Welcome to WIR, Top 5 Debuts in the 2010’s era. Today I cover number 5, Daniel Bryan’s Running Knee.

WWE SummerSlam 2013 – John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship) by iamthejay

As seen above, this debut was so special because of the situation, the atmosphere, the environment, and the match before it. The running knee was a great debut as it came out of nowhere and many people weren’t sure if it was an accidental finish, if Cena was truly knocked out, if it was even meant to be a finisher, etc. And more than that, it debuted and pinned the top guy in the company: John Cena, in its first use ever.

So not only was the knee debuted against John Cena, the top dog who almost never gets pinned and almost never loses, but it was also in a match for the WWE title that was the culmination of a very great and entertaining feud between Daniel Bryan the ‘real wrestler’ and Cena who ‘didn’t deserve to be slapped’ (a sign/ritual that he was a worthy/real wrestler). In addition to being debuted in a WWE title match and pinning the top dog in one move, in addition to the surprise factor, was the fact that it debuted in front of so many people at one of the biggest events of the year: Summerslam.

A truly memorable debut.