Did he have the best first year in WWE since Angle?

Didn't KO have a pretty good first year too?

Brock, no contest

>>2280314
Yup

>KOTR
>WWE Title x2
>RR Winner

>>2280305
No one will top Hulk Hogan's first year
>became WWE Champion in less than a month, became an icon by the end of the year

>>2280320
45+

Hogan was in WWE before 1984

>>2280314
brock was supposed to be the greatest of all time, all things considered he was a flop

>>2280321
>implying the incredible hulk hogan with freddie blassie counts
i mean he had some nice matches with andre

>>2280305
Lesnar. This isn't even a question.

>>2280312
Yes. He was pushed the whole time, won the nxt championship quickly and had that Cena feud a few months later. However, his only main roster championship in his first year was the IC title.Not as good as styles

>>2280318
You can add main eventing WM within a year of debut and winning.

Debuted in 2002 after WM 18. Main evented WM 19 against Angle.

Fucking up epically his neck.

The thing is, people have been pushed harder and got more accolades in their first years, but no one's earned more in their first year. Angle and Brock both came in as big fucking deals and were talented enough and legit enough to run with it.

AJ came in with a nickname as the pitbull and a pointless jericho feud. Got a Ramen feud because there weren't many others to do it because he impressed everyone so much in his first few months, proceeded to be even more GOAT and turned Vinny Mac into a mark for a indy, southern wrestler who's short and then got rewarded with a long title reign and multiple clean pins over top guys.

AJ did more with less than anybody else on their first year.

File: shovel_king.jpg (53KB, 529x390px) Image search: [Google]

53KB, 529x390px

Angle won King of the Ring (when it still sort of mattered) the European Championship (meaningless, really) the Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Championship in his first year.

Lesnar won King of the Ring (not that big a deal at this point) destroyed Hogan, went over The Rock and won the Undisputed Championship within 4 months of his debut. And then won the Royal Rumble. He almost became a 2x WWE Champion because he won at WM19, but the was just past his 1st year.

So the stats are -

Angle: 1xEuropean Champion, 2000 KotR, 1xIntercontinental Champion, 1xWWE Champion

Brock: 2002 KotR, 2003 Royal Rumble Winner, 1xWWE Champion

In other words AJ doesn't have the best year in WWE history. You could, at best, argue he had the 3rd best year.

It's close between Lesnar and Kurt for best 1st year. But it probably goes to Lesnar since he won the Rumble AND the WWE Undisputed Champion. Winning the Rumble is a FAR greater accolade than the European Championship and Intercontinental Championship.

How great of a first year would Roman have if he wasn't in th e shield??

>>2281318
Not great most sons of legends takes 2-3 years.

>>2281318
I think *they* knew he needed a few years to try and develop. Throwing him out there like Brock or Kurt wouldn't have worked - it still hasn't - because he's not at their level.

>>2281316
AJ won the championship and beat Cena clean twice.

I guess it depends on how you compare beating Cena clean to stuff like KotR and midcard titles.

>>2281316
Lesnar debuted after WM 18 and won the title at WM 19.

It's 1 year.

>>2281291
Styles hardly did anything with "less", if anything the WWE underpushed him for his first 6 or so months.

>>2281318
Would've probably come in as either a blue chipper or a bodyguard and faded out quick.

>>2281354
>Debut March 18, 2002
>WrestleMania 19 was March 30, 2003

Sorry friend, he just misses out

>>2281330
Makes sense, they might have still pushed him too fast a good run with the ic strap woulda done wonders.

>>2281323
Who's his dad I thought he was just dwayne cousin

>>2280322

And? This thread is just about whathe accomplished in his 1st year, not "what if he stayed"

No, he's just ridden his NJPW popularity. The Jericho stuff was shit, the Cena stuff was overrated spotfests, he was Reigns' bitch, Ellsworth, etc.

He hasn't had great matches or feuds or anything, it's just that people weren't expecting him to hold the top title or be featured as a tippy-top guy, so this run has seemed better than it's actually been.

>>2281449
Wild Samoan B

>>2281462
stop trying to look cool, you're not impressing anyone on an anonymous imageboard. he's had a ton of great matches even if the cena ones were spotfests. you try making a feud exciting if you have to feud with the same guy for like 4 months. the ambrose shit was ridiculous

>>2281425
By less, I meant his opportunities, he wasn't given everything out of the gate, he earned his title in about 6 months by winning over everyone and proving he's too good for the mid card.

>>2280305
Literally everyone outside of this echo-chamber is laughing at him, you know that right? Last week's segment was proof that he'll never be face of the company. He's like a scared, combative 12 year old who's retreating into NJPW mode because it's the only thing he's good at. He has no fucking idea what he's doing.

>>2281489
>bringing pol memes to /asp

gtfo

>>2281462
He's had multiple great matches with multiple people. His Roman matches were great, the cena matches were great (still overrated) and even though it's way played out he had a bunch of great matches with Ambrose. Had one of the best one on one TLC's in WWE history and multiple fantastic matches on smackdown.

He even got heat filled matches out of Ellsworth, that's carrying a broom to a good match tier.

>his NJPW popularity

Most WWE fans never saw his NJPW run, and while it was easily better than anything else he's done (Him vs Suzuki is by far his best match) they mostly know him from TNA for all those years if they know him at all. He's head and shoulders above almost everyone else in the company when it comes to wrestling. He's even got a big match feel for a main event wrestler.

Not gonna lie, former AJ mark here. This is fucking hilarious watching AJ crash and burn. But in all seriousness we can't let this guy be the main event.

>>2280305
brock had the best first year.