubble, gains the eye of those in Titan Towers, is signed to a large WWE contract, after which immediately gets put ready where the corporate has no earthly idea what to do with them before they fade into obscurity. That’s form of what happened to the unique Sin Cara in 2011, who was, after all, portrayed by CMLL megastar Mistico.

If you happen to thought Mistico was an enormous deal in Arena Mexico in 2025, rewind the clock by 20 years, and also you could be hard pressed to seek out anyone on the planet of skilled wrestling more beloved by an audience than Mistico. Some people would even go so far as to say that behind the likes of John Cena, there was no greater attract all of wrestling than Mistico, so it is easy to see why WWE opened their chequebook for the most important luchador not named Rey Mysterio on the time. 

Renamed Sin Cara, meaning “Faceless,” he was unveiled as WWE’s newest signing at a press conference in Mexico City in February 2011. When WWE holds a press conference to hype your arrival, you recognize you are an enormous deal, and whenever you’re given your very own trampoline as a part of your latest entrance, you recognize you are much more of an enormous deal. Nonetheless, from the moment Sin Cara botched his first entrance on WWE TV, it was all downhill for the previous biggest attract CMLL’s recent history. Storylines involving imposters, WWE not allowing him to wrestle the kind of wrestling that made him famous to start with, and steadily falling down the cardboard, Sin Cara was released in 2014, and has thankfully regained the aura he originally had.

Just like Sin Cara, but rather a lot more heartbreaking within the grand scheme of things. On the time of writing, KENTA has just turn into the GHC Heavyweight Champion in Pro Wrestling NOAH, marking the primary time in over a decade that he has held the highest title of the promotion that made him famous. His original run with NOAH, which spanned lasted for 14 years starting in 2000, was the rationale WWE showed interest in him firstly of 2014, and he was invited to the WWE Performance Center firstly of that yr. After impressing WWE officials because he’s KENTA, one of the influential wrestlers this side of the millennium, WWE signed him to a multi-year deal.

KENTA arrived in “WWE NXT” as one among the most important international exports in the corporate’s history, and lots of fans saw him as the person who could legitimately take the brand to the following level. Under his latest name of Hideo Itami, he began off life in Full Sail University, picking up win after win, before partnering up with fellow latest arrival Finn Balor because they’d each made their name in Japan. Unfortunately, Itami could never quite reach the heights in WWE that KENTA did in NOAH.

This was in no small part because of his biggest rival, the “NXT” car parking zone, a spot that has caused more injuries than unprotected chair shots to the pinnacle at this point. In all seriousness, Itami spent most of his time in “NXT” on the shelf with various injuries, and will never put together a run of form akin to the person many individuals knew he was able to in Japan. After being released in 2019, KENTA himself called his time in WWE “Essentially the most frustrating days of his life.“

When the unique brand extension took place in 2002, each “WWE Raw” and “WWE SmackDown” got specific divisions based on what champions were drafted to every show. “Raw” got the WWE Women’s Championship, and the small yet very talented women’s division that went with it, in addition to the WWE Hardcore Championship, and the big, directionless group of lower midcarders that needed something to do on house shows. Nonetheless, “SmackDown” got their hands on the Cruiserweight division and signed a few of the perfect high-flyers on the planet to flesh out the division.

On top of the likes of Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, and The Hurricane, who were already a part of the corporate, WWE went out and secured the signatures of Brian “Spanky” Kendrick, Nunzio, and Japanese legend Ultimo Dragon, one among the lads most fondly remembered when WCW’s Cruiserweight division is brought up in conversation. Dragon was signed in 2003 and was billed as someone who could possibly be as, if no more, popular than Mysterio. He lived out a lifelong dream of wrestling in Madison Square Garden, and gained quite a lot of latest fans early on along with his unique style, however the Ultimo Dragon WWE signed in 2003 wasn’t the person who wowed audiences in WCW within the Nineties.

Dragon infamously suffered an elbow injury in 1998 that required surgery, a surgery that was botched, and ultimately forced him into an early retirement. Nonetheless, the possibility to work for WWE was too great to remain retired, and he got himself in ring shape for yet another run in the USA, but he never lived as much as the overwhelming hype WWE had presented to its fans. After learning that WWE desired to unmask him, he was released one yr after his arrival, but still wrestles to at the present time.

Diamond Dallas Page was one among those Time Warner contracts Scott Steiner had after WWE bought WCW, and had the possibility to remain at home and earn money by simply doing nothing. Nonetheless, DDP desired to work, and more specifically, he desired to be famous. In June 2001, he revealed himself as the person who had been stalking The Undertaker’s wife Sara, begging “The Deadman” to make him famous.

Right from the moment DDP unmasked himself, declaring to the world that he was a large creep despite being legitimately married for 10 years, it was clear that his run within the WWE was never going to go down well. Granted, he was one among the larger names for The Alliance in the course of the Invasion storyline, but DDP went from being one of the organically over babyfaces within the history of WCW, to some guy who liked The Undertaker’s wife, and at lower than two months into his WWE run, the previous WCW World Champion who could bring a complete crowd to their feet every time he hit the Diamond Cutter, got injured and was quickly moved down the cardboard when he eventually returned as a motivational speaker.

DDP would find yourself retiring because of a serious neck injury in May 2002, lower than a yr after his WWE debut. He sacrificed a summer of no worries because of his love of the business and a probability to make something great, but a wretched storyline and mounting injuries left him within the worst possible shape possible. He’s now seen as one among the true nice guys of skilled wrestling because of what number of lives he has gotten back on target through his DDPYoga program, but his WWE debut is one among the most important flops in company history.