Surprise debuts have become as much a part of All Elite Wrestling since its inception as great matches and great promos.
With so many people coming aboard in AEW, there are now enough debuts to fill out a whole list of notable arrivals and even leave a few off.
The only requirement to make this list is that the debut could not have been announced ahead of time. It could have been teased, but just not announced officially.
With that in mind, this is our list of the 12 best AEW debuts so far ranked from worst to best.
Honorable Mention – Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy’s AEW run in 2020 was ruined by the pandemic and injuries. Had his arrival and subsequent run been in front of fans, it would likely have placed much higher on this list.
That being said, this is a list about the debuts themselves, not what the stars have done since.
With WWE having done very little with the Broken Matt Hardy character, excitement was high when the Young Bucks showed up on Hardy’s YouTube series.
Immediately afterward, he appeared on the first AEW Dynamite of the pandemic.
Hardy was announced as the final participant in the Blood and Guts match between The Elite and The Inner Circle, debuting at the end of the show accompanied by his trusty drone Vanguard 1.
Fans were excited and the debut allowed us to be happy about wrestling in the face of uncertainty.
12. KENTA
It is very difficult to rank the debuts that took place during the pandemic. That being said, even without a full building, KENTA showing up on Dynamite set the wrestling world on fire.
Fans had been craving a working relationship between AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling since AEW’s launch in 2019. After two years of waiting, KENTA kicked in the Forbidden Door, hitting Jon Moxley with a Go To Sleep.
The atmosphere online after this debut was electric. While most knew it would be a long time before we would get to see a full crossover between the two companies, the door just being opened was good enough.
11. FTR
For years fans were told that one day The Revival and the Young Bucks would wrestle. When AEW launched it seemed it was only a matter of time before that became a reality.
Sure enough, on the first Dynamite after Double or Nothing 2020, the newly christened FTR drove their pickup truck into Daily’s Place and the wrestling world rejoiced.
They began their AEW runs as babyfaces, saving the Young Bucks from an attack but just seeing the two teams share the ring together was a sight to behold. Within months we had gotten our dream match but it all started with this excellent debut.
10. Brodie Lee
The same night that Matt Hardy graced AEW with his presence, Brodie Lee was revealed as The Exalted One. This was tremendous, as Brodie and the Dark Order laid out SoCal Uncensored.
It is disheartening to think that this episode of Dynamite was supposed to be in Rochester, Brodie’s hometown. Had that been the case, this would have been in the very top tier of AEW debuts.
Unfortunately, that reception was taken from us by the pandemic. Thankfully, what we got was still a very satisfying conclusion to months of teasing who The Exalted One could be.
9. Sting
AEW’s Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite may be best remembered for Kenny Omega winning the AEW World Championship, but a very close second is the debut of Sting.
As a new titantron video played, fans and wrestlers watched on in anticipation of what was to come. Little did they all know that it would be the return of Sting to TNT.
Sting walked through the tunnel covered in December snow as everyone looked on in awe. Cody Rhodes and Arn Anderson were shocked to see The Icon but it was Darby Allin who had Sting’s attention.
This debut was simple and effective, providing one of the best wrestling moments in a year spent at Daily’s Place.
8. Ruby Soho
The debuts came fast and furious as All Out 2021. Trust me, you will hear about more of them.
During the Casino Battle Royale, the Joker was revealed to be Ruby Soho, making her first appearance since being released by WWE. The crowd was ready for it, chanting her name as the countdown clock expired.
Fans were ready for Soho to be given a chance to show how talented she is. This was that chance and she took full advantage of it. Soho gave a great performance, last eliminating Thunder Rosa to win the match.
This was very special as the All Out crowd was among the hottest crowd’s the company has ever drawn. Additionally, Soho was emotional, saying after the show that no one had ever chanted her name.
Just an awesome, awesome moment.
7. Minoru Suzuki
Earlier in the night at All Out, we got a proper surprise. Many fans knew that Soho, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson would show up. However, no one knew that Japanese legend Minoru Suzuki would be making an appearance.
Following Jon Moxley’s match with Satoshi Kojima, “The King” appeared on the screen. The crowd came alive as the realization set in that Suzuki was there and built anticipation until the moment they got to shout “Kaze Ni Nare”.
