10 Best Rookie Years in WWE History

Being a rookie in the WWE locker room was traditionally pretty damn tough.

You usually started at the bottom and had to work your way up, putting in your time while proving that you ‘deserved’ whatever opportunities you were given.

And that’s not even mentioning the bad pay and backstage hazing and politics and everything else…

Yes, it can be tough being a rookie, but some are either destined for big things from the very start or impress the right people with their skill and professionalism so quickly that they can have themselves a rookie year where they bypass the dues paying and go straight to big-money glory.

There’s something special about watching a greenhorn say ‘sod the mid-card’ and power their way to the main events, especially if their progression matches the push.

It doesn’t always come off as planned, but when it does it usually sets a superstar up for a long and fruitful career.

10. Bobby Lashley

WWE

With his distinguished amateur wrestling background, freaky physique and impressive athleticism, it was obvious from the off that WWE weren’t going to waste time when it came to Bobby Lashley.

After smashing through the Simon Deans and Orlando Jordans of the world, Lashers found himself at the top of the card as a member of the SmackDown Survivor Series team, earning his place in the main event of that show around two months after his televised debut.

From there, Lashley was booked to look dominant in whatever he did and had notable feuds with veterans like JBL and Finlay, going months before tasting a pin-fall loss in singles competition.

His feud with King of the Ring winner Booker T, who beat Lashley in the finals, raised his stock, as did his US Title win in May of 06.

Elevated liver enzyme problems took him out of action for a bit but when he returned it was evident that WWE planned on pushing him to the very top, placing him into the World Heavyweight Title scene with Booker, Finlay and Batista.

Lashley ended his rookie year as one of the top babyfaces on the blue brand, but would actually achieve more success when he was shipped over to ECW.

The All Mighty deserves a lot of credit for the improvements he made during his rookie year, as he went from green muscle-man to a much more accomplished worker.

And it only took WWE fifteen years to pull the trigger on him properly…

9. Sheamus

WWE

The Celtic Warrior’s rookie year is especially impressive when you consider that, at the time, it was a lot harder for foreign talent just to get signed, let alone used and pushed, by WWE.

And Sheamus certainly was ‘foreign’, wasn’t he? The big, ginger, translucent Irishman that he is.

His unique look certainly set him apart, but it was his close relationship with gym buddy Triple H that really landed him in the good graces of higher-ups.

Not that Sheamus didn’t work hard or anything, because he absolutely did, quickly graduating from low-level matches and feuds on ECW and getting drafted to Raw and put into a programme with WWE Champion John Cena.

Incredibly, Sheamus beat Cena in a Table’s Match at TLC, winning the spinning gold under 200 days after his first televised match.

From there, The Great White held it for a couple of months before dropping it and moving into a feud with The Game, which saw him lose at WrestleMania but win at Extreme Rules.

Mere days before his one-year main roster anniversary, Sheamus won a fatal four way at, erm, Fatal 4 Way, to win the WWE Title for the second time, which established him as a member of the main eventer clubs for the foreseeable future.

8. The Shield

WWE

Sometimes, it can take wrestlers coming from WWE’s developmental system a long time to make it, if indeed they make it at all.

Stop-start pushes, 50/50 booking and a general apathy or indifference are all things that can stunt the careers of a hot prospect.

Luckily for the members of The Shield, they encountered no such setbacks after they debuted at the 2012 Survivor Series.

It helped that they were aligned with CM Punk, top star and then-WWE Champion, but Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns all did the work and were good value for their winning streak, which lasted through June 2013.

Not that it was a bad time for the Hounds of Justice or anything, as each member won their first WWE title in May, Ambrose bagging the US Title while Reigns and Rollins captured the tag straps.

They continued defending their titles and put on some incredible matches over the summer and autumn and were associated with WWE COO Triple H, a sure sign that the company had big plans for them.

The Shield were stars and were clearly being positioned as the future of the company, potential world champions one and all, and they continued to go from strength to strength as they entered their second year.

7. The Undertaker

WWE

In the hands of someone other than Mark Callaway, odds are that The Undertaker gimmick probably would have been done within a year.

Debuting as a surprise at the 1990 Survivor Series, The Undertaker instantly began terrifying the audience.

He was protected from then on, usually demolishing his opponents in quick squash matches before stuffing them into a body bag.

‘Taker’s WrestleMania winning streak began during his rookie year, with a win over Jimmy Snuka and he was always featured in a top spot thereafter, regularly headlining house shows (which is where the money was made back then).

He would usually only lose if it was a stipulation like a Casket Match or by DQ or countout and gained such momentum that he was programmed with WWE Champion Hulk Hogan at the 1991 Survivor Series, which is where he won his first WWE Title, almost murdering the Hulkster with a Tombstone Piledriver.

Thankfully, with the power of prayers and vitamins, Hogan came back a couple of weeks later and took his belt back, but ‘Taker was already a made man at that point, as he could lay claim to being the youngest WWE Champion in WWE history.

But hold on a second, how can you age if you’re already dead?

6. Yokozuna

WWE

Like the Undertaker, Yokozuna had the benefit of being a monster WWE creation that ticked a lot of boxes for the time.

He was experienced, he had a great gimmick and he had the size required to be pushed as a force.

Which he was, right from the get-go, as he Bonzai-dropped his way through the opposition from his October 1st, 1992 debut to the Royal Rumble, which he won by last eliminating Randy Savage.

This was the first Rumble that guaranteed a WWE Title opportunity at WrestleMania, the sumo leaving The Showcase of the Immortals as champion after defeating Bret Hart…

…no, wait, it was the Hogan thing, wasn’t it?

Anyway, Yoko wasn’t without the title for long, as he won it back at the King of the Ring pay-per-view.

His first real test was the suddenly patriotic Lex Luger, who famously slammed the big man on the USS Intrepid on July 4th.

