In all walks of life, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. If you walk up to someone, shake their hand, and introduce yourself politely and professionally, people will likely remember you as that guy who was very friendly upon first impression and potentially want to get to know you better. However, if you walk up to someone, accidentally stand on their brand-new shoes, and tell them that they smell like a nightclub bathroom at the end of a Saturday night, people aren't exactly going to be going out of their way to see you again based on the first impression you made.
It's a similar case in professional wrestling, as new arrivals to companies like WWE are often given weeks of vignettes and teaser clips, or in the modern era, QR codes and online discourse. If someone makes their debut for WWE after weeks of anticipation, that moment will be remembered instantly, and likely make the rounds on social media for years to come in posts titled "Five years ago today, Person X made their iconic WWE debut!" But the same can be said for the opposite: the stars who have been promising the WWE Universe something special upon arriving, only to either flub their lines or end up in a storyline that ultimately kills any initial interest people had in them.
So sit back, relax, and join me on a journey through the WWE history books to discuss five debuts that had the wrestling world buzzing in the weeks leading up to them, and even had people excited when they initially happened, but would eventually fall flat for a variety of reasons, both in and out of their control. These are five WWE debuts that were overhyped, but ultimately flopped.
Starting off with a man who wasn't technically debuting for WWE as he had appeared for the company many years prior, but if we are being honest with ourselves, if someone came up to us and said that the Scott Steiner of 1993 and the Scott Steiner of 2002 were two completely different people, at least some of us would believe them. Besides, 2002 saw the WWE debut of a man better known by many as the "Big Bad Booty Daddy."
Steiner had been one of those fortunate souls to have time left on their Time Warner contract when WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, meaning he was able to sit at home and flex his muscles until the money ran out. His contract would run out just after the Invasion storyline ended, and after a year traveling around the world with the World Wrestling All-Stars, as well as making some appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling alongside his brother Rick, the "Big Bad Booty Daddy" signed with the WWE in late 2002, and arrived in the company at that year's Survivor Series pay-per-view.
His arrival at Madison Square Garden had been hyped for weeks, and after destroying both Matt Hardy and Christopher Nowinski, he had all of New York City shouting his catchphrase "Holla If Ya Hear Me!" But sadly for Steiner, that's as good as it got for him. Steiner's initial popularity meant he was rushed into a feud with the "Reign of Terror" version of Triple H that had killed more people's interest in WWE at the time than the company would like to admit, and the feud was a disaster. It was widely regarded as one of the worst rivalries of the early 2000s, and in August 2004, Steiner had been released.
It's a tale as old as time itself. A wrestler makes it big outside of the WWE bubble, gains the attention of those in Titan Towers, is signed to a massive WWE contract, and then immediately gets put in a position where the company has no earthly idea what to do with them before they fade into obscurity. That is kind of what happened to the original Sin Cara in 2011, who was, of course, portrayed by CMLL megastar Mistico.
If you thought Mistico was a big deal in Arena Mexico in 2025, rewind the clock by 20 years, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone in the world of professional wrestling more beloved by an audience than Mistico. Some people would even go as far as to say that behind the likes of John Cena, there was no bigger draw in all of wrestling than Mistico, so it's easy to see why WWE opened their chequebook for the biggest luchador not named Rey Mysterio at the time.
Renamed Sin Cara, meaning "Faceless," he was unveiled as WWE's newest signing at a press conference in Mexico City in February 2011. When WWE holds a press conference to hype your arrival, you know you're a big deal, and when you're given your very own trampoline as part of your new entrance, you know you're even more of a big deal. However, from the moment Sin Cara botched his first entrance on WWE TV, it was all downhill for the former biggest draw in CMLL's recent history. Storylines involving imposters, WWE not allowing him to wrestle the style of wrestling that made him famous to begin with, and gradually falling down the card, Sin Cara was released in 2014, and has thankfully regained the aura he originally had.
