10 Best Raw After Mania Debuts | partsFUNknown
WrestleMania doesn't end with WrestleMania! You also have the Raw After Mania and all of their wonderful debuts. If you favourite isn't mentioned here make sure you let us know which one we missed in the comments!
10 - 1:25
9 - 2:03
8 - 2:54
7 - 3:33
6 - 4:33
5 - 5:32
4 - 6:34
3 - 7:38
2 - 8:29
1 - 9:32
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WrestleMania doesn't end with WrestleMania! You also have the Raw After Mania and all of their wonderful debuts. If you favourite isn't mentioned here make sure you let us know which one we missed in the comments!
10 - 1:25
9 - 2:03
8 - 2:54
7 - 3:33
6 - 4:33
5 - 5:32
4 - 6:34
3 - 7:38
2 - 8:29
1 - 9:32
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
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SportsTranscript
00:00Ah, the roar after Wrestlemania, where a bunch of pissed-up, hardcore wrestling fans assemble
00:05for a bunch of mania fallout angles and new beginnings and either use their once-a-year-I-came-all-this-way
00:10energy to either enhance or ruin the show, often both.
00:14The last two, or if we're being honest, three, iterations of this tradition have been
00:17fairly dumb.
00:18But since Werner's repeated poor performance ever stopped a wrestling fan from forking
00:22over some wing-wangs to Vincent Kaye and hoping to themselves maybe this year, as the post-Mania
00:26roar often represents the start of a new calendar year for the big dub, a big part
00:30of what usually makes the night special is seeing a superstar make their big debut, either
00:34graduating from developmental or parachuting in from outside the company, providing a jolt
00:38of electricity to the roster, a way for WWE to say, yes, we know Wrestlemania's over,
00:42but for the love of God, please don't go anywhere, oh no, where are you going?
00:46I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFunknown, here are our 10 Best Roar After Wrestlemania Debuts.
00:51Also, it should be worth pointing out that they're not returns.
00:56So shut up about the Brock Lesnar 2012 thing.
01:00Just you shut up.
01:01But also please subscribe to PartsFunknown, we're hoping to get 200k subscribers over
01:05Wrestlemania weekend, and at the time of recording this we're at 199, so do us a favour, that
01:11would be nice.
01:12That would just be nice timing, wouldn't it?
01:1510.
01:16Umaga
01:17Hey look, a debut that WWE actually followed up on with months of consistent booking.
01:20It's a good way to start this list, don't get used to it.
01:23Cast your mind back to 2006, one of WWE's oddest years.
01:27Hello Spirit Squad, what a shame you're about to get covered in human shit.
01:31Back then, a post-Mania debut was no guarantee, and the developmental system was all but invisible,
01:35so often when a new star showed up, if WWE wanted the fans to actually react even butter
01:40slightly, they had to do something memorable.
01:42Umaga's debut was one of those.
01:44It ranks quite low on the list because way too much of his debut was taken up by a very
01:48long and very annoying promo battle between Armando Estrada and Ric Flair, but when Umaga
01:52shows up and destroys the Nature Boy, quality drastic goes up.
01:56The Samoan Savage decimated the 16-time world champion, leaving him in a heap in front of
02:00the shock Chicago crowd.
02:01That's good stuff.
02:039.
02:04Ember Moon
02:05Now to be fair, WWE did do two quite silly things with Ember Moon's debut.
02:09First of all, they gave her debut surprise pop, not to her entrance music, but to Nia
02:13Jax announcing her as her partner.
02:15That's just a pet peeve of mine, let the music get the pop.
02:18Also, she debuted in a tag match.
02:20That's a bit odd.
02:21However, neither of these little snafus can distract from the fact that Ember's debut
02:24was hot fire, with smouldering intensity, igniting the crowd, and called by Michael
02:33Cole.
02:34You know, like coal.
02:36Point is, WWE could have debuted Ember wearing a turkey suit and farting in a bag, and it
02:39still wouldn't have distracted the crowd from the fact that The Eclipse is one of the
02:43best finishers in wrestling today.
02:45Moon cracked Alexa Bliss into several different pieces with it, pinning the woman who was
02:48Raw Women's Champion just 24 hours earlier.
02:51A good start, shame about what happened over the next few years.
02:548.
02:55Neville
02:56Could have done without the cape, TBH.
02:57Could have done without him losing his first name, TBF.
03:00But this was still very good, because Neville is very good.
03:02A textbook example of how to do a functional debut.
03:05Have the wrestler appear in front of people who know who they are, have them do a few
03:08cool things, hit their finish, and pin a recognisable name.
03:11All along the line, that's what they did here.
