10 Wrestlers Who Never Recovered From Awful Debuts

Yes, Shockmaster will be mentioned...

Mojo Rawley Rusev
WWE

Whether you're going on a date with someone for the very first time or being interviewed for the job of your dreams, you want to make sure the person you're trying to impress doesn't think you're an utter goof within minutes of saying hello.

The same applies to the wide range of anxious potential superstars making their debuts for a wrestling promotion.

Sadly, not every performer is lucky enough to hit the ground running and powerbomb the mighty John Cena to the sound of thousands of adoring fans on their first night. In reality, for every Kevin Owens, there's also another hopeful talent who falls flat on their face on night one and struggles to get things going again from there on out.

Wrestling debuts can ultimately fail for a number of reasons.

An injury killing off any momentum a star had after their initial arrival, a wrestler being forced to go against their instincts and produce an awkward first appearance in the ring, or an audience simply not taking to the character they're witnessing for the very first time have all left various debuting wrestlers facing an uphill battle to get fans back onside.

Some eventually succeed and become household names, whereas others...

10. Sin Cara

Mojo Rawley Rusev
WWE.com

When it was announced that Mexican superstar Mistico (Luis Urive) had officially signed for WWE, fans were understandably a little excited about his impending arrival.

The renamed Sin Cara was the most impressive masked sensation the company had brought in since Rey Mysterio joined the promotion back in 2002, so expectations were clearly high as his highly anticipated debut crept closer.

Sadly, Sin Cara (literally) didn't stick the landing when he popped up on Monday Night Raw for the very first time.

Getting caught up in the ropes during his distinct, trampoline-assisted entrance, Sin Cara set the tone for the rest of his botch-filled WWE run before he'd even got his hands (or legs) on then-United States Champion Sheamus.

This lacklustre entrance immediately took some of the shine off the fresh new face and the luchador's underwhelming debut only got worse during his first match a week later.

After again almost c*cking up his jump into the ring, Sin Cara fumbled a Spanish fly attempt on opponent Primo Colon and tumbled to the outside of the ring. He then quickly darted back into the squared circle and successfully performed the finishing move, but the damage had already been done.

Sin Cara wasn't able to stomp out the constant slips and slides from there on out and his inevitable WWE departure was then quickly forgotten about as Jorge Arias took up the masked mantle for the rest of the character's run in the company.

Contributor
Contributor

Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...