Yokozuna lost their big match at SummerSlam, but retained the title since it was only by count-out.

Somebody please tell Luger before he – oh, too late, he’s already celebrating with confetti.

Yoko passed his one-year-in-WWE mark as champ, the then-youngest WWE Champion ever having established himself as the man to beat.

5. Charlotte Flair

WWE

Charlotte Flair has dominated the women’s division since she debuted on WWE TV in 2015, the tone being set right from the beginning.

And the good news is that absolutely nobody has had a problem with The Queen’s perennial main event status!

She won her first title, the old Divas Championship, when she beat Nikki Bella at Night of Champions, just a couple of months after her main roster bow.

She retained it against Nikki and in a series of matches with Paige, before turning heel and getting past Brie Bella and Becky Lynch.

That took us to WrestleMania 32, where Charlotte, Lynch and Sasha Banks competed for the new Women’s Title, replacing that terrible purple butterfly thing.

Guess who won?

Yes, it was Charlotte, who had a new title but continued running through the division in the same fashion, defending it against Natalya and Paige once again, before being drafted to Raw and finally relinquishing the belt to Sasha Banks, just over one year after Stephanie McMahon introduced her to the WWE Universe proper.

Charlotte’s first year is not just noteworthy for how long she held onto her titles and her undefeated pay-per-view run, but also her growth as a performer, as she developed into one of the most assured talents on the roster, male or female.

4. Alberto Del Rio

WWE

It doesn’t feel good putting Alberto Del Rio on a list of ‘best’ anything (unless it’s ‘Best Worst Person’ or something), but it’s hard to ignore how impressive his first year in the company was.

A seasoned veteran with extensive experience in Mexico and Japan and with a real pedigree due to his family, Del Rio showed up in June of 2010 via a series of vignettes displaying his aristocracy and then made his in-ring debut almost two months later, beating Rey Mysterio.

He quickly worked his way up the ranks and was the booker’s choice to win the 2011 Royal Rumble (the biggest ever, with 40 participants), giving him a crack at Edge and the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania.

He was unsuccessful in his pursuit and also failed to upend Christian for the vacant title following Edge’s retirement, but that didn’t slow him down too much.

ADR won Raw’s Money in the Bank ladder match in July and cashed in a month later, beating CM Punk at SummerSlam after the Second City Saint had beaten John Cena but was attacked by Kevin Nash.

That title triumph came just five days before the one-year mark of him beating Mysterio in his first WWE match.

3. Ronda Rousey

WWE

I suppose it’s a bit silly to talk about Ronda Rousey having a ‘rookie year’ in WWE because, at this point, she has only had one year in WWE (at least if we’re counting the time between her first and last matches).

She debuted at the 2018 Royal Rumble and did some lovely sign pointing, making her intentions of having a WrestleMania match clear.

On the road to the 'Showcase of the Immortals' she got into it with the Authority, which included a couple of killer angles, and then teamed with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania in her first actual match.

For a debut performance, it was practically perfect, as Rousey (who won the match) came out of the show looking better than anyone.

She failed to win the Women’s Title from Nia Jax at Money in the Bank, as she won their match by disqualification, but wiped the floor with Alexa Bliss to become champ at SummerSlam a month later.

After that, there was simply no stopping Rowdy Ronda.

Nikki Bella, Mickie James, Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Bayley all couldn’t get the job done, and it took Becky Lynch to hand Rousey her first loss in the main event of WrestleMania 34, ending her title reign at 231 days.

2. Brock Lesnar

WWE

WWE offered Brock Lesnar what was at the time the biggest developmental deal in company history in order to lure the NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight Champion away from other potential suitors in 1999, and it was plain to see that with that sort of investment behind him, Brock wasn’t going to be toiling in the opening match once he made it to TV.

Debuting on the post-WrestleMania Raw in March 2002, Lesnar tore his way through everyone in his path and won the King of the Ring tournament in June.

That led to SummerSlam and a title match main event with The Rock, where the 'Next Big Thing' sent Dwayne off to planet Hollywood as he became the youngest WWE Champion in history.

Following that, Lesnar became SmackDown exclusive and saw off The Undertaker, including beating him in a brutal Hell in a Cell match, before dropping the strap to Big Show, who then lost it to Kurt Angle in order to set up a WrestleMania match between the amateur standouts.

Lesnar won the 2003 Royal Rumble to book his place against the Olympic Hero and capped off an amazing year by downing Angle in a classic at ‘Mania.

Brock was always good, but he went from Goldbergian powerhouse with untold upside to genuine box-office draw and ring general in scary time.

1. Kurt Angle

WWE

Lesnar’s ascension was awe-inspiring, no doubt, but Kurt Angle did it first and, on the whole, did it better.

The Olympic gold-medallist wasn’t guaranteed anything but an opportunity, as he received no monster developmental deal and came into the fold at a time when WWE were riding a real wave and had an embarrassment of star power.

Kurt’s proper in-ring debut came at the 1999 Survivor Series, an easy victory over Shawn Stasiak that established him as a squeaky-clean (and thus very annoying to the Attitude Era audience) heel.

He was soon in possession of both the European and Intercontinental championship belts and won the 2000 King of the Ring, before becoming involved in a major storyline with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and finding himself in the WWE Title mix.

Kurt capped off his astonishing year by beating The Rock for the title at No Mercy.

Taking to wrestling quicker than just about anyone ever, Angle demonstrated an aptitude for not just the in-ring aspect, but everything else, too.

He could be serious or funny, performed admirably in skits and angles and developed his own unique promo style as well.

By the time he took the belt from The Brahma Bull, he was a total all-rounder and truly deserved to be positioned as WWE’s main titleholder.

Oh it’s true…well, you know the rest.