Main Eventers You Saw Coming
 

There's going to be a couple that are going to seem hindsight 20/20, but I'm going to be honest on all of them. One can even be verified on this board.

Steve Austin: First time seeing the guy was shortly before his LONG LONG TV Title Reign. Heard of his feud with Chris Adams over Jeanine (aka Wife #2). He impressed me with an opening exchange that told me "This guy is really good." I just had no idea how good.

Edge: He actually showed quite a few glimpses of greatness before he eventually went to the next level during the Matt Hardy feud. The first match with Jesus (which ended really badly), he showed a fire and the crowd was with him on it. There was also the Brood promo where he more or less saved the program.

Batista: This one was probably one of my more controversial ones even when I started in the TPDub. Everyone here was all oohing and aahing over Randy Orton, and I was more impressed with Batista. He always seemed to have that one big move that always stuck in your head. The Rock n Sock vs Evolution match was memorable to me due to the Flair and Rock antics as well as the Big Spinebuster on Rock by Batista. Then when he started standing up to Trips, I was like "Holy Shit, this guy's gonna be HUGE!"

THE RYBACK: I pretty much built this fucking bandwagon. He impressed me as Skip Sheffield. I even posted on here that as soon as he drops the goofy stuff, he was going to be a big deal. When he hit Murder by Lariat on Cena during the initial Nexus Beatdown, I felt he'd be the big star of the group, even bigger than Barrett. Then the injury came, and he took a year to recover. Then the return as THE RYBACK and he slowly got over as a freight train. I get this feeling that he'll be WWE Champion by Summerslam.

I invented Hulk Hogan.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy that I just thought right away "He's gonna be a main eventer!". I've had guys I've thought had the skills or look to do it, but I never was 100% sure they'd be at that level.

Brock Lesnar. The first time you saw him on Raw....you just knew.

The Berzerker. I mean, come on! He was a viking! He had a sword! When he won that 40 man battle royal on Primetime and challenged Bret Hart for the title, they really dropped the ball by not putting the strap on him.

Lol at you building THE RYBACK bandwagon.

I called Jack Swagger being a future World Champ since his first match.

First one who comes to mind is Cena.

Maybe Randy Orton too.

Lol you built the Ryback bandwagon? Excuse me, but Team Gorm would like to have a word with you.

Lesnar.

Playing EWR Lesnar was in the dev territory. Then in the locker room at college, there was a poster of NCAA Champions, and I saw Lesnar's name. Looked up and was amazed at how legit scary he looked. Said to myself "that fucker is a main eventer for sure"

Couple months later, he debuted, and I marked out like a little girl for him.

I'm sorry, I think you mean...

http://wwepredictor.files.wordpress....ock-lesnar.jpg

BROCK LESNAR!

Lol, it looks like Heyman is eating a microphone ice cream cone.

I remember watching Lou Thesz in 1944 at the Greensboro North Carolina Civic Center and thinking "this guy is going to be a star".

Yeah I remember thinking the same shortly after he debuted. He just seemed to fit the big bully role really well.

Sheamus too. Out of the two though I thought it'd be Swagger that was bigger. Never thought they'd go down the route of trying to make Sheamus a megaface similar to Cena.

Agreed

Surprised I got flak for Ryback and not Austin or Batista. Probably due to the hyperbole.

*Re-Reads the Thread* DEFINITELY due to the hyperbole.

In any event Not quite my first impression of him (couldn't find that), but...

http://www.tpww.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103597

Randy Orton, thought I would be more entertained by him than I am though.

Goldberg
Kane

I was liek 8 yrs old at the time they debuted tho.

Diesel

Jericho
The Rock - not the initial Maivia phase but once he returned as part of the Nation.

Alberto Del Rio is one I just knew. I mean he was pretty much pushed to the main event right away, but when he debuted I just knew that this guy had it all -- the look, the moves, the skill, the charisma. I didn't really get into his pre-debut vignettes much at all, until they did the last one where they all sort of meshed together and everything seemed to bubble a bit more, but as soon as he debuted against Mysterio and winked just as he knew he had the match won, I knew.

He really overexaggerates the wink now. I guess it's because he's a face, but I really wish he'd bring back the "Fuck yeah, I've got you now" wink.

Dude, the first time he F-5 ed Rikishi, he was a Main Eventer!

22nd April 2016
 

After reading that, I had to do it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img15/7430/heymancone.png

Jack Swagger was one I could see coming. I never really called Sheamus, though.

He's main evented more than you have!

He's a former World Champion that works in main event-level matches. That's good enough for me.

Rey Mysterio

He was like nothing American wrestling fans ever saw before when he debuted in WCW. He stole every show he was on.