10 Wrestlers Who Debuted As "Fans"
8. Mel
Melanie Cruise made her professional wrestling debut for POWW Entertainment in 2008.
She went on to cut her teeth in SHIMMER, where she mixed it up with the likes of Allie, Madison Rayne, and Billie Kay.
She even turned up in the short-lived Global Force Wrestling, challenging the NWA Women's World Champion, Santana Garrett, in an unsuccessful effort.
However, it was the 4 December 2019 episode of AEW Dynamite where Mel got her first taste of national exposure.
Although, in hindsight, she might wish she hadn't.
Mel made her AEW debut when she pledged allegiance to the ill-fated Nightmare Collective. Planted in the crowd, Mel begged Brandi Rhodes to let her join the group for... some reason... and even had her head shaved as part of her initiation.
Sadly, AEW's audience couldn't remove the memory of this storyline from their brains as easily as Brandi removed Mel's hair.
The Nightmare Collective was widely panned by wrestling fans; they thought it was too close to the already-established Dark Order stable and there was confusion surrounding Brandi's role in AEW, as she was a heel with the Collective but a babyface when managing her husband.
Thankfully Mel managed to shake this group off, but it was touch and go for a while.