Debuts than Downfalls

[cabbageboy 0]

Oddly enough I actually kinda liked Glacier. If he had just been a guy that debuted rather than having all the vignettes he would probably be considered underrated instead of a mega flop.

 

As far as Ultimo Dragon goes, I knew he would suck in WWE. I thought he sucked in WCW and was at some points ludicrously overpushed (he had EIGHT belts at once??). I think he earned my wrath with that idiotic corner spot where he would stand on his head and his opponent would always charge in like a fool. I really, really hate and detest that spot....and I also thought the Dragon Sleeper was a crap finisher. Smell the armpit and give up!

[Maztinho 0]

Well in theory the Dragon Sleeper is pulling their head backwards, so if you where seated and someone was trying to bend your neck the wrong way you'd tap. It could also be argued as a semi-choke.

 

And when he had the 8 belts that was being pushed in Japan, because he's awesome.

[Brett Favre 0]

I was pretty hyped for Nathan Jones. Best pre-debut promos ever.

[King Kamala 0]

As a (perhaps the only?) fan of the short lived WWA, I was really looking forward to Nathan Jones debut. That guy looked like a star and pre-debut vignettes were gold. Unfortunately, he couldn't wrestle or cut a promo worth a lick. Also didn't help that his heart didn't really seem in it.

[Jericholic82 0]

As a (perhaps the only?) fan of the short lived WWA, I was really looking forward to Nathan Jones debut. That guy looked like a star and pre-debut vignettes were gold. Unfortunately, he couldn't wrestle or cut a promo worth a lick. Also didn't help that his heart didn't really seem in it.

well since I went to the only US WWA PPV, I was a fan too I guess and I must agree. My addition to this list would be The Patriot in WWF.

[2GOLD 0]

Glacier - Classic flop.

 

LIES!

THE BLOOD STILL RUNS COLD!

 

The return of Glacier was ten times more awesome than the debut. Him supposed to protect Norman Smiley but instead taking all match doing his entrance. It was good times.

 

And didn't The Patriot get a huge world title push only for Wilkes to completely ruin it with his mouth and injury?

[Black Lushus 0]

Ahmed didn't even really need a mic, to be honest...that was a mistake on the WWE's part. He was close to Goldberg levels of overness at one point. Injuries and sloppiness derailed his career.

[King Cucaracha 0]

It has to begin and end with Tazz. Huge reaction when he finally debuted after the '13' vignettes, ended Angle's undefeated streak in his debut, had the one match as ECW Champ with HHH on Smackdown... and that's about it before somebody got cold feet on his size. They stuck him in the hardcore division and he somehow managed to be a totally forgettable part of it, amongst luminaries like Viscera and The Headbangers. They feuded him with Lawler and JR for a while, which at least kept him out there on TV. Somewhere he ended up turning face and looked really bad at WrestleMania X7, ended up tagging with Spike Dudley... and then became a commentator.

 

Talk about downfalls. He went from big debut to retirement into commentator in under 3 years.

[Epic Reine 0]

Ahmed Johnson - Would have been a legit main eventer in late 90's WWF given his charisma but the guy literally got injured every other week and that spelled the end for him.

 

Berlyn - Great gimmick and fantastic debut promo but they had his debut PPV match against Jim Duggan of all people and then bury him a month after by having him job to freakin' Brad Armstrong clean.

 

Waylon Mercy - One of my all time favorite characters where he would act like a face outside the ring but immediatley heel it up when he stepped into the squared circle. Dan Spivey was a pretty good worker too but at this point, injuries and age were catching up with him.

 

Sean O' Haire - Had fantastic vignettes and had the makings of being one of Smackdown's biggest upper mid-carders in 2003. Unfortunatley, he sucked at live promos and he dissapeared for a few weeks before he randomly got paired up with Piper. Piper then got released and O' Haire was shipped off to Velocity before he got injured and faded away.

 

Tazz - Had a great debut where he handed Kurt Angle his first loss. After that, he wallowed in the garbage hardcore division while jobbing to the Hollys. He was supposed to beat Chris Benoit for the IC title in 2000 but he got injured which is why they did that angle where Benoit kicked a car door onto his arm "injuring" him. Who does Tazz face in his first match back? AL SNOW!

 

Ultimo Dragon - His debut on Smackdown was hyped for months and they were planting the seeds for a cruiserweight title match with Mysterio at Summerslam '03 but after his debut he was mostly stuck on Velocity, never understood why the company never got behind him since he was still a great cruiserweight and was very marketable, especially towards the kids.

