Ranking All 24 WWE Debuts & Returns In 2023

12. Carlito

CM Punk Trish Stratus
WWE.com

At this stage, ranking returns and debuts gets a bit bunched, with several wrestlers being considered modest successes to slightly varying degrees.

When Carlito made a surprise run-in during Backlash this spring, it was a legitimate freakout, feel-good moment for longtime fans. He ostensibly joined the LWO in helping Bad Bunny overcome Damian Priest and the rest of the Judgment Day in a San Juan street fight, then disappeared for several months.

Carlito returned in October at Fastlane to once again assist the LWO, but shortly after, tensions formed with Santos Escobar, leading to a fracturing of the group. With Rey Mysterio on the shelf with an injury, it will be interesting to see what kind of role Carlito will play.

The real test here will be whether fans will accept him as a regular character again, or whether it will be proven that he should be relegated to a guest spot, showing up periodically to get a pop, and then disappearing for a while. For now though, Carlito deserves a ranking smack in the middle.

Contributor
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.