Over the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of negative buzz by the Internet wrestling community about the WWE’s use of the word “rookie” in terms of application to “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles on WWE programming. While Chris Jericho and The Miz have paid countless references to his prolific past elsewhere (most notably in Japan) and even WWE giving nod to his run in TNA (although by referncing it as simply a territory “in Florida”), the term has still raised some ire from TNA fans for WWE’s supposed gall.
WWE Rookies: Why AJ Styles is Still a Rookie
But if we are to consider pro wrestling a sport, we also have to look at each promotion as a hierarchy of sorts, whether we chose to like it or not. Pro wrestling actually has a hierachical structure much like professional hockey. The WWE is clearly the NHL. It’s the top of the heap as far as professional wrestling goes and is globally recognized as the best place to maximize both financial reward with overall international exposure. NJPW is like the KHL – a financial juggernaut that is predominantly regional in it’s fan base that fills it’s roster with primarily home grown regional talent with the occassional European or North American that hasn’t had much success (or simply want to be closer to home) that can still garner big pay days. Ring of Honor, PWG and Lucha Underground are akin to the AHL. While not directly associated with the NHL or KHL, many of their potential future prospects toil here learning the trade until they are signed by or brought up to one of the bigger leagues. And while all still have TV deals in place, they don’t have the full reach or accessibility that the NHL gets. EVOLVE, Progress, and more are like the OHL and other junior leagues. Many talent will develop here first before moving on to the AHL. CZW is the old ECHL – a rec league that produced some of the blood thirstiest matches in pro hockey history, yet whose rosters are filled with guys that realistically won’t ever make the big leagues (although it does have it’s exceptions). Which leaves TNA as the wrestling version of the old WHA. That rival 70’s pro hockey league that tried very hard to compete with the NHL by signing many of it’s stars past their prime and when they had their own stars, somehow always lost them the other way. Granted, TNA has lasted longer than the WHA did. With that in mind, let’s go back to 1989, when a 36-year old Soviet “rookie” named Sergei Makarov made an impact in the NHL with the Calgary Flames after an 11-year career playing pro hockey in the Soviet Union. His first NHL campaign was so phenomenal, the aged veteran won the NHL’s Calder Trophy as it’s Rookie of the Year.
But the NHL isn’t alone as a sports league who has bestowed rookie status on veterans from other leagues. Baseball had Satchel Paige, a 42-year old rookie with the Cleveland Indians in 1948, despite a 20-year career in the Negro Leagues, Mexico and Cuba. Pablo Prigioni was a 35-year old when he had his rookie season in the NBA with the New York Knicks in 2012, following a successful pro career in Spain and Argentina. Kurt Warner was a 28 year old NFL rookie when he lead the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl XXXIV, despite a 4-year pro career in the Arena Football League prior. It’s funny that many in the internet world clamour that the WWE doesn’t take itself seriously like other sports, but when they do, they are chastised for acting like the opposite.
But all of this leads’s to the next question? Who was WWE’s greatest Rookie of the Year? Here’s a few candidates (with one clear cut winner).
All-Time Greatest WWE Rookie
Brock Lesnar
The Beast Incarnate surely should be mentioned. He debuted in WWE in March of 2002, and in June of that year, he won the King of the Ring (back when it still meant something). By August, he had defeated The Rock to become WWE’s Undisputed World Champion. Not bad for the first six months of his pro wrestling career.
Sheamus
The Celtic Warrior debuted on the WWE main roster in June of 2009, debuting on the WWE’s ECW brand. By October of 2009, he was transferred to RAW where his WWE Main Roster began. In December of that same year, less than three months of being on the WWE Main Roster, Sheamus beat John Cena at the TLC PPV to become the WWE World Champion. Though he’d lose it in February, he regained it again in June of 2010, becoming a two time WWE World Champion in under twelve months on the Main Roster.
Kevin Owens
Owens made his WWE debut in August of 2014, where he quickly won the NXT Championship two months after his debut. A meteoric rise, he was fast tracked to the WWE Main Roster in May of 2015. In his first WWE match-up, he pinned John Cena clean. Unfortunately, his first Main Roster title was the Intercontinental title in September of 2015, so he didn’t collect the same gold as Sheamus or Brock, but a clean win over Cena is none the less impressive for someone so new to the WWE Universe.
Bruno Sammartino
But while these three had great rookie campaigns in the WWE Universe, no one comes close to the true “Living Legend”, Bruno Sammartino. Sammartino was no stranger to Vince McMahon Sr. when he debuted in the WWWF in 1963. Sammartino had worked with Vince’s NWA-affiliated promotion Capitol Wrestling in earlier times. Debuting in the indies in 1959, Sammartino was a great regional draw for several years, working for various promoters. When Vince Sr. and co. parted ways with the NWA in 1963 to form what is now the WWE, they did so with their own new champion, “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. Sammartino joined the WWE in 1963 as a 14-year territory veteran and immediately demanded a title match from Vince Sr. Which he won. Bruno would retain the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record setting 2,803 days – an astounding eight years – from May 1963 until January of 1971. This WWE rookie didn’t only capture the title in his rookie year, he continued to hold it through his sophomore year until he was a locker room veteran by the time he dropped it.
Will AJ match any of those four men’s rookie accomplishments? Perhaps. He could easily surpass Kevin Owens if he wins the IC title once or twice within his first twelve months. But it’s unlikely any wrestler in this day and age will ever come close to the WWE rookie campaign that Pizzoferrato, Italy’s Bruno Sammartino had in 1963.
