16 Best WWE Debuts And Returns Of 2018

4. AOP

Another post-WrestleMania callup, the Authors of Pain made an immediate impact upon their debut.

The imposing duo disappeared from Raw for a little while after a strong start, but they got a reboot of sort, redubbed simply AOP with Drake Maverick as their manager (more on that in a second). They began tearing through opponents, defeating jobbers before winning the Raw Tag Team Championships in a 2-on-1 handicap match against Seth Rollins.

They seemed destined to run over the entire division before Maverick and ridiculously sophomoric booking intervened. They lost the titles without Akam or Rezar being pinned, ending the year empty handed.

Ditching Maverick and going back to being dominant bruisers would help them immensely, but even with that blemish, it’s hard to knock their debut year. AOP won tag gold and ran roughshod over the Raw tag division for much of the year. That’s a pretty solid start.