3. Kevin Owens
The only reason Kevin Owens ranks this low on the list is because he has barely spent a full month on the roster and technically has had only a handful of WWE matches. That being said, Owens debut last month was one of the most impactful debuts WWE has ever had, NXT or otherwise. Instead of coming in, starting with mid-carders and working his way up to big-name wrestlers, Owens immediately got in John Cenas face and confronted the United States Champion, dropping him twice with a pop-up powerbomb before beating him at the Elimination Chamber PPV in his debut match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBiGXrDCKw4 Its difficult to compare that debut because its basically unprecedented for a wrestler who is largely unknown to the casual fan to beat a top guy like that (maybe Great Khali, but thats apples and oranges). Owens has not only physically dominated Cena, but hes shown that he can handle the microphone as well. Hes off to a fantastic start, and despite losing to Cena at Money in the Bank, Owens could become the biggest star to come out of NXT (and yes, that includes Roman Reigns).
Scott Carlson
Contributor
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.
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