Ranking Every AEW Surprise Debut From Worst To Best

1. Jon Moxley

Jon Moxley
AEW

It takes something truly special to edge out Sting's appearance at Winter is Coming, and that something special here is the AEW arrival of Jon Moxley.

Having given his WWE notice the day after the 2019 Royal Rumble, the former Dean Ambrose's time with Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut was to come to a close once WrestleMania 35 was in the rear-view mirror - and less than two months after that edition of the Showcase of the Immortals, Mox made his shocking AEW bow.

Of course, that first AEW appearance came in the aftermath of the inaugural Double or Nothing's main event. With a victorious Chris Jericho taunting the crowd after toppling Kenny Omega to retain the AEW World Championship, the Death Rider made his way through the crowd to drop Le Champion where he stood.

Debuting babyface laying out the cocksure heel champ? That's pretty standard. What took Moxley's arrival to an entirely different level is in how he and Omega bounced off each other.

Ever the opportunist, Mox looked to hit his Paradigm Shift on the Best Bout Machine - only for Kenny to counter this move, leading to both men brawling throughout the arena, before Moxley memorably nailed the Paradigm Shift on the giant chips set, then threw Omega to his doom.

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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.