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The Lost Art of WWE Debut Vignettes

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Long before internet dirt sheets and social media spoiled every major wrestling signing, the WWF / WWE relied on introductory vignettes to build anticipation for new characters. Whether it was showing the Million Dollar Man bribing his way through daily life or Mr. Perfect pulling off impossible athletic feats, these old-school video packages made wrestlers feel larger than life before they ever stepped foot in a ring.

In this video, we look back at the lost art of the pro wrestling debut vignette. We'll look at legendary masterpieces that are still very memorable, strange experiments that included fan involvement, and a few disasters that fell completely flat.

Debut / Return vignettes covered in This Episode include Ted Dibiase, Goldust, Mankind, Razor Ramon, Bray Wyatt and others.

20 Comments

@alastairwood1745 2 months ago

Sean O'Haire should have been so much more after his vignettes, but I am not telling you anything you don't already know

@TheDocksideGamer 2 months ago

I think we are missing the best one! GLACIER!!

@shaneramey 2 months ago (edited)

I remember being so captivated by Sean O'Haire's Devil's Advocate Vignettes. True shame WWE dropped the ball with it. RIP, Sean.

@shaneramey 2 months ago

I loved how they said on the Mr. Perfect DVD that Curt would mess up until they made him believe the cameras weren't rolling, and then he would get it right.

@jasondh7377 1 month ago

Mr. Perfect could make a wet napkin look like the best wrestler he had ever faced.

@Brian_Earl_Spilner-e2m 1 month ago

Razor Ramon taught me that "The chicas, they for fun meng" when I was 10 years old. I still follow that advice 34 years later.

@EdBurke37 1 month ago

The Devil's Advocate promos were the biggest example of wasted potential in the history of wrestling.

@sTew_Mangolas 1 month ago

The Million Dollar Man may be the best gimmick a wrestler ever received. "Hey you're going to pretend to be a millionaire, but we also have this thing called kayfabe. So to make people believe it, you're going to have all of your expense payed for, you only ride in limos and fly first class payed for, you get a couple hundred bucks per diem and you get a wrestling paycheck as well."

Razor Ramon and Val Venis are the most memorable vignettes for me. Jericho had the coolest debut.

@crashmanly6281 1 month ago

I'll never forget the Razor Ramon, Waylon Mercy, and Val Venis vignettes.

@Damien-q8t 1 month ago

The "Million Dollar man" was one of the BEST heel gimicks ever

@davealmer3803 1 month ago

When Ted kicked the ball away from the little kid was a CLASSIC.

@jbBehemoth 1 month ago

3:04 Ted's public swimming pool promo was hilarious

@coachminix702 2 months ago

Let’s get a pt 2! And a “worst” video

@aaronhurst4379 1 month ago

Edge's vignettes make more sense when you hear Adam Copeland's stories about walking around Toronto in cold Winter with nowhere to stay, when he was on his way to the WWE

@KingJaymo2k11 1 month ago

Razor Ramon’s vignettes were the most memorable for me…I remember they had me and my siblings calling each other CHICO

@nearphotisonamvs 1 month ago

Edge's vignettes are just what we'd call "aura farming" today.

@WMartinNI 1 month ago

I miss Curt Hennig, one of the greatest

@robertprince2651 1 month ago

Man, I loved Goldust's promos, they were intriguing and always had a movie reference.

@kevinfitz8516 1 month ago

Goldust was a brilliant character, ahead of its time. Also Razor Ramon was the perfect character for Scott Hall

@michaellee8815 1 month ago

It really is AMAZING how you can have a legitimately cool vignette idea that might just fall through and lead to nothing, but can have something legit kinda corny but if the right charismatic wrestler is behind them, man it just works. life is weird