8 Superstars Who Won A Championship in Their WWE Debut

#7 Santino Marella, WWE Intercontinental Championship - 2007

Santino Marella would sign with WWE in 2005, where he worked for two years at OVW, before making his main roster debut on WWE RAW in 2007.

Although born in Canada, the Italian decedent was billed as being from Calabria, Italy as he sat ringside for RAW on April 16, in Milan. Vince McMahon had the then WWE Intercontinental Champion Umaga as his charge and was infuriated by the Italians' cheers for his rival, Bobby Lashley, who wanted to make an example out of them by giving a 'random' audience member a shot at the IC Championship.

He would select Santino Marella, who quickly gained a loud pop upon the pronunciation of his name. Umaga would dominate the majority of their short No Disqualification match. As it looked like he was about to call it a night, Bobby Lashley sprinted to the ring and annihilated the Samoan bulldozer. He threw Santino's near lifeless body on Umaga to get three counts and become Intercontinental Champion.

The plan was to book Santino as an underdog champion, who would often be manhandled in matches, but always find a way to win. This worked for a short time, but fans quickly turned on him and cheered very loudly when he lost the Championship back to Umaga at Vengeance that July.

Santino gained cult status in the WWE for the comedic relief he brought. He managed to stay relevant despite being a lower mid-carder.