10 Wrestlers Who Never Recovered From Awful Debuts

Now, before you sharpen your pitchforks and hurl a stream of vicious abuse at your writer, everyone knows Sami Zayn is a supremely gifted pro-wrestler. In fact, throughout his time in NXT, it was looking like the former El Generico was being positioned as WWE's next top plucky underdog face.

Yet, there's a strong case to be made that the Sami Zayn character has never really recovered from his bittersweet Monday Night Raw debut in 2015.

Though Zayn wrestled out of his skin against United States Champion John Cena and was met with a deafening pop upon arrival, the occasion was marred by an awful injury suffered during his debut entrance. This meant that Zayn wouldn't be able to immediately follow up this electric first Raw appearance (as old pal/rival Kevin Owens was able to do a few weeks later) due to him being forced to sit out for seven months.

Zayn did eventually receive a hero's welcome when he finally returned to the main roster at the 2016 Royal Rumble, but he's never truly felt like the same big deal he did on that first night in Montreal in the subsequent four years he's spent as an active part of either Raw or SmackDown.

Which is just a damn shame.