10 Wrestlers Who Debuted As "Fans"
1. Santino Marella
On 16 April 2007, Raw emanated from Milan, Italy.
Vince McMahon and Intercontinental Champion Umaga addressed the crowd with Vince offering a member of the audience the chance to challenge The Samoan Bulldozer for his belt.
This led to Vince choosing someone "at random" to step into the ring. That man introduced himself to audiences around the world as Santino Marella.
A nervous-looking Marella then got even more nervous when Vince announced the match would be No Holds Barred. What followed was an absolute mugging with Umaga ragdolling Santino around the ring.
However, because this is wrestling, Bobby Lashley ran down to save the day.
Lashley had been feuding with Umaga and Vince and saw his chance to get one over on the villainous pair. Lashley took Umaga down with a brutal spear and pulled Marella's prone body on top for the referee to count to three and crown the newcomer the brand new Intercontinental Champion.
This segment is fantastic from top to bottom; Santino's performance as the plucky fan, Lashley's run-in, the shock of a "fan" winning one of the company's top titles. It all came together beautifully and it remains the most famous "fan" debut in WWE history.