03:13Neville interrupted Curtis Axel's delusional Axelmania shtick, which was actually totally
03:17over in front of the smarky crowd, hit a top rope moonsault, then a few cartwheels
03:21for good measure.
03:22We look at him go.
03:23He hit the incredibly impressive red arrow in for Bob's Your Uncle, or as they say
03:27in Newcastle, Y.I.
03:28Greggs.
03:29A good start, shame about what happened over the next few years.
03:327.
03:33The Revival
03:34This list is actually making me quite sad.
03:36Anyway, back in 2017, The Revival were regarded by those in the know as one of the top 3 greatest
03:42tag teams definitely in the world, and possibly of all time.
03:45Their matches against DIY, American Alpha, The Authors of Pain were highly acclaimed,
03:49and everyone was very excited to see what kind of tag team magic they could work on
03:53the main roster.
03:54Hence a thunderous reaction when, the night after WrestleMania 33, The Revival debuted
03:59in Orlando and had one of their few good days.
04:02They pushed over the New Day's ice cream cart, which is premium top guy behaviour,
04:06and then proceeded to beat Big E and Xavier in a surprisingly competitive match.
04:10Like The Revival sold a lot for New Day, which some might see as counterintuitive for a debut,
04:15but it also set up The Revival's gimmick perfectly.
04:17Because even though New Day might have The Revival outclassed in strength or agility,
04:21they are the best tag team on this planet, because they know every single trick in the
04:26book to sneak out a cunning win and maximise tag team offence.
04:29A good start, shame about what happened over the next few years.
04:326.
04:33Enzo and Cass
04:34Oh look, four in a row.
04:35Let's just get out of the way now.
04:37A good start, etc.
04:38But here's the thing about Enzo and Cass, you don't always need to have a match in
04:42order to make a blockbuster debut.
04:43It's a pretty simple formula, arrive, do what you're best at, and leave.
04:47See wrestling is not necessarily what Enzo and Cass do best.
04:51Enzo is best at spouting New York tinged aggressive jazz poetry and looking like a chicken fell
04:55on hard times, and Cass is best at being tall, and neither man are best at spelling.
05:00So the night after WrestleMania 32, Enzo and Cass showed up to a rapturous ovation in Dallas,
05:05interrupting the Dudley boys, kinda.
05:06Like the Dudley boys were leaving, but then Enzo and Cass showed up, and then they had
05:10to walk past the Dudley boys.
05:12Then they cut a promo from the Dudley boys who were standing on the ramp from inside
05:15the ring.
05:16It's a bit weird, but it's a hell of a promo is the point.
05:19The I'm going to put that lazy eye back to work slam on D-Von is unreal.
05:23They got over all of their catchphrases in front of a crowd who couldn't wait to join
05:27in on those catchphrases.
05:28At the end of the day, the segment just made Enzo and Cass seem cool as hell.
05:31That's a good day at the office.
05:335.
05:34X-Pac
05:35Don't you push your glasses up your nose at me and tell me this is a return, because
05:37Shawn Waltman left the WWE as the 123 Kid and he returned in 1998 as X-Pac, two completely
05:42different characters, and I will not be taking further questions at this time.
05:45WrestleMania 14 saw a colossal changing of the guard in the then WWF.
05:49Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, the two figureheads of the new generation, were both gone, replaced
05:54by Steve Austin as the company's new figurehead and two white hot stars ready to break out
05:59the midcard, The Rock and Triple H. The vehicle that would rocket Triple H to the top, the
06:03new and improved D-Generation X, featuring Triple H, the New Age Outlaws, and a debuting
06:08X-Pac, who, the night after WrestleMania 14, helped establish DX as the same near-the-knuckle
06:13edgy outfit with a Rooty Tooty Shooty promo on WCW and My Dad Eric Bischoff.
06:18Trips lost a friend and gained a friend on the same night, and X-Pac's awesome promo
06:22was foundational to making DX Mark II so impactful and this formulation of the group arguably
06:28the best version of the It Sucks Squad.
06:334.
06:34Mankind
06:35God damn the new generation sucked.
06:36Like I know there were occasional bright spots, Bret vs Owen, whenever the clique wrestled
06:40each other, and that's it.
06:421995 was objectively the worst year in WWE history in terms of pretty much everything,
06:46attendance, buy rates, roster booking, merch, dreadful stuff.
06:501996 wasn't a lot better, but it sowed seeds for the greatness yet to come.
06:54Austin 3-16, Sable turned up, hello Sable, Shawn Michaels as champion instead of his
06:58tall friend, and characters with a hint more psychological complexity, enter Mankind.
