10 Disastrous Wrestling Debuts
2. The Machine
Emory "The Machine" Hale was an indictment of WCW's in-house talent production division - a man coveted for the same size which so severely limited him physically. He could barely do a thing between the ropes.
He debuted on the February 2, 2000 edition of Thunder. Thunder had always been a dismal show. WCW in 2000 was a dismal promotion from top to bottom. And yet, somehow, Machine stood out amidst the wreckage as the very worst of the worst.
Ominous organ music marked his entrance which, in the cloth-eared tradition of WCW, was reminiscent of Goldberg's, with its spray of pyro. As if the man would have benefitted from that comparison. The organs gave way to crunching guitars as he walked to the ramp. The man, whose one attribute was his immense stature, was shrouded entirely in darkness. And people wonder if WCW could have saved itself.
The match itself was one of wrestling's absolute worst ever. Poor Diamond Dallas Page was tasked with carrying him - but the task was impossible. A basic, lumbering big man affair, it degenerated into pure farce when DDP crotched Machine on ropes he was nowhere near. The hapless Machine then wailed hilariously as he threw himself, totally of his own volition, b*llock-first onto the top rope.
Unlike so much of WCW's dispiriting death throes, Machine was so naff that it was practically endearing.