It's a complete and utter waste of major WWE, AEW, TNA and WCW debuts.
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00:00 I mean what I'm about to say.
00:02 Obviously, otherwise what are we even doing here?
00:04 But I think if I was offered an average long run as a wrestler, or a very short one, but
00:09 I get an iconic debut, I'd pick the latter.
00:12 So many of my favourite memories have been guys and girls turning up in new promotions,
00:16 and it can turn you into a superstar, you just have to get the balance right.
00:20 So what's the fallout when the opposite happens?
00:22 Let's find out.
00:23 Because I am Side4WhatCulture, please hit that subscribe button, and this is 10 Big
00:27 Time Wrestling debuts that were totally wasted.
00:31 10.
00:32 DDP in the WWF
00:33 The 18th of June, 2001, Monday Night Raw.
00:36 We all knew WCW guys could now appear in the WWF as the company was dead, and rather than
00:42 wait out his contract, Diamond Dallas Page decided to accept a new deal and try to make
00:46 it elsewhere.
00:47 He totally would have done this too, if we had given him a good gimmick.
00:51 For you see, despite being a natural babyface and beloved in World Championship Wrestling,
00:55 Vince McMahon decided Page should be a bad guy.
00:59 Worse still, we turned him into the stalker who'd been going after The Undertaker and
01:02 his wife.
01:03 Over 20 years on, and I still cannot believe this was the role we gave to Dallas.
01:07 It hurt even more as the reaction he got when he unmasked was excellent, but in a few weeks
01:11 the bottom had fallen out and the whole thing was done.
01:14 If DDP was just allowed to be himself, this would be on a totally different list.
01:18 It was all there, and we dropped the ball.
01:21 9.
01:22 The Big Show in WWF
01:23 Another jumpy from WCW, Paul Wight could see the writing on the wall and made the shift
01:28 at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view in 1999.
01:31 Anyone in the know knew this was on the cards as Vince McMahon had told people he had an
01:35 idea how he could make this giant a big star, and then he arrived.
01:39 Well, meh.
01:41 The newly dubbed Big Show didn't have the best start, even if what he did looked cool.
01:44 Ripping out of the ring as McMahon took on Stone Cold Steve Austin, Wight grabbed the
01:48 Rattlesnake and threw him so hard into the steel cage, the box-like structure broke,
01:53 meaning Austin had won.
01:54 That's ridiculous on so many levels, but it also meant Show had just helped his new
01:58 enemy win.
01:59 Whoops.
02:00 This would tie into his first few years as the tone was all over the place, and he was
02:04 doing comedy come 2000.
02:06 He did find it in the end and his career has been pretty damn good, but yeah, making a
02:10 mistake on your debut just looked like a fool.
02:13 8.
02:14 Razor Ramona Diesel Part II in the WWF
02:16 I mean, forget Waste, this was just an awful idea.
02:19 Going on Raw on the 20th of September 1996, everyone decided they didn't need Scott
02:24 Hall or Kevin Nash to play the roles of Razor Ramona Diesel, so just told Glenn Jacobs and
02:29 Rick Bogner to do it, you heard that correctly.
02:32 It was doubly bad because it also trolled the audience, because they didn't think
02:35 fake versions of these characters were going to walk out.
02:37 They assumed a deal had been made, and then got slapped round the face when pretenders
02:41 stood in other people's shoes.
02:43 It was essentially two wrestlers being made to cosplay live on television, and it basically
02:47 ruined Bogner's career.
02:49 If you do go back and watch this now, make sure you take notice of the fans' faces.
02:54 They are totally shocked here.
02:56 Not in the appropriate way.
02:58 7.
02:59 Will Ospreay in AEW
03:00 I am not as enraged as this by some people, and actually thought it was fine.
03:04 AEW has debuted so many people, we were always going to get to the point individuals just
03:07 strutted out, especially when we're building to an interpromotional pay-per-view.
03:12 The gloves are just off by that stage.
03:14 Fans were stunned though, that not only did Ospreay just walk out on the 8th of June 2020
03:18 Dynamite, but later on he was in the main event on Rampage.
03:21 And he lost.
03:22 I mean, it was a six-man tag, so he didn't take the pin, but his United Empire fell.
03:27 I do get this too, because if we had done the "lights off, lights on" gimmick, I
03:30 bet the reaction would have been huge.
03:32 But really, the fact that Will gets to be a New Japan employee and turn up in AEW, plus
03:37 here, there and everywhere, well, it makes the whole thing kinda cool.
03:40 We're just living in different times, I guess.
03:42 All because of that damn, damn forbidden door.
03:45 6.
03:46 Miro in AEW
03:47 This really was an odd one.
03:48 As a Rusev diehard fan, I love that he was an early recruit for AEW, because the man
03:52 is a hero and deserves every opportunity.
03:55 Therefore, on the 9th of September 2020 Dynamite, he did arrive as Miro, and he was really into
04:00 video games.
04:01 Now, I am really into video games too, but seeing Miro make gaming references, hang out
04:06 with Kip Sabian and call himself the best man was baffling.
04:09 Remember that skit where Donkey Kong record holder Billy Mitchell was just in an arcade
04:13 with these two?
04:14 I don't think it was ever explained.
04:15 Clearly everyone knew this as Miro was soon transformed into the Redeemer, which was far
04:19 better, and that's the main thing we got there in the end.
04:22 But there was this period when it was just not sticking, and I'm pleased it eventually
04:26 got wedged in there.
