As a professional wrestler, it’s pivotal to make a good first impression as it can often show the fans what they can expect from you in the years to come.
It also says a lot about the kind of competitor you are when your first match in a company also happens to be a title match; Throughout history there have been countless times in which a new star has shown up and become a champion much to the shock of those in attendance or watching at home.
The following ten are prime examples of wrestlers either capturing the gold on their first night or they became a champion after much hype and anticipation leading into the bout in question…These are the 10 Times Wrestlers Won A Championship On Their Debut.
#10. The IInspiration
Best remembered in WWE as ‘The IIconics’, the team of Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay weren’t exactly known for their in-ring ability but were soild characters throughout the their tenure.
They even won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania 35 making them the first pair of Australians to win gold on the Grandest Stage of Them All. The duo only held the belt for 120 days before WWE decided make the odd decision to break them up as a team before eventually being released in July of 2021.
Fast Forward to the month of September and TNA (at the time known as IMPACT Wrestling) was airing an all female exclusive pay-per-view called Knockouts Knockdown for the first time since 2017. At the end of that show, a video package announced the arrival of Lee and McKay as ‘The IInspiration’ and that their first match would not only be for the Knockouts Tag Team Titles but it would also happen at Bound For Glory (TNA’s equivalent of Wrestlemania).
This was a shock to many as this was the first time since Cody Rhodes in 2016 that a former WWE superstar was making their TNA Debut at Bound For Glory and there much intrigue as to how things would turn out…As you can probably tell from the title of this article, the IInspiration came out on top in a fairly decent match to become the first wrestlers to make their TNA debut at BFG and win a championship in their first bout all at the same time.
#9. Pentagon Jr.
Before tearing it up in All Elite Wrestling and after his time in Lucha Underground came to an end, Pentagon Jr. and his brother Rey Fenix spent much of their 2018 into early 2019 wrestling for IMPACT.
Althought he was technically first seen by IMPACT fans during a triple threat non-title match at a 2018 Wrestlecon event: Lucha Underground vs. IMPACT Wrestling, that show isn’t considered an official TNA/IMPACT event as far as their Wikipedia page in concerned and as such Penta’s inclusion on this list justified.
Following a match that took place at House of Hardcore then IMPACT World champion, Austin Aries grabbed a microphone and announced that he will be putting his belt on the line against Fenix and Pentagon in a rematch to their Wrestlecon match in the main event of IMPACT’s aptly titled Redemption pay-per-view.
Considering the talent involved, it should come as no surprise that the this match was a banger from beginning to end with the finish seeing Pentagon becoming the new IMPACT World Champion.
While his reign only lasted a few days as he lost the belt back to Aries during a special episode of IMPACT called Under Pressure, he can at the least say that he defended the belt against Jimmy Jacobs and E-li Drake aka the future L-A Knight…Yeah!
#8. MNM
Up until recently, the WWE never treated tag team wrestling with the up most respect especially under Vince McMahon as teams would be thrown together or broken up with little reason or zero payoff.
That said, there have been a few times when a promising tag team not only won the tag straps, but did so in their first match together; From Ted DiBiase Jr. winning the belts with Cody Rhodes after Rhodes attacked his tag partner and co-champion, Hardcore Holly at Night of Champions 2008 to Pretty Deadly winning the NXT tag titles in their first match on the American version of NXT, but we decided to go with a different team for this entry.
Debuting on the Smackdown brand in 2005, the team of Johnny Nitro (aka John Morrison) and Joey Mecury alongside Melina battled the team of Rey Mysterio and the late great Eddie Guerrero for the WWE World Tag Team Championships.
The known as MNM would go on to defeat the legendary wrestlers to become the new tag team champions and helped further the break up angle between Guerrero and Mysterio; They would only hold the belts for only three months before baffingly losing it to Road Warrior Animal and…Jon Hendenreich?!?
Thankfully MNM would regain the belts back in October and go on to have a longer and much better reign with the tag team titles.
#7. Gail Kim
One of the most respected and decorated female wrestlers of the previous decade, Gail Kim is a name that become synonymous with modern day women’s competition especially in TNA Wrestling as she became a seven Knockouts Champion, one time Knockouts Tag Team Champion and the first female inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Before all of this, she first became known to mainstream fans due to her first run in the WWE where she became one of several participants in a battle royal to crown a new WWE Women’s Champion.
Gail (who was making her debut in this match) pulled off the upset by becoming the new Women’s Champion, however much like some of the other entries on this list, Gail Kim’s time at the top didn’t last long as she would lose the title to Molly Holly on July 26th 2003 edition of RAW, ending her four week reign as champion.
Despite lasting in the company for a little over a year and returning for a second run until 2011, Gail would never win another piece of championship gold during her time as part of the WWE.
#6. Ken Shamrock
We now go from a wrestler synonymous with TNA winning a WWE title to a wrestler synonymous with WWE winning a TNA title or rather the NWA title…Let me explain.
During the early stages of the company’s existence, TNA had partnered with the National Wrestling Association which allowed the former to use the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as their defacto main title.
On the very first show to bare the TNA initials, the main event saw over a dozen wrestlers enter in a royal rumble style of match called the Gauntlet of the Gold with the final two wrestlers then having to engage in a regular singles match to determine who would become the inaugural world champion in company history.
