Ranking Every AEW Surprise Debut From Worst To Best

3. KENTA

Jon Moxley
AEW

The most recent 'surprise' to be featured on this list, the shocking arrival of KENTA in AEW was the stuff of dreams for certain wrestling fans.

When a masked figure entered the ring to attack Jon Moxley at the conclusion of last month's Beach Break special, AEW fans lost their minds when this figure unmasked to reveal KENTA; a KENTA who promptly dropped Mox with his patented Go 2 Sleep.

In terms of a hot ending, this was AEW putting on an example of how to perfectly take your weekly episodic TV show off the air - with so many questions that needed answering, and an instant need for next Wednesday's Dynamite to get here quicksmart.

Was this KENTA acting on his own to take out the IWGP United States Champion? Was KENTA working with Kenny Omega? Had, as Excalibur pondered, the break in the Bullet Club been fixed?

That buzz as a wrestling show goes off the air, that's what wrestling fans live for. And with KENTA's shocking, explosive AEW arrival, those fans were given wrestling gold.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.