5 Superstars Whose WrestleMania Debut Deserves a Do-Over

#3 The Rock

Something about the guy on the right looks familiar, and I can't figure out

Anoia'i

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As "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's popularity continued to soar throughout the fall of 1996 and winter of 1997, the World Wrestling Federation would invest far more money and promotional energy into another Superstar touted as the first third-generation superstar in WWF history, Rocky Maivia.

Crowds were skeptical of the smiling Samoan and greeted him and his flowing tassels with lukewarm reactions; figuring they would need to double their efforts, the WWF creative team made the call to give Maivia the Intercontinental Championship on a special Thursday edition of RAW (the same night Shawn Michaels lost his smile). Maivia sneakily rolled up a man with whom he would one day make millions in PPV revenue, Triple H, and coast into WrestleMania 13 to face the foreign heel du jour, The Sultan.

Pictured: a man who is definitely NOT Middle Eastern

Sultan wore a suffocating face mask and let his managers Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik do all the talking; in storyline, this was because Sultan had lost his tongue but, in reality, this was because the man behind the mask was Solofa Fatu, Jr., a.k.a. Headshrinker Fatu, a.k.a. Rikishi.

Maivia and his real-life cousin squared off in a beyond-meaningless Wrestlemania match with no definitive finish; in a match that barely cracks a single star rating, Maivia won with a cross-body (this was before he added his set of definitive, flashy finishers to his repertoire), prompting Backlund and Sheik to attack. Maivia would have to be helped from an attack by two retirees with help from...another retiree...when his father, Rocky Johnson, hit the ring to back him up.

Smiling more and getting help from stars who hadn't been relevant for decades: Vince McMahon's recipe for babyface success

He'd Get It Right When:

Rock would go on to a classic trilogy of matches with the number four entrant on this list, as well as a two-part series with the number two entrant as well, at WrestleManias XXVIII and 29.