When you talk about making an impact in your debut, you have to consider a wrestler who wins a title in that first appearance. Some wrestlers have pulled off this feat, including Christian and Gail Kim, but no one has done it in a debut on the Raw after WrestleMania except Paige. Last year at WrestleMania XXX, AJ Lee retained her Divas Championship against 13 opponents. The next night, she came out on Raw to tout her nearly 300 days as champion. NXT Womens Champion Paige made her way out to a huge ovation from the smart crowd, allegedly to congratulate AJ on her victory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUzV60cUH9I But during the course of their back-and-forth, Paige goaded AJ into putting her Divas Championship on the line in an impromptu match which Paige promptly won. Just like that, Paige went from NXT to the top of the WWE womens division. At 22, Paige is a two-time Divas champ, and she likely will have many more title reigns in her future.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
