There are few things that match the excitement of the potential for a new main event level talent making an impact on our televisions. Whether that new talent is being brought in from another company, returning from injury, or someone who seemed to be on the verge of breaking through it's a thrilling journey to the top we get to ride along with, well most of the time at least.
There are countless examples of these potential new stars coming in with loads of momentum and confidence from the higher ups in the WWE before both of those fade away, some times in a heartbeat.
11 2008 - Chris Harris/Braden Walker
As part of TNA, and known as Chris Harris, Walker was part of one of the most successful tag teams in the world, Americas Most Wanted. After breaking out on his own Walker became a hot commodity when he seemed to prove that he had what it takes to make it as a single star. Unfortunately when he showed up to WWE in 2008 Braden was horribly out of shape and brought none of the charisma that he showed in TNA. Walker had time for a match or two and a knock knock joke before being released shortly after debuting.
10 2009 - Mr. Kennedy
For a while it looked as if Mr. Kennedy was the golden boy of the WWE with a future filled with championships and main events to look forward to. After feuding with the likes of The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and winning a Money In The Bank briefcase fans were getting settled into that reality, until it all came crashing down. After losing the briefcase and healing up from injuries Kennedy returned as a babyface in 2008 to try and re-ignite what fire he had going for him but was met with apathy and nothing feuds that led nowhere before injuring himself yet again, returning with a push featuring promo videos and a lot of WWE created hype. Kennedy returned May 11th, and was released May 25th.
9 2010 - The Nexus
After the ECW re-brand died on SyFy, the WWE were eager to come up with programming that could replace it, thus the original NXT was born. At the beginning it wasn't much more than a popularity contest with silly games involved but the first batch of contestants weren't content with being relegated to side roles.
The newly formed Nexus had one of the most devastating debuts of all time in June of 2010, attacking anyone and everything at the ring side area literally turning the WWE upside down. Unfortunately the hype and momentum was short lived as the group was taken down by John Cena time and time again before being disbanded in December.
8 2011 - Sin Cara
Forever in search of their next big Latin star, it looked like the WWE had finally struck gold when they signed the performer formerly known as Mistico. Now going under the name Sin Cara, Spanish for faceless, his debut was pushed for weeks with videos and even an introductory press conference held in Mexico. Once moving up to the main roster in April however it was quickly apparent that the WWE style wasn't a fit for the former lucha sensation as his matches were filled with botch after botch and incurring multiple injuries in the ring.
7 2012 - Chris Jericho
There's no one in the business that can build up an introduction quite like Chris Jericho. Every time he was set to step foot in the WWE there was a great build around it, usually involving countdowns and mystic clues to keep the fans guessing on who it would be.
Typically Jericho lived up to these grand introductions but that wasn't the case in 2012. Claiming his return was going to be "the end of the world as you know it", Jericho went on to lose the Royal Rumble, then Elimination Chamber, then to CM Punk at WrestleMania, then to CM Punk again at Extreme Rules. Jericho stuck around until the Raw after Summerslam where he would again lose, this time to Dolph Ziggler, "terminating" his contract.
6 2013 - Curtis Axel
For a time Curtis Axel had everything going for him that a superstar could hope for, coming from the legendary Hennig family and being a new Paul Heyman guy the sky really was the limit for the former NXT star. Not long after his debut and the push that came with it Axel won the same Intercontinental Title that his father, Mr. Perfect, had made such a big deal when Curtis was a child. Unfortunately Axel didn't have anywhere near his father's in ring ability or natural charisma making all the advantages he had going for him lead to nothing.
5 2014 - Cesaro
The trend of Paul Heyman guys continue as the seemingly infallible manager once again took a star with loads of potential who ended up worse off after their time spent with the former head of ECW. Early in the year Cesaro found himself scoring victories over the likes of World Champion Randy Orton, and eliminating John Cena from an Elimination Chamber match before hitting his crescendo by winning the first ever Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30. The crowd was firmly behind the Swiss Superman after the victory, and his announcement as a new Paul Heyman guy, hoping it was finally his time to break through the glass ceiling but Cesaro was never able to get over the top.
4 2015 - Damien Mizdow
For a long stretch of Damien Sandow's career he was the definition of the term "always a bridesmaid". Whether he was teaming with Cody Rhodes and coming up short of winning tag titles or winning Money In The Bank and failing on his cash in it looked as if whatever chance Sandow had was gone. But all that changed when he struck gold on a throw away gimmick, when he became a stunt double for The Miz. It didn't take long for fans to appreciate the fun side of Sandow, now known as Mizdow, and get behind him more and more waiting for his big turn on his boss. While Mizdow did finally make the move at WrestleMania he quickly lost to The Miz before going to another comedy act.
3 2016 - Rusev
After showing unlimited potential early in his run as the undefeated US Champion, things cooled off considerable for Rusev in the early part of 2015. Towards the end of the year however it looked like there was a chance for the Bulgarian Brute to find his earlier form when he aligned himself with Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Wade Barrett as The League of Nations with their main target being WWE Champion Roman Reigns going into 2016.
After being a punching bag for Reigns early in the year, Rusev regained the US Championship...only to be a punching bag to Reigns again from Summerslam to Hell in a Cell.
2 2017 - Enzo & Cass
In 2016 the team of Enzo and Cass had one of the loudest reactions upon debuting that the WWE had ever seen when they interrupted The Dudleyz on the night after WrestleMania. They kept themselves on TV, mainly treading water, for the rest of the year but the potential for a break through was always there. Early in 2017 when Enzo and Cass won a match to challenge for the Raw Tag Titles it seemed as if it was finally time to for the duo to win gold. Loss after loss after loss soon followed the team however before Cass finally had enough and snapped on Enzo putting an end to the team. Their following feud was completely forgettable, as was Cass' solo career, while Enzo took a long time to find his footing on 205 Live.
1 2018 - Hideo Itami
It feels like a long time ago that the WWE Universe were at a fever pitch for the man formerly known as KENTA to join NXT. While Itami's time there was underwhelming that can easily be attributed to bad injury luck, it's much harder to make that excuse for his 2018. After being announced as joining the roster of 205 Live late in 2017 many had their hopes up that he could be a savior of sorts for the brand, bringing an energy and an aura that the brand was seriously lacking. Instead of that though, Itami would stack up loss after loss as he continued to fade further and further into the background.