10 Best Rookie Years In WWE History
6. Sheamus
Sheamus, like Bobby Lashley, probably found himself thrust into the main event scene before he was completely ready, but that doesn’t diminish his early success.
The Sheamus of 2016 is a tired, directionless wrestler who hasn’t had a compelling character hook or storyline in years, but this wasn’t always the case. Debuting on a June 2009 edition of ECW, Sheamus found an early rivalry with Shelton Benjamin cut short after being moved to Raw that October, but the Irishman’s prominence surged as soon as he hit WWE’s flagship show.
Victory in a number one contendership battle royal set-up a TLC 2006 pay-per-view showdown for John Cena’s WWE Championship that December. After just 166 days on the main roster, Sheamus sent Cena crashing through a table to become one of the most shocking WWE Champions in history.
Though Sheamus eventually lost the belt to Randy Orton, he’d recapture it by defeating the Viper, Cena, and Edge at 2010’s Fatal 4 Way show, becoming one of only a handful of wrestlers to win WWE’s grandest prize twice in their rookie year. A ruthless and brutal villain, Sheamus has never looked stronger than he did throughout his first year of competition.