10 Best WWE Rookie Years

3. Sheamus

It took Sheamus just a couple of months to graduate from ECW, where he originally debuted in the summer of 2009, to WWE's flagship Monday Night Raw. And from there, he had to wait only until December's TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs show to claim his first WWE Championship; a feat he completed by beating de facto locker-room leader John Cena unaided.

If that title reign can reasonably be considered something of a damp squib, then Sheamus needn't have worried, because the 'Celtic Warrior' got his hands on the belt for a second time by June of the following year. For someone who got into the industry relatively late - Sheamus had many past lives before settling on professional wrestling - it capped off a mightily impressive opening twelve months.