Ranking Every AEW Surprise Debut From Worst To Best

12. Miro

Jon Moxley
AEW

For years, fans had been clamouring for Rusev to be given an opportunity to stake his claim as a true main event player.

Great in-ring, brilliant at being loveable or detestable, forever able to connect with an audience, a bullish, brutish look and with a unique charisma to him, the Bulgarian Brute had so many things going for him. And if WWE weren't going to give Ru-Ru the ball to run with, the arrival of AEW on the pro wrestling map had fans hopeful that the three-time WWE United States Champion would become All Elite and have his talent utilised.

While Miro turning up on the 9 September 2020 edition of AEW Dynamite was a huge surprise, the even bigger surprise was the role in which he was immediately positioned.

Inserted into an AEW World Championship feud with Jon Moxley? A powerhouse villain opposite a natural babyface like 'Hangman' Page? The unrelenting, unstoppable Nikita Koloff to oppose Cody Rhodes' Magnum T.A.? The solid, talented base for a Rey Fenix to work around? Nah mate, you're going to be a beefed-up Angry Video Game Nerd who's Kip Sabian's best man.

It's still relatively early days for Miro's AEW career, of course, yet his debut and the six months that's followed so far have been brutal. The talent to be a true top tier talent is there, but being positioned as a raging gamer tied to a low level heel is a horrific misuse of Miro.

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.