10 WWE Greats Who Made TERRIBLE First Impressions

1. Shawn Michaels

Wrestling is subjective, but any 'Best Ever' shortlists that don't have the name Shawn Michaels on them need a second draft. HBK is rightly regarded as one of the greats, and he's still chipping in all these years later via NXT and WWE's Performance Center. Part of that gig will be telling rookies what not to do.

Maybe don't get into bar fights and get sacked within two weeks.

That's what happened to Michaels and partner Marty Jannetty back in 1987. The pair were fresh faces looking to make their mark when they jumped ship from the AWA, but both ended up in Vince McMahon's bad books for causing trouble on the road; it's worth noting that Shawn claimed the aforementioned bar incident was a "misunderstanding" in his book.

Mix-up or not, it cost The Rockers their first run with the federation. They were sent packing back to the AWA before making another, more successful, splash during a second attempt with the WWF in 1988. The rest is history.

What other WWE greats made terrible first impressions? For more wrestling, check out 10 Storyline Moments WWE Can’t Afford To Book and 10 Surprising Wrestlers Who've Done Deathmatches!