04:27 5.
04:28 Rob Van Dam in TNA
04:29 I swear, no one really ever understood the levels Rob Van Dam could have reached.
04:34 Fans just gravitated to him no matter what, which is why on the 8th of March 2010, he
04:38 appeared in TNA on Impact.
04:40 It started excellently, as not only was he a surprise opponent for Sting, but RVD snuck
04:45 up behind him, booted the icon in the face, hit the rolling thunder, and pinned him in
04:49 about 30 seconds.
04:51 Everybody went wild.
04:52 Then within minutes, not only had this been used to further everything between Sting and
04:55 Hulk Hogan, meaning Van Dam felt like he was in 3rd place, Sting absolutely killed him
05:00 with a baseball bat.
05:01 It took away any momentum this would have had, and it was quite clear TNA wanted you
05:05 to be thinking about two people here, and neither of them was Rob Van Dam.
05:09 I don't know about you, but that seems to be the wrong way around.
05:13 You only ever get one debut.
05:14 4.
05:15 The Ultimate Warrior in WCW
05:18 What a spectacle this was.
05:19 Eight months prior, Vince McMahon had made an offer to The Ultimate Warrior to try and
05:22 get him to return to the WWF, simply because he knew WCW was also having conversations.
05:28 As you know, it didn't work out and the once Jim Helwig was headed down south, but
05:32 good grief, this was bad.
05:34 All the way back on the 17th of August 1998, Warrior did arrive to pomp and circumstance
05:39 and fans were pleased to see him.
05:40 Then he started to talk, and then he talked some more, and he kept on talking and talking
05:45 and talking, with none of it making any sense.
05:48 He then disappeared in a cloud of smoke like he was Batman, meaning Hulk Hogan and his
05:51 cronies had to act shocked.
05:53 And when this segment was done, whatever hype there was had gone, and yes, it was that fast.
05:58 Nobody cared.
05:59 I just went to watch all this again and it's actually 13 minutes of uninterrupted chat.
06:04 My word, it's not well thought out at all.
06:07 3.
06:08 The NWO in the WWF
06:10 You can argue this one, but I'm on the fence.
06:12 The WWS version of the NWO had a great first intro and Vince McMahon spun around in his
06:17 chair and I still remember being a child and going nuts.
06:20 I couldn't believe this was going to happen.
06:22 We soon learned this would be at No Way Out 2002 and that Hogan, Hall and Nash were going
06:26 to destroy everything.
06:27 Then they arrived and were very, very nice people.
06:30 The real problem was that no World Wrestling Federation fan wanted to pretend that Hogan
06:34 was anything but the red and yellow 80s hero, so within seconds it was almost like we had
06:38 a disconnect here.
06:39 We also had no mention of what these three did first time around and it was almost like
06:42 we had our hand in different pies.
06:45 It worked out because months later we were going to get that Hulk/Rock match, but this
06:48 was a slight disappointment simply because it was obvious this wasn't going to be the
06:52 New World Order we wanted.
06:54 So that makes you a sad, a sad panda.
06:56 2.
06:57 CM Punk in WWE
06:59 Simply because it wasn't what you wanted.
07:01 Although to be fair, not even this should have happened.
07:04 Nobody saw it coming either as on the 12th of November 2019, during an episode of Fox's
07:08 WWE Backstage, CM Punk returned.
07:11 Kinda, not really, but maybe.
07:14 It melted down the internet because people couldn't believe it, and the reason this upset
07:17 so many individuals is down to what we've already talked about.
07:20 If Punk was ever going to go back to WWE, they wanted a surprise Raw appearance, a mystery
07:25 opponent and a big time angle, and they didn't get it.
07:27 I mean, if you were a Punk fan, you should just count your lucky stars we got this because
07:31 it was so out of left field, especially when you throw in all the things he has said about
07:35 the WWE since.
07:36 The dude was never going to work under that umbrella for a second time, so this is as
07:40 close as you're going to get.
07:42 1.
07:43 Bret Hart in WCW
07:44 Still hurts, doesn't it?
07:45 WCW had the hottest property in the world after the Nightmare that was the Montreal
07:48 Screwjob and they decided to do absolutely nothing with it.
07:53 This was truly bonkers.
07:54 It was alright at first as Eric Bischoff made sure to tell everyone the hitman was coming
07:58 to the company, the Nitro after the Survivor Series, and then we didn't see him until
08:02 the 15th of December.
08:03 Want to know what his role was on that night?
08:05 The special guest referee for Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Sabisco.
08:10 I still cannot believe this was a real thing that somebody signed off.
08:13 For one, Bret was being used as a prop and two, people had been desperate to see this.
08:18 Have him win the flipping title or something, but no, he was a match official now.
08:21 So we should have known how this was going to go from this point on, really.
08:24 I mean, talk about a waste, and no, I'm still not over it.
08:28 Know of any other big time wrestling debuts that were totally wasted?
08:31 Make sure you let us know in the comments below and don't forget to like the video,
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08:35 Then head over to WhatCulture.com where you can read articles like this with your eyes.
08:39 Make sure you follow us on social media @WhatCultureWWE or @Simon316.
08:42 And I do believe we have other videos, why don't you watch one?
08:46 My name is Simon from WhatCulture, thank you very much for joining me as always and if
08:50 I ever did debut, somehow I'd have wings.
08:53 And no, I don't know what that means.
08:56 Goodbye.
08:57 (upbeat music)