Ranking The 12 Best AEW Debuts So Far

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.

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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.

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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.

• Bryan Danielson
• Debut
• cm punk
• AEW

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