Ranking 20 WWE Debuts And Returns In 2019

5. Buddy Murphy

CM Punk, WWE Backstage
WWE.com

The Best Kept Secret is no longer a secret, not after his standout moments in 2019.

Buddy Murphy was toiling away in obscurity on the main roster for some time until a chance appearance in the background of the silly Roman Reigns whodunnit video led to him briefly becoming a central figure in the Reigns/Daniel Bryan feud.

Murphy would showcase his talents against Reigns and Bryan, taking Roman to the limit and defeating Bryan. Shortly after, Buddy was drafted to Raw and began amassing wins. He also engaged in a feud with fellow NXT callup Aleister Black, with the two stealing the show at TLC.

While Murphy didn’t have an explosive debut year or win any titles, few rookie wrestlers can say they hung with Reigns and defeated Bryan, plus had a standout PPV match this year. So we’ll give Buddy high marks for his first turn on the main roster.

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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.