The 12 WWE Wrestlers Who Debuted In 2017 - Ranked

6. Tye Dillinger

Tye Dillinger
WWE.com

WWE Debut: Royal Rumble PPV, January 29

This is a bit of a fudge, as Tye Dillinger wrestled briefly in the WWE-rebooted ECW in 2008, but as a different character (Gavin Spears).

But Dillinger, the man referred to as The Perfect 10, memorably debuted at the Royal Rumble, entering the event at – where else? – #10. Tye would then join the main roster fulltime on the SmackDown after WrestleMania, where he would enjoy some early success before settling into a background role on the blue brand. Dillinger’s biggest moment (Rumble aside) came in October when he battled AJ Styles and Baron Corbin for the United States Championship.

Dillinger is never going to be a big star in WWE, most likely settling in as a cult favorite who fans cheer and might get a cup of coffee with a secondary title or a tag title reign, but not much else. Still, that’s not a reason to be down on him. Tye didn’t set the world on fire in 2017, but after being released in 2009 and sloughing through three more years in NXT, it was great to see him make it to the main stage.

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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.