411’s WWE Greatest Moments Report: Debuts of the 2000s

-Written: 6.22.26
-Source: A&E
-Run Time: 30 minutes (w/ commercials)

-Plug: Elimination Chamber Moments

-Michael Cole is our host and narrator!

10. Ruthless Arrival
-SmackDown: June 27, 2022

-Cena says they were in Chicago and he was told by Michael Cole that he would be wrestling Kurt Angle. RUTHLESS AGGRESSION! Cena says he was given an opportunity. Angle says he tried to make it as difficult as he could, but Cena rose to the occasion. Cena: “I had a great performance with Kurt, because it’s Kurt and he can make anyone look great.” True! I think this Cena kid did okay.

09. WWE Gets Punk’D
-ECW: June 24, 2006

-I was actually on vacation at Oglebay Resort and made it a point to watch this show just to see CM Punk’s main roster debut. I actually saw him at a WWE ECW house show a few weeks earlier. Heyman says the crowd let the world know we were seeing a brand new star. Punk says he wanted to show everyone he was the real deal. He gets the win over Justin Credible by tap-out. Punk: “I was off to the races.”

08. Miracle in Milan
-RAW: April 16, 2007

-SANTINO! He says he heard about the character that day and was going to be playing an Italian Guy. He admits he started wrestling late, so needed to make an impression. Bobby Lashley says he remembers running to the ring and the crowd in Italy going crazy. He spears Umaga and that lets Santino pull off the miracle win for The IC Title.

-Commercials!

07. Booker Enters The Chat
-King of The Ring 2001

-Booker T comes through the crowd and makes his WWE debut by attacking Steve Austin and injures him. Not really, but sucks for Booker that Austin got hurt taking that table bump. Booker looked so excited to be out there in a WWF arena. Booker says it was a moment he felt would catapult him to the next level.

06. To The Extreme
-Royal Rumble 2000

-Good on them for including this debut because it was awesome and the crowd was fantastic. Kurt Angle has a match with a mystery opponent at MSG and it’s TAZZ! The crowd pops and Tazz gives Angle his first loss. Tazz says there was nothing like that pop. Bubba (Moxley’s favorite wrestler) says it was one of the biggest debut nights in any wrestlers in career. Tazz calls it the greatest moment of his career. Yes, this is all old footage of Tazz. I am sure someone will tag him on Twitter about it and we will see if he responds. I think Tazz could have been a bigger deal, but what sucks for him is Jericho debuted a few months earlier. Angle a few months earlier, and then Benoit, Eddie, Saturn, and Malenko showed up unexpectedly a month later. That’s a heck of an influx of midcard talent.

-Commercials!

05. Jumping Out the Sky
-SmackDown: July 25, 2002

-Rey Mysterio has his mask back and makes his WWF debut against Chavo. WWE has made and continues to make millions of the sell of Rey’s mask. Baffling that WCW took him out of the mask. He gets the win, but that’s only part of the story. He shows up in the Main Event and dives off the top of a cage onto Cage and Christian.

04. RAW’s Newest Diva
-RAW: Oct. 10, 2005

-It’s the debut of Mickie James as she rushes the ring and keeps Victoria from attacking Trish Stratus. Mickie says she fortunate and taken seriously because she was put in a top program with Trish. She notes she could not have asked for a better debut. One of the best stories the WWE with their women’s roster in the early days of rebuilding the division.

03. The Bischoff Bombshell
-RAW: July 15, 2002

-This is one I never thought we would see, but as we know, if Vince can make money, he will give anyone a chance. I still think they took a little bit of the surprise factor away by having Bischoff show up to shake Booker’s hand backstage, but that’s a minor quibble. Vince names Eric the new GM of RAW and we get the amazing visual of Vince and Eric hugging each other. Eric crushed in the role and is still one of the best GM’s in the history of WWE.

-Commercials!

02. A Spearing Statement
-RAW March 31, 2003

-Another one they tipped off by running a Goldberg teaser at Mania the previous night. Goldberg makes his long awaited WWE debut and tells The Rock that he’s next. Goldberg calls having Rock as his first opponent an honor and privilege. Rock’s selling of the spear is fantastic!

01. The Next Big Thing
-March 18, 2002

-Others were more shocking and got a bigger pop, but this moment unleashed Brock Lesnar on the world. He interrupts a Hardcore Match and just lays waste to everyone in the ring. The crowd wasn’t sure how to react but just the sight of Brock showed he was a different kind of human being. Much like that Cena kid earlier, I think this Brock kid did okay.

-This was fun as I am a sucker for going back and finding debuts on YouTube. I was happy to see Taz(z) included and you knew Cena and Brock were going to be on this list. Orton only getting an honorable mention in the tease was surprising. Others they could have mentioned: Heyman and Eddie (but hard to do that without featuring Benoit) come to mind. Like Orton, they showed DDP and Scott Steiner’s debuts in a teaser package. Fun stuff and I am off to YouTube to watch these in full. Thanks for reading!