As someone who was sitting among the best insiders in wrestling, I can personally say no one saw this coming. This is the biggest appearance from a New Japan Pro Wrestling star in AEW to date.
Suzuki brawled with his old rival Jon Moxley and nailed the Gotch-style piledriver. It is the sheer unexpectedness of this debut that places it so high on this list.
6. Malakai Black
The idea that WWE forgot that Malakai Black wasn’t on a 90-day non-compete clause is still incredible. Their lack of foresight led to Black arriving in AEW shortly after his WWE release to a massive ovation.
As Arn Anderson appeared to cut a promo, the lights went out. When they came back on, Malakai Black stood in the ring receiving an incredible reaction.
Black hit the Black Mass on Anderson and then Cody Rhodes, capping off an excellent debut.
Keep in mind, this was the first episode of Dynamite since leaving Daily’s Place so the fans were even more rapid than usual.
This was a perfect way to kick off Dynamite being back on the road and remains one of the best debuts in the company to date.
5. Santana & Ortiz
It has been over two years, but Santana and Ortiz’s debut at All Out 2019 remains an AEW highlight.
Following the stellar ladder match between the Young Bucks and the Lucha Bros, two masked men attacked both teams before revealing themselves to be Santana and Ortiz.
AEW’s roster was far less stacked at the time and the addition of these two to the tag division was huge. Santana and Ortiz had brilliant matches with both teams before this and it only stood to make fans even more excited for the future of AEW.
All Out 2019 was a great pay-per-view and this was the surprise debut of the night. Needless to say, it did not disappoint.
4. Bryan Danielson
It had become a formality that Bryan Danielson would be signing with All Elite Wrestling before All Out. The only question was where and when would he make his debut?
Reports circulated about Danielson possibly showing up at All Out and the Arthur Ashe stadium show but as Adam Cole rejoined The Elite, it seemed that All Out had its surprise and would go off the air. Or so we thought.
Just as Kenny Omega began to do his patented signoff, who should emerge but Bryan Danielson.
Danielson helped Christian Cage and Jurassic Express take out The Elite and send the crowd home very happy. It just barely doesn’t crack the top three but the ending of All Out was AEW letting their fans have cake from breakfast, lunch and dinner. A truly special night.
3. Adam Cole
Just prior to Bryan Danielson making his debut, Kenny Omega took to the mic to say the only people who could beat him were not there, retired, or already dead.
For the uninitiated, in Being The Elite canon, Adam Cole was dead, poisoned by The Elite when he signed with WWE. Needless to say, when Adam Cole walked out onto the stage to interrupt, Omega looked like he’d seen a ghost.
Cole had been NXT’s biggest star for four years and walked straight out of Takeover onto AEW’s biggest stage. With a raucous “Adam Cole Bay Bay”, he was All Elite.
Cole superkicked Jungle Boy to the shock of the fans and rejoined his friends in The Elite in one of the most monumental debuts in AEW history.
2. Jon Moxley
With so many incredible debuts coming in the last two years of AEW, it may be easy to forget how huge the arrival of Jon Moxley was at Double or Nothing 2019.
All Elite Wrestling’s first show went off the air with one of WWE’s most beloved stars showing up and attacking Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega.
Double or Nothing really had to be a success for AEW to hit the ground running. Thankfully, the show was a home run and they capped it off with their biggest moment of the year.
Moxley walking through the crowd as the fans all realized what was happening was very cool and closing the show by tossing Omega off the stage cemented his arrival and the event as a whole as wrestling’s greatest coming out party.
1. CM Punk
The AEW debut of CM Punk will be talked about for many years to come. At times it felt like seeing CM Punk in a wrestling ring again was nothing more than a fantasy. AEW changed that.
The First Dance was sold out on the speculation that CM Punk would be there. Only the speculation and several well-placed teases and AEW had themselves the biggest crowd they had ever drawn.
Rampage began with Cult of Personality and as CM Punk walked onto the stage emotions poured out of him and the fans. After some crowd surfing and hugs at ringside, Punk gave a perfect promo.
He talked about why he left wrestling, why he had returned, and who he would be facing in his return match. All the while maintaining the emotion and excitement that came with a moment of this magnitude.
This is not only the greatest debut in AEW history, but it has a real claim of being the best debut in all of pro wrestling.
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