07:04Like the Silver Surfer heralding Galactus, you can see Mankind as the harbinger of the
07:08Attitude Era, a deranged character taken seriously and instilling WWE with something it hadn't
07:13seen since Jake the Snake left, actual fear.
07:16Mankind actually kicks off the show after Mania XII, which is a hell of a statement.
07:20It's awesome first entrance music, the chunks of hair missing, jamming fingers down sparky
07:26plug Bob Holly's throat, the Attitude Era literally choking the life out of the vapid,
07:31colourful gimmicks of the past.
07:32It's a standard match in front of a fairly quiet crowd, but it's a vital shift in wrestling
07:36history.
07:37Page
07:38We all miss Page.
07:40How do you make an important debut?
07:42Do you do a cool spot?
07:43Do you attack someone important, or do you do what Page did, arrive and instantly win
07:47the biggest prize in your division to a ginormous pot?
07:51Probably that one.
07:52And look, short, we're talking about the Divas Championship here, a title so poorly
07:54booked at the time that the night before, at Mania XXX, AJ Lee defended it against literally
07:59everyone and won in 7 minutes.
08:00So yeah, after burying the entire division, it probably makes sense to bring in the hottest
08:03female talent in the history of WWE developmental, and use her to instantly upend the entire
08:08roster.
08:09Hailing from, as Michael Cole pronounced it, Norwich, England, thanks Michael, I hate so
08:13much about the things you choose to be.
08:15Page arrived to say, Page here, received a title match, hit the page turner, and won
08:19the belt.
08:20And there was much rejoicing.
08:21It's a bit weird and contrived that AJ insisted on making the impromptu title match, but hell,
08:26the pot makes it worth it.
08:27We all miss Page.
08:29Brock Lesnar
08:30Again, I'm not talking about the 2012 return, seismic though it was, oh my indeed Michael,
08:35the fresh hells you visit upon us.
08:36Let's talk about instead, 2002.
08:39Once again, a year of big changes for WWE.
08:41Brock and Austin were on their way out, so WWE needed to invest in the next big thing.
08:45That would be Brock Lesnar, history's most German non-German, and what would happen if
08:49Augustus Gloop ate six Augustus Gloops.
08:52In a fairly standard Raw hardcore match between Maven and Al Snow, featuring interference
08:56from Spike Dudley, a wild Brock Lesnar would appear and murder everyone with sincere brutality.
09:01Al Snow, f***ed into a trash can.
09:04Maven, eating the first main roster F5, and eating it beautifully, I might add.
09:09And then there's Spike, poor poor Spike, eating three of the most ridiculously loud,
09:13ridiculously painful powerbombs this side of ECW.
09:17And speaking of, Paul Heyman would then show up to raise Brock's hand, giving the crowd
09:21a recognisable villain, and a chant of ECW to hurl on this brand new killer whale in
09:26their midst.
09:27All in all, possibly the best first appearance of an unknown wrestler in WWE history.
09:32And number one, Lilly.
09:33No, not really.
09:34Number one, Goldberg.
09:36Brock was a fantastic unknown, but it also helps when you're known.
09:39When you're really, really known.
09:42Pufferfish Steve Austin, aka William The Goldberg, had been the big dick in WCW since his debut
09:47in 1997, racking up an undefeated streak that lasted just over a year, which is good.
09:51Not as good as Asuka's two and a half year one, but good, well done Bill.
09:54Anyway, the day after WrestleMania 19, the second best WrestleMania of all time, and
09:58the day after The Rock finally beat Steve Austin at the show of shows, Rock came down
10:02to the ring to have an appreciation night to announce he'd done it all in wrestling,
10:05multi-time WWE champion, beaten Stone Cold, been a shit scorpion.
10:09The works.
10:10Naturally, those brags were answered by Mr. Chuck the fucking truck, who drove through
10:13The Rock, who responded with one of the best sells of a spear ever committed to film.
10:18Jesus wept.
10:19A very much less is more kind of debut, and to be fair, the words less is more might as
10:23well be engraved on the Goldberg family crest alongside a picture of Goldberg holding his
10:26son in a weird way.
10:28Goldberg turned up, got a pop, said the thing, speared the biggest star in the business,
10:32and left.
10:33What more could you possibly want?
10:36And that's our list.
10:37What's your favourite debut on the day after WrestleMania?
10:40Let us know in the comments, don't forget to like and share this video around if you
10:43enjoyed it.
10:44Subscribe to PartsFarKnown.
10:46Come on, WrestleMania weekend, get us to 200k if you haven't already.
10:50You guys are all great.
10:51Hope you have a great WrestleMania weekend, and goodbye, bye bye, oh jam that jam.