7 Hugely Expected WWE Debuts That Unfortunately Failed To Deliver
7: Tazz
One of the most iconic stars of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling, Tazz was
a force to be reckoned with thanks to his badass attitude and array of submissions.
But in early 2000, the Human Suplex Machine left the company for the WWF, and with
Paul Heyman's blessing, made a truly epic debut at that January's Royal Rumble.
Accepting the open challenge of the undefeated Kurt Angle, Tazz's debut inside
Madison Square Garden is still seen as the stuff of legend, and though Angle tried to
get the loss overturned, thanks to Tazz using his illegal Tazzmission chokehold, the
Olympian's undefeated streak was no more.
Sadly, this would be the highlight of Tazz's career in the WWF, as within weeks, he was
plummeting down the card, and after losing to Triple H on the April 20th edition of
SmackDown, Tazz would be relegated to the mid-card.
Competing for the Intercontinental Championship, Tazz would fare no better here
either, as he never came close to capturing the gold, which was being held by fellow
ECW alumni like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero at the time.
Taking time off to heal an arm injury, Tazz returned to have a terrible feud with Jerry
The King Lawler, and by the end of the year, had already started to transition into a
commentary role.
Just one year after his debut, Tazz would be eliminated from the 2001 Royal Rumble
without getting any offense in, and after this, it wasn't long until the so-called extreme
wrestler hung up his singlet for good, moving to behind the commentary desk
full-time.
6: Mike Awesome
Despite being one of the most athletic big men of his time, the 6-foot-5 near-300lbs
Mike Awesome never gets the respect he deserves.
In ECW, the colossal Awesome was booked like an absolute killer by Paul Heyman, so
when the Awesome One joined WCW in 2000, expectations were high.
When he signed with the company, Awesome was still the ECW World Champion at
the time, and not only did Awesome walk in as the champion, but he did so at the
expense of WCW veteran Kevin Nash, attacking Big Daddy Cool on his first night.
From there, Awesome received a major push in the first few weeks, feuding with the
likes of Nash, DDP and Chris Kanyon, including the memorable spot with Awesome
through Kanyon from the triple cage at Slamboree.
Despite all evidence pointing to a World title push for Awesome, WCW decided to
throw all that potential away with one gimmick, when they turned the 35-year-old as
the Fat Chick Thrilla.
A self-professed quote "chubby chaser", Awesome would spend the next few months
lusting over large women, much to the disgust of the commentators who treated this
as unacceptable.
After months of the terrible gimmick, Awesome was repackaged, now this time as
"That 70s Guy", celebrating the decade that brought us the Watergate scandal, Apple
Computers and the first of many Star Wars movies.
Dressed in clothes straight out of the decade and hosting a talk show called the Lava
Lamp Lounge, Awesome's career would be damaged beyond repair, and though he
would return to his serious roots as part of Lance Storm's Team Canada, the damage
to the career of Awesome had already been done.
5: Lord Tensai
During his initial run in the WWE from 1999-2004, Matt Bloom was little more than a
sideshow act, first as Prince Albert and later as A-Train.
Though the mid-carder enjoyed some success, even capturing the Intercontinental
Championship, it wasn't until Bloom went to Japan in 2005 that he became an actual star.
Taking the name Giant Bernard, Bloom would become of the biggest gaijin wrestlers in
Tag Team history, often working alongside Karl Anderson or Tyson Tomko.
Leaving Japan as a two time IWGP Tag Team Champion, and one time THC Tag Team
Champion, Bloom's departure from WWE had done his career a world of good, yet he
decided to return in 2012.
As segments on RAW foretold the debut of the ominous Tensai, and though both fans
and the commentators hyped up the debut of the new character, all that hype
instantly went out of the window when he unmasked.
As Bloom revealed his very recognisable face to the world, fans quickly taunted the
former Superstar by mockingly chanting Albert, as the character's mystique was gone.
After a brief undefeated streak, including defeating John Cena of all people, Tensai's
winning would come to an end thanks to Big Match John, and this would start a rapid
decline for the character.
Ending up a comedy act before the year had even ended, Tensai would be repackaged
as the fun dancing Sweet T, and would align with Brodus Clay.
Retiring in 2014, Bloom now works as the WWE Performance Centre's head trainer,
after the release of Bill DeMott, where he is hopefully teaching the young rookies to
avoid the same mistakes that happened to Tensai.
4: Paige
At a time when WWE Divas were tanned bombshells, many of whom were hired solely
for their looks, Paige obviously stuck out from the crowd.
As part of the formative years of NXT, Paige would have great success in the
developmental brand, even becoming the very first NXT Women's Champion in 2013.
By the next year, the self-professed Anti-Diva had done it all in the Gold brand, and so
the decision was made to call Paige up on the night after WrestleMania 30.
