10 WWE Legends Who Had AWFUL Pay-Per-View Debuts

Things can only get better.

Steve Austin The Ringmaster
WWE.com

When one thinks of the iconic career Steve Austin lived, thoughts immediately turn to beer-soaked bashes, Stunners, middle fingers and Vince McMahon p*ssing his pants. Nobody (of sound body and mind anyway) thinks, 'Gee, that Ringmaster gimmick was fabulous'. Unfortunately for Austin, that's how he got his start in WWE.

As if being treated as a flat in-ring technician who paled in comparison to hokey, cartoonish gimmicks like wrestling plumbers and garbage men wasn't bad enough, one of the most famous faces in pro wrestling history had a rough pay-per-view debut on top of that. Surprised? Don't be, because apparently legends having an awful first supercard experience is some weird tradition us lowly fans don't know about.

Until now.

Austin isn't the only one. After all, he didn't have to play second fiddle to a man dressed as a block of cheese, never had to pretend he was a schmuck who was just lucky to be there and didn't face the indignity of being ignored by a merciless crowd when he was supposed to be booed out of the building...

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.