10 WWE Debuts That Were DOOMED From The Start

Karrion Kross had a helter-skelter ride as an employee of WWE. Leaving with more buzz than he had at any point in his career, his initial run in NXT saw him hold the brand's world championship and have one of the most iconic entrances in the history of NXT. He may not have had the inevitability of a Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens, but any NXT World Champion arriving on the main roster is a big deal under any circumstances.

Coming during an era where WWE was in the creative doldrums, Vince McMahon's decision-making ranged from baffling to downright insulting. Among the most egregious of these plays, Karrion Kross debuted on the July 19th, 2021 edition of Monday Night Raw while still holding the NXT Championship to face Jeff Hardy. Things felt off from the beginning, as Kross was stripped of his dramatic chromatic entrance and was not flanked by his usual accomplice, Scarlett.

Hardy is an all-time legend in WWE, but had suffered losses to John Morrison, Veer, Mustafa Ali, and Jinder Mahal in the six weeks prior to his match against Kross. Jeff would defeat Kross with a roll-up in less than two minutes in a win that baffled the watching audience, in a move that took Kross literally years to recover from. He finally did and was then let go by WWE in August of this year.