15 Wrestlers WWE Debuted In The WORST Way Possible

Debut: Mike Shaw had an all-time run of questionable gimmicks between WCW and the WWF, but his work in the latter outfit was undoubtedly his career nadir. Firstly, Vince McMahon brought him in as Friar Ferguson and debuted the religious gimmick on the 12 April 1993 Raw. There, he beat enhancement worker Chris Duffy in what was supposed to be a short and sweet intro.

Why It Was Bad: The Friar Ferguson gimmick was far too cartoony, and it didn't exactly fit the new, apparently-edgier feel of Monday Night Raw anyway. Irking the Catholic Church, who pushed back against the character, wasn't exactly something wrestling fans had been calling for the company to do. Realising they were fighting a losing battle, the WWF braintrust came up with something else.

Note the word "firstly" above. Next, McMahon turned Shaw into slovenly glutton Bastion Booger, which was hardly an improvement on the Friar. That religious nonsense was his debut character though, so it gets most of the focus here. Ferguson was purported to be a "mad monk" who had serious in-ring skills. If so, then fans tuning in almost exactly one week after WrestleMania IX didn't see them.

Friar's match vs. Duffy was as janky as they come. It didn't even work out as a basic squash bout, and it was obvious that the WWF would have to move on to something else pronto. To fed fans, Ferguson was just some old dude with clearly bad knees. Every shred of the brawling style Shaw had worked previously vanished in the blink of an eye. 

Terrible idea from the off, but debuting Friar in a near-five minute "squash" was puzzling.