Not only did the British Superstar make her debut on arguably the biggest RAW of the
year, but she also ended the 295- day reign of then-Divas Champion AJ Lee, becoming
the only woman ever to hold the Divas title and NXT Women's title simultaneously.
Becoming the youngest Divas Champion at the age of 21, the young rookie went from
being relatively obscure to the majority of fans to becoming the biggest star of the
day, though things quickly went south from here.
Like so many new champions, Paige fell victim to the WWE curse that says all new
champions must lose non-title matches, and even her first Divas Championship match
ended in a no-contest, when her opponent Brie Bella was attacked by Kane.
Retaining her title against Naomi, there was very little character development for
Paige, and any semblance of a push came to an end when she lost the Divas title back
to AJ in the spunky Superstar's first match back.
by the end of the year, Paige's push had all but fizzled out, and after a series of injuries
and suspensions, the Brit's career came to an untimely end in 2018, never returning to
the heights it once had been.
3: Sami Zayn
To be fair, Sami Zayn's disastrous debut on the WWE main roster in 2015, can't be
blamed on the company, or Zayn himself, but instead a terrible spot of bad luck.
Joining the WWE as part of NXT in 2013, Zayn had joined the company with a
whirlwind of support from fans who remembered his as El Generico, the lovable
masked Superstar who had been retired under the pretense that Generico had left
wrestling to help build orphanages overseas.
Under his new name, Zayn's incredible talent and genuine personality made him one
of WWE's most natural babyfaces, and this culminated with briefly holding the NXT
Championship for a handful of months.
After dominating in NXT, Zayn would get the main roster most Superstars could only
dream of, as he was introduced in his home state of Quebec, Canada, by none other
than Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.
Answering John Cena's United States title open challenge, Zayn was obviously into
things, but got too into things during his entrance, as he blew his shoulder out when
raising his arms for the crowd.
Still choosing to compete against Cena, Zayn would only remain in the ring for a few
more weeks, before having his last match against Kevin Owens for the Prizefighter's
NXT title, and after this, Zayn would require surgery that kept him on the shelf for
several months.
By the time he returned to the main roster in March 2016, Zayn's potential had been
overlooked in favour of others, and all these years later, we still can't help but wonder
what could have been, had things gone to plan in 2015.
2: The New World Order
When the NWO made their shocking debut at the 1996 Bash at the Beach Pay Per
View, no one in WCW realised just how much the wrestling world was about to change.
Helping to usher in the era of the cool heel, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall all
had success in the Georgia-based promotion, but when WCW went out of business, all
three weren't a part of the Invasion angle.
As the Invasion culminated with Ric Flair co-owning the WWF with Vince McMahon,
the Chairman wasn't happy about that, and in one of the greatest promos ever,
promised to kill his own creation, by bringing in the New World Order.
Making their debut at the 2002 No Way Out Pay Per View, the group were hit with a
huge nostalgic pop, and that was part of the problem, as fans struggled to boo the
three so-called heels.
Though Nash and Hall would receive mixed reactions by the crowd, everyone was
happy to see the Hulkster, and after his incredible performance against The Rock at
WrestleMania 18, Hogan's face turn was all but assured.
Despite kicking Hogan to the curb, Hall and Nash still struggled to hang with the new
roster of the company, and despite bringing in Booker T, X-Pac the Big Show and
Shawn Michaels into the group, fans had already given up on the NWO.
When Nash went down with an injury, and Hall requested his release following the
Plane Ride from Hell, the story of the NWO was offically over by July 2002, as one of
the most iconic and influential groups of all time fizzled out with very little fanfare.
1: The Nexus
Whilst NXT may now be considered the best part of WWE Programming, the show was
much different when it debuted as a reality show in 2010.
After months of embarrassing tasks, it was hardly unsurprising that the rookies of the
show were happy at how they'd been treated, and took their frustration out on
everyone in their shocking RAW debut in June.
Dubbed The Nexus, the group decimated John Cena, CM Punk, the commentators and
even ring announcer Justin Roberts before demolishing the entire ring.
Wbat followed in the coming months was more domination by the group, and their
might even led to foes Cena and Sheamus to briefly align just to survive.
By the time Summerslam rolled around, The Nexus were prepared to battle the 16
time World Champion and his teammates, and by all logic, it seemed like this was
going to be the biggest win of the groups tenure, as well as launch leader Wade
Barrett into the World Championship picture.
This hope came cradhing down though, when, according to reports, Cena himself
refused to lose, and had the match changed to see him emerge victorious.
In interviews since, Cena has admitted he was wrong to have the finish changed but
the wind had already been let out of the group's proverbial sail.
Though Barrett would find a way into world title picture, he never captured the title
and by the end of the year, was ejected from the group in favour of their new leader CM Punk.
Even with the Best of the World in charge, the team were never seen the same and
after a series of additions and departures, the group was quietly disbanded for good in
the summer of 2011, as Punk would return to being a singles star, to pursue his
phenomenal face run as the Summer of Punk.