Shamrock would emerge the victor and became the new champion and TNA’s very first world champion; This reign didn’t last long…no surprise, but in his 49 days as champion Shamrock did add a sense of legitimacy so not too shabby for the former Intercontinental Champion.
#5. Santino Marella
Speaking of wrestlers who became Intercontinental Champion, let’s talk about Santino Marella.
Though currently working on the onscreen authority figure in TNA, Marella’s career has seen him win a number of titles during his run in the WWE, but as they always say: “You Never Forget You’re First” and that’s what exactly happened to the Master of the Cobra.
Taking place in Milan Italy on the April 16th 2007 edition of the Monday Night RAW, Vince McMahon along with Intercontinental Champion, Umaga and his handler Armando Alejandro Estrada called out anyone to fight the Samoan Bulldozer for the title, but when no one in the back answered then McMahon choose a fan in the crowd to be Umaga’s opponent instead.
Suddenly a ‘random fan’ was selected by McMahon with this person being named Santino Marella and soon the match got underway before it was interrupted by Vince to announce that it has now become a No Holds Barred match.
After regaining control of the match, Umaga looked poised to finish of Marella when ECW World Champion, Bobby Lashley came out and assisted the challenger before laying Marella’s prone body onto of Umaga leading to the title change and in that moment The Milan Miracle’ was born.
#4. Carlito
From the I.C. title to the U.S. title with our next entry as were return to Smackdown to talk about one of the coolest wrestlers his generation: Carlito.
After weeks of videos hyping his arrival, the son of Carlos Colon debuted on the October 7th 2004 edition of Smackdown where he interrupted the reigning United States Champion, John Cena during a promo which culminated in the two having a match later on in the night for the U.S. title.
While you might expect Cena to beat the new guy and crush his momentum (something he would go on to do throughout his career), the exact opposite happened when the Carribbean’s resident apple spiter took Cena’s rap chains and knocked him out to become the new United States Champion.
42 days later and he would lose it back to John Cena, but not before the company ran with a storyline that Carlito’s bodyguard once stabbed the leader of the Cenation in a nightclub…Wrestling is weird sometimes.
#3. Paige
When your championship win is a major part of a successful wrestling film that also chronicles your rise to the WWE…How could it not be on this list.
The woman currently working in All Elite Wrestling as Saraya was first introduced to American audiences during her time in NXT where she would become their Women’s Champion which is important to bring up especially when it comes to what happened next.
The night after WrestleMania 30, AJ Lee (who successfully defended her Divas Championship in a forgettable 14 women match) appeared on RAW and laid out the challenge for someone to face her.
Out came Paige who at first came to congratulate AJ for her victory, but the champion was having none of it; Instead Lee decided to defend her Divas Championship against Paige in an impromptu match…and needless to say she paid for it.
In just a matter of minutes, Paige defeated AJ to not only become the new Divas Champion but the first person to hold both WWE and NXT Women’s titles at the same time in one of the best NXT main roster call ups of all time.
#2. Jon Moxley
Stepping away from TNA and WWE for a second, were heading to New Japan Pro Wrestling talk about that time an AEW superstar won a title in their first match in the Land of Strong Style.
Following his victory over Cody Rhodes at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Juice Robinson was running wild as the IWGP United States Champion until he was attacked by an unknown assailant in 2019. This led many (including Juice himself) to wonder who was responsible which later turned out to be none other than Jon Moxley.
At the Best of the Super Juniors 26, Moxley challenged Robinson for the title where he defeated the former CJ Parker to become the first and only person to have held the WWE and IWGP United States Championship in their career.
Mox’s first reign only lasted 130 days due to it ending via traveling issues, but he would regain the belt in early 2020 and hold on it for an impressive 564 days thus making him one of the longest reigning U.S. Champions in both WWE and NJPW.
#1. Mustafa Ali
When it comes to a WWE wrestler finding success after they’ve been released or departed from the company, you’ll often hear about names like Gail Kim, Christian Cage, Kurt Angle, Jon Moxley, Cody Rhodes, Trinity Fatu, Mercede Mone and Matt Cardona…But one other name that needs to be included on that list is Mustafa Ali.
The former Retribution member has been on quite a run since being released by the WWE where his competed both on the indies and New Japan, however it’s his time in TNA that has been the most interesting due to the success his had from his literal first day in the promotion.
Like others on this list, Ali released videos both on his social media accounts and on TNA programming hyping his debut into the company and he was setting his sights on Chris Sabin and his TNA X Division Championship.
The final match of TNA’s 2024 No Surrender event saw both Ali and Sabin put on a tremendous performance for one of the company’s most prestigious titles with fans split on who they supported…Although most of the crowd were more for Ali than Sabin. With the help of John Skyler and Jason Hotch aka The Good Hands, Ali would become the new TNA X Division Champion where he currently still reigns after title defenses to the likes of Sabin, Jake Something and Ace Austin.
In addition to this, Ali has also made history with his title reign: Becoming the only person to debut in TNA and win the X Division Title, the first wrestler of Muslim and Pakistanian descent hold a title in the promotion and as of April of 2024, Ali became the first TNA X Division Champion to grace the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated since Samoa Joe back in 2006….I mind if that’s not enough of a reason to make it onto this list, then I don’t know what will.
Make sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on X @laceemupoffice You can follow me also on X @hakeemfullerton for wrestling related articles like this and I’ll see you next time.
