10 Wrestlers Who Debuted At The Top
8. Rob Van Dam
While RVD was given a brief run with the WWF back in 1997 as part of the original ECW invasion, 'Mr Monday Night' was still a contracted ECW performer at the time. The real Invasion angle of 2001 saw Van Dam given his big break in the WWF. His introduction couldn't have been better.
Despite countless champions wrestling on the card, Rob was scheduled in the only championship bout of the entire Invasion PPV. Better still, he was challenging Jeff Hardy for the WWF Hardcore Championship, playing right into his speciality with the rules allowing for the extreme spots he was famed for.
With just over 12 minutes of action, RVD and Hardy were given the longest allotted time outside of the headliner, allowing them plenty of room to put on a show. And that they did, with RVD performing all of his trademark moves in an exhibition of his skills.
The rematch a month later at SummerSlam - that time with a ladder match stipulation - was equally as impressive, if not more so, and his victory over Chris Jericho at Unforgiven proved he could hang with the best. By the time No Mercy rolled around in October, RVD was in the main event and challenging for the WWF Title - all just three months in to his WWF career.