Similar to Sin Cara, but a lot more heartbreaking in the grand scheme of things. At the time of writing, KENTA has just become the GHC Heavyweight Champion in Pro Wrestling NOAH, marking the first time in over a decade that he has held the top title of the promotion that made him famous. His original run with NOAH, which spanned lasted for 14 years starting in 2000, was the reason WWE showed interest in him at the start of 2014, and he was invited to the WWE Performance Center at the beginning of that year. After impressing WWE officials because he's KENTA, one of the most influential wrestlers this side of the millennium, WWE signed him to a multi-year deal.
KENTA arrived in "WWE NXT" as one of the biggest international exports in the company's history, and many fans saw him as the man who could legitimately take the brand to the next level. Under his new name of Hideo Itami, he started off life in Full Sail University, picking up win after win, before partnering up with fellow new arrival Finn Balor because they had both made their name in Japan. Unfortunately, Itami could never quite reach the heights in WWE that KENTA did in NOAH.
This was in no small part due to his biggest rival, the "NXT" parking lot, a place that has caused more injuries than unprotected chair shots to the head at this point. In all seriousness, Itami spent most of his time in "NXT" on the shelf with various injuries, and could never put together a run of form akin to the man many people knew he was capable of in Japan. After being released in 2019, KENTA himself called his time in WWE "The most frustrating days of his life."
When the original brand extension took place in 2002, both "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" were given specific divisions based on what champions were drafted to each show. "Raw" got the WWE Women's Championship, and the small yet very talented women's division that went with it, as well as the WWE Hardcore Championship, and the large, directionless group of lower midcarders that needed something to do on house shows. However, "SmackDown" got their hands on the Cruiserweight division and signed some of the best high-flyers in the world to flesh out the division.
On top of the likes of Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, and The Hurricane, who were already part of the company, WWE went out and secured the signatures of Brian"Spanky" Kendrick, Nunzio, and Japanese legend Ultimo Dragon, one of the men most fondly remembered when WCW's Cruiserweight division is brought up in conversation. Dragon was signed in 2003 and was billed as someone who could be as, if not more, popular than Mysterio. He lived out a lifelong dream of wrestling in Madison Square Garden, and gained a lot of new fans early on with his unique style, but the Ultimo Dragon WWE signed in 2003 wasn't the man who wowed audiences in WCW in the 1990s.
Dragon infamously suffered an elbow injury in 1998 that required surgery, a surgery that was botched, and ultimately forced him into an early retirement. However, the chance to work for WWE was too great to stay retired, and he got himself in ring shape for one more run in the United States, but he never lived up to the overwhelming hype WWE had presented to its fans. After learning that WWE wanted to unmask him, he was released one year after his arrival, but still wrestles to this day.
Diamond Dallas Page was one of those Time Warner contracts Scott Steiner had after WWE bought WCW, and had the chance to stay at home and earn money by simply doing nothing. However, DDP wanted to work, and more specifically, he wanted to be famous. In June 2001, he revealed himself as the man who had been stalking The Undertaker's wife Sara, begging "The Deadman" to make him famous.
Right from the moment DDP unmasked himself, declaring to the world that he was a massive creep despite being legitimately married for 10 years, it was clear that his run in the WWE was never going to go down well. Granted, he was one of the bigger names for The Alliance during the Invasion storyline, but DDP went from being one of the most organically over babyfaces in the history of WCW, to some guy who liked The Undertaker's wife, and at less than two months into his WWE run, the former WCW World Champion who could bring an entire crowd to their feet whenever he hit the Diamond Cutter, got injured and was quickly moved down the card when he eventually returned as a motivational speaker.
DDP would end up retiring due to a serious neck injury in May 2002, less than a year after his WWE debut. He sacrificed a summer of no worries due to his love of the business and a chance to make something great, but a wretched storyline and mounting injuries left him in the worst possible shape imaginable. He is now seen as one of the true nice guys of professional wrestling thanks to how many lives he has gotten back on track through his DDPYoga program, but his WWE debut is one of the biggest flops in company history.
