Ranking 20 WWE Debuts And Returns In 2019
Newcomers to main roster delivers hits and misses throughout year.
Ever since NXT evolved into a feeder system for WWE’s main roster, it’s become a routine practice to judge how those various callups fare after their “promotion” to Raw or SmackDown.
In some cases, wrestlers have gone on to become even bigger stars. However, we often see superstars who were booked nearly perfectly in NXT get horribly mishandled, marginalized and sometimes ruined as performers. There’s no such thing as a sure thing, but we’ve certainly seen WWE brass take what looked like a layup and turned it into a horrid airball.
In 2019, we saw a huge wave of talent make its way to the main roster, as WWE attempted to stem flagging ratings and a stale product. The infusion of talent helped in many ways, but we also saw numerous popular NXT acts get misused and falter.
We also saw a handful of former popular superstars return to the fold, if only for one night, either in an attempt to revitalize their careers or for one last angle before hanging up the boots for good.
This list will attempt run through the most notable debuts and returns to WWE in 2019. For purposes of this list, NXT wrestlers who moved to 205 Live will not count, nor will NXT superstars who merely showed up on Raw or SmackDown as part of the Survivor Series buildup or had one-off matches without it being clear that they were joining the roster fulltime.
Let’s get to it…
20. EC3
Remember way back to the end of 2018 when WWE was
acknowledging its poor ratings and was going to shake things up by bringing up
a crop of NXT wrestlers right away?
One of the centerpieces of that group was EC3. Roll that around in your head for a minute.
EC3 had one of the most dismal debuts of any wrestler in recent memory. In TNA/Impact Wrestling, Ethan Carter III was a shining star, and even in NXT, he seemed to be a bankable star for the company.
And then WWE called him up, and did they let him cut a blistering promo? No. Rather than let him use one of his better talents, EC3 essentially was a mute, preferring to stand there silently checking himself out in a mirror or “humorously” getting cut off before he could talk.
EC3 has wrestled just four matches on Raw this year, one of which was the initial 24/7 Championship title match, and one on SmackDown. That’s it.
If you’re looking for the definition of “total bust,” this is it.