 

Scott Steiner - Came in still hot off his tremendous heel run from WCW and got good reactions from his first few promos but when he actually wrestled, you knew what was coming for him. The guy was terrible and in no shape to be wrestling at that time, a year later and he's forgotten.

 

Booker T - Came in hot attacking Austin at KOTR '01 but became every top WWF star's bitch every month after that, seriously, the tag team with Goldust was entertaining but after what he achieved in WCW a year earlier, it made him seem weak. I suppose he doesn't fit here since he never really had a downfall and was always an upper mid-carder/occassional main eventer but he has a really shitty first few months with the company.

 

WWF's nWo - The angle that got the whole wrestling world talking but jobbing them out and making them look like pussies was the exact opposite of what made them so powerful in the first place.

 

There's gotta be more.

[Boxer 0]

Ahmed Johnson - Would have been a legit main eventer in late 90's WWF given his charisma but the guy literally got injured every other week and that spelled the end for him.

 

Berlyn - Great gimmick and fantastic debut promo but they had his debut PPV match against Jim Duggan of all people and then bury him a month after by having him job to freakin' Brad Armstrong clean.

 

Waylon Mercy - One of my all time favorite characters where he would act like a face outside the ring but immediatley heel it up when he stepped into the squared circle. Dan Spivey was a pretty good worker too but at this point, injuries and age were catching up with him.

 

Sean O' Haire - Had fantastic vignettes and had the makings of being one of Smackdown's biggest upper mid-carders in 2003. Unfortunatley, he sucked at live promos and he dissapeared for a few weeks before he randomly got paired up with Piper. Piper then got released and O' Haire was shipped off to Velocity before he got injured and faded away.

 

Tazz - Had a great debut where he handed Kurt Angle his first loss. After that, he wallowed in the garbage hardcore division while jobbing to the Hollys. He was supposed to beat Chris Benoit for the IC title in 2000 but he got injured which is why they did that angle where Benoit kicked a car door onto his arm "injuring" him. Who does Tazz face in his first match back? AL SNOW!

 

Ultimo Dragon - His debut on Smackdown was hyped for months and they were planting the seeds for a cruiserweight title match with Mysterio at Summerslam '03 but after his debut he was mostly stuck on Velocity, never understood why the company never got behind him since he was still a great cruiserweight and was very marketable, especially towards the kids.

 

Scott Steiner - Came in still hot off his tremendous heel run from WCW and got good reactions from his first few promos but when he actually wrestled, you knew what was coming for him. The guy was terrible and in no shape to be wrestling at that time, a year later and he's forgotten.

 

Booker T - Came in hot attacking Austin at KOTR '01 but became every top WWF star's bitch every month after that, seriously, the tag team with Goldust was entertaining but after what he achieved in WCW a year earlier, it made him seem weak. I suppose he doesn't fit here since he never really had a downfall and was always an upper mid-carder/occassional main eventer but he has a really shitty first few months with the company.

 

WWF's nWo - The angle that got the whole wrestling world talking but jobbing them out and making them look like pussies was the exact opposite of what made them so powerful in the first place.

 

There's gotta be more.

 

I keep on hearing over and over that there was a supposed Benoit vs. Tazz feud? Was that really on the horizon? I mean were they really THAT HIGH on Tazz that they would let him defeat Benoit for the IC title.

 

[cabbageboy 0]

Here's the reality about Taz: He actually stayed in ECW way too long. As in too long after his job out of the World title there. Once he dropped the title to Awesome in that 3 way, he should have flat out walked. In my opinion a guy owes a promotion a title match loss to get a belt off him so he can leave, but he doesn't owe them being buried and jobbed totally out. Especially with Taz, who had the gimmick of being this unbeatable badass guy. That match with RVD at N2R 99 was a big time burial, as RVD treated him like a jobber and the match said "See, if these guys had fought Van Dam would just kick his ass."

 

In other words, Taz had lost that aura of invincibility. And once you take that away from him, what did he really have left? He's too short to be credible against the top WWF stars of the day and they also took away his array of suplexes to boot.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I loved his super BMF character he had in June/July of 2000 where he'd just randomly attack people to be a dick. At Fully Loaded, he squashed Al Snow then attacked Rikishi in his cage match later on.