All 21 NXT-To-WWE Call-Ups - Ranked From Worst to Best

So here it is, the best NXT-WWE debut of them all. And you know what? Unless Finn Bálor hops in Simon Gotch’s time machine to go back to 2013 and end The Streak, it's probably staying that way. Kevin Owens initial Raw appearance was basically a commentary on Sami Zayn’s: both men showed up to confront John Cena, but Owens refused to wrestle on the champ’s terms, and when things got physical, it was the new guy who walked out with the established star on his back.

It's the kind of debut Internet fans would dream up, then dismiss for being unrealistic. Kevin Steen, chubby Canadian dad and ROH veteran, shows up on Raw to tell John Cena he's terrible TO HIS FACE, then beat him up and leave him laying. And when they did have their match, Owens pinned him -- clean.

That sequence of events, from the promo to the pin, made Kevin Owens’ WWE career. He knew he was a big deal, and he showed it. He refused Cena’s challenge on the grounds that he was already a champion, and he had the NXT Championship on his shoulder to prove it. For comparison's sake, Cody Rhodes has been on Raw since the Spike TV era, but when it was his turn he still came running to make the US Championship (and Cena) seem hugely important. When Owens sauntered out, it felt like a meeting of opposite but equal forces, not any kind of rookie/veteran confrontation. And that's kind of amazing.