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Alberto Del Rio, for whatever reason, comes immediately to mind for this. I really didn't like the original vignettes. I thought they were a bit cliched and it was hard to get me to believe this guy would be a big deal in a hurry. Then, on the week before his debut, they spliced them all together in a more aggressive way to some music that sounded more urgent, and I thought to myself "Hold on, this guy is meant to kick ass." Then he debuted against Rey Mysterio. My memory might not be photographic on this, but I seem to remember Rey going for a move off the top rope and Del Rio then hit his ninja run enziguri, knocking Mysterio to the mat. Del Rio then seemingly relaxed, knowing he had Mysterio where he wanted him, and winked before putting him in a Cross Armbreaker.
It was a good start -- strong, but surprisingly subtle -- Del Rio felt like he belonged in the main event mix right away, but there was still something surprising about it. It's just a shame the way things went after that.
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