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There are many things that contribute towards a WWE wrestler making the transition from 'someone on the roster' to a bonafide superstar. These things include the quality of their matches, their charisma and even their overall appearance. However, one of the most important elements that often gets overlooked even though it's the first thing we see, is the entrance.
There have been many iconic entrances in WWE. For example, we all remember the thrill of hearing the noise of glass shattering before losing our minds as Stone Cold Steve Austin emerges from the back. In fact, throughout history WWE has often pulled out all of the stops for certain entrances, particularly during pay-per-views, bringing in extra props, extras, celebrities, live musical performances and more.
However, there are some WWE Superstars who had an absolutely perfect entrance that got everyone in the WWE Universe excited or invested in the Superstar who was about to come out, but for some inexplicable reason WWE decided to change them or drop them entirely.
Let's look at five of the entrances that WWE absolutely nailed, before going on to make them worse for some reason!
#5 Former WWE Tag-Team Champion Robert Roode
Robert Roode's entrance on the main roster nowadays leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you consider the perfection that was his original entrance in the company.
Robert Roode was one of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling's top stars after becoming popular as part of the tag-team Beer Money. As a result, many people expected big things for Bobby Roode and then, after seeing his debut, they expected even bigger things.
That's because the debut just absolutely screamed 'star' from the very beginning, mainly because of the exceptional use of song 'Glorious Domination' by, then, WWE music producers CFO$.
People immediately noticed the theme song during this debut, on the August 3rd, 2016 episode of NXT. But things really kicked up a gear when Bobby Roode took on Andrade 'Cien' Almas at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2 and made his entrance on a lowering platform.
Just listen to that crowd go wild and sing along with the lyrics even though it's only been something like two weeks since it was first heard in WWE. Look at the smile on Roode's face and feel the energy in the arena.
WWE and Bobby Roode would go on to really lean into Roode's entrance with subsequent TakeOvers such as this version at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. And then there was this one, complete with a stunning live choir, at NXT TakeOver: Toronto.
It's hard not to look at those entrances alone and not see Roode as a huge deal in WWE and someone to take notice of. I'm confident that if you showed someone who'd never watched WWE before these entrances, that they'd assume Roode was one of the biggest stars in the company.
But moreso than that, it was over with fans as evidenced by the fact that 'Glorious Domination' became the number one song on the Itunes chart for soundtracks, beating Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' and Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years'.
And then all of a sudden, they just stopped allowing Bobby Roode to make his entrance to the song. I know that he's done interviews where he's said that the entrance had to be changed to benefit him, but to this day I stand by the fact that Roode would've been a bigger deal, or at the very least a live crowd fan-favourite had he kept 'Glorious Domination'.
#4 Former WWE US Champion Ricochet
Ricochet was one of the most exciting signings WWE could have made as the independent wrestling star had shone wherever he went with his exceptional high-flying, high-octane moves. WWE knew this and treated Ricochet as the big deal that he should be when they gave him an iconic entrance, complete with laser display and a banging theme song.
And then they made it even better by making the lasers form a ring around Ricochet as evidenced by this footage from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, when Ricochet found himself up against Adam Cole.
All of the individual pieces added up to provide an entrance worthy of someone with the talent and popularity as Ricochet at the time of his signing. But slowly and surely WWE started to strip back elements from that brilliant entrance until we were left with a basic, generic version of an entrance that had made the former US Champion look like a legitimate star.
The theme music may still be there for Ricochet's entrance during Main Event in May this year, albeit with some tweaks, but all of the pageantry and excitement has been removed. When the entrance is as good as it was for Ricochet and then gets stripped back like it was, WWE is subconsciously telling us that they're less invested in Ricochet than they were, and subsequently the crowd is less invested.
This entrance should've absolutely remained.
#3 Former WWE Superstar Aleister Black
It's hard to believe that Aleister Black went from his unbeaten run in WWE NXT where he felt like a real star that was different to anybody else to getting unceremoniously released mid-repackaging this week.
It's especially hard to believe when you consider that Aleister Black had one of the most effective entrances we've seen in WWE for some time with an accompanying theme song by Code Orange that absolutely slapped.
Imagine watching this entrance and knowing that the wrestler in it would go on to never win a world championship in the company. You'd have told people they were mad for suggesting that such an awesome entrance by someone with such an obvious presence wouldn't lead to big success.
However, WWE started to scale down Black's entrance stripping various parts from it until they decided to just change it entirely. What they changed it to was nowhere near as unique, mood-setting and good as its predecessor.
Black still looked undeniably cool, but it's just such a downgrade compared to the Code Orange song and vampire-like rising from the ground.
#2 Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal
Jinder Mahal recently returned to WWE after recovering from another injury setback, bringing with him two superstars from NXT, Veer and Shanky. What he didn't bring with him though is this absolutely brilliant entrance from 2017.
Okay, so Jinder's entrance is currently a simplified version of the one I just showed you, but honestly, when WWE knows an entrance is good that they go out of their way to upload it onto Youtube, they really should keep it.
Take a look at Jinder Mahal's newer entrance for his return victory against Jeff Hardy a few weeks ago on RAW. That great theme song stuck around, but the presentation of Mahal simply isn't what it used to be.
Jinder Mahal may not have won a lot of people over during his world title run, but I think a lot of people have come round to the superstar's work ethic, passion for the business and underrated talent and keeping the full majesty of that perfect red carpet entrance would go a long way to helping people to see Mahal as the star he could be.
#1 Former WWE US Champion MVP
There was a time when people considered Montel Vontavious Porter to be the future of the WWE and given that he's currently the manager of the WWE World Champion there's an argument to be made that he is. But between his recent return and his release, people saw him as a missed opportunity.
I truly believe that part of the reason why MVP became a missed opportunity (until recently) is that WWE did what they've done with the other four entries on this list and they stopped treating MVP like a star so we stopped seeing him as a star, and they did that by taking away this thing of beauty.
MVP was billed as one of the biggest free agent signings in WWE history and for a while it certainly seemed like he was living up to that billing, particularly with his tunnel entrance that made him feel like a top sports star and not just a wrestler.
However, it was scaled back and WWE's booking of MVP was also scaled back and eventually he would leave the company having never quite reached the heights that everyone thought he was supposed to.
Now MVP doesn't have the tunnel entrance, not that he needs one after launching The Hurt Business. But it couldn't hurt, you know?
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