10 Amazing WWE Breakout Performances

Today is April 18 and, well, you know what that means, don't you?

That's right, today is Steve Lombardi's birthday! Many happy returns to the Brooklyn Brawler (I'm sure he's reading).

Obviously that has nothing to do with this list, because I don't think Lombardi ever had a breakout or star-making performance, since his primary function in wrestling was to make others look good as an enhancement talent.

April 18 is also the day that Backlash went down in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 2004.

A grand show and a worthy follow-up to WrestleMania XX, the even was capped off by Chris Benoit retaining his World Heavyweight Title in a sensational triple threat rematch with Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

It might have gone on last and been a cracker in its own right, but the match everyone was talking about after the show was Randy Orton's Intercontinental Title Hardcore Match war with Mick Foley.

The Legend Killer beat the Hardcore Legend in a hellacious scrap to retain the title but, more than that, he established himself as a true superstar in the eyes of the fans by demonstrating a hitherto unseen toughness and resilience that would set in motion the wheels for a babyface turn and World Heavyweight Title win just a few months later.

In honour of that match and performance, I've decided to go back and look at some of the best breakout/star-making performances/matches in WWE history to see how wrestlers went from challengers to champions, the midcard to the main event and from works-in-progress to the genuine article.

10. Bret Hart (Vs. Mr. Perfect) - SummerSlam 1991

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All the stars aligned for Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1991.

At the time, The Hitman was emancipated from Hart Foundation tag partner Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart and making a go of it solo. He had always stood out thanks to his razor-sharp in-ring performances, but going from being the solid half of a team to singles star is no easy feat.

At SummerSlam, however, Hart was competing for the Intercontinental Championship, in Madison Square Garden, in front of his parents and against one of his favourite opponents in the form of Mr. Perfect.

Despite going into the contest with a debilitating back injury (which Hennig would take a year off to heal and would bother him for the rest of his career), Perfect did everything he could to make his opponent look like a star.

After a long, classic back-and-fourth match, The Excellence of Execution locked in the Sharpshooter and claimed the title via submission, beginning his first significant WWE singles title reign.

Bret looked so assured here and was obviously ready to have the trigger pulled on him. After SummerSlam '91, he would establish himself as one of the great Intercontinental champions, using his runs as a launching pad to the WWE Title, which he bagged a little over a year later.

It's an excellent match and an excellent moment, a defining one in the career of the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be.

9. Shelton Benjamin (Money In The Bank Ladder Match) - WrestleMania 21

After about eighteen months tagging with Charlie Haas in Team Angle/The World's Greatest Tag Team, Shelton Benjamin was traded from SmackDown to Raw in the 2004 draft and instantly given a push that saw him get victories over Triple H, Ric Flair and other high-profile talents.

Injuries slowed his progress a little before he won his first Intercontinental Title from Chris Jericho at the first Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view, and he then settled into the role of confident midcarder who would give you a decent match.

Which is a nice spot to have, but Shelton still hadn't had that one over-the-top performance (despite putting on many very good ones).

That changed at WrestleMania 21 when he stole the show with his showing in the first-ever Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

Seizing the spotlight, Shelton wowed everyone watching with his incredible athleticism, busting out breathtaking moves and spots that nobody had ever seen before, like running up the ladder bridge to take Y2J out with a diving clothesline.

When you consider the rest of the field included not only Jericho, but also Edge, Christian, Chris Benoit and Kane, it's some accomplishment that after the match everyone was talking about Benjamin.

Following WrestleMania, Shelton would continue his run as IC Champion and, over the course of the next couple of years, looked a much more confident performer, especially when he turned heel.

8. Mankind (Vs. Shawn Michaels) - In Your House: Mind Games

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Before going to WWE, Mick Foley had already had a career full of 'breakout' performances.

His match with Sting at WCW's Beach Blast in 1992 springs to mind. So too does his flesh-scarring efforts in 95's King of the Deathmatch for IWA Japan.

But the WWE audience, by and large, didn't really know about these and, besides, Mankind was a completely new character. The character got off on the right foot, attacking and starting a feud with The Undertaker on his first night in, which resulted in grand matches at King of the Ring and SummerSlam.

The gimmick was a hit and Foley was committed to it completely but, despite having some very good matches, he was yet to have a great one in WWE rings.

Step up the dependable Shawn Michaels, WWE Champion and Mankind's opponent at the In Your House: Mind Games event.

The match wasn't exactly the recipient of a long, strong build or anything like that, and it was just, on paper at least, an arbitrary IYH show and the match something for both to do in-between other rivalries.

Perhaps WWE's best bout of the year, Michaels versus Mankind was a barnburner that came from absolutely nowhere, practically saving what had been a rather blah show to that point.

A tremendous showcase for Foley and all his masochistic barbarism, this also helped HBK, who to some was still viewed as a pretty boy who may not have been as tough as WWE Champions past.

The disqualification ending was a bit of a downer, yes, but that doesn't detract from the performances of both in what was, essentially, Mankind's coming-out party.

7. Bianca Belair (Vs. Sasha Banks) - WrestleMania 37 Night One

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WWE took full advantage of their first show in front of fans for over a year by putting Sasha Banks' defense of the SmackDown Women's Title against Bianca Belair on last.

Having made her main roster debut a year earlier on the post-WrestleMania 36 episode of Raw and working strictly during the pandemic, the ultra-athletic Bianca had been a highlight of WWE's televised output and was a deserved and welcomed winner of the 2021 women's Royal Rumble match.

Recent history has shown us that winning it by no means guarantees you're going to triumph at the Showcase of the Immortals, and there was every possibility that The Boss was going to walk out of Raymond James Stadium still champ.

Thankfully, Belair got the historic win following a terrific bout that told a fantastic story and showed the best of both. Banks deserves much credit for clearly going above and beyond to make EST look as good as possible en route to her victory.

It's early days yet, of course, but the feeling at the end of WrestleMania 37 Night One was that Bianca Belair was now established at the top of the women's division, paving the way for fresh matches and storylines.

At 32 years-old and still being relatively new as a television character, the sky is the limit for her and, barring something like injuries, she should be a fixture for years to come.

6. The Rock (Vs. Triple H) - SummerSlam 1998

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He came good in the end (and then some) but The Rock's early WWE days were tough going.

His bland babyface act did him no favours in the nascent Attitude Era, but a heel turn and alliance with the Nation of Domination started to turn things around. Once The Brahma Bull had outgrown Farooq, D-Lo Brown and the boys, began referring to himself in the third person and took up catchphrase collecting, he looked like he could be a genuine headliner.

Like Bret Hart seven years earlier, The Rock had all the right ingredients for a breakout performance, as he defended his Intercontinental Title against Triple H in Madison Square Garden at SummerSlam 1998.

This actually helped make stars of both The Great One and The Game, though it took a little while for Hunter to truly take off in the same way as his opponent.

They made each other in this match and it's incredible to think that at the start of the summer, these were both just viewed as talented midcarders who were some way off the likes of Steve Austin and The Undertaker (who main-evented the pay-per-view).

It helped that the match was more about storytelling and psychology (and violence) rather than just being a series of dangerous spots, and the fans were with them all the way.

Triple H won, but would be too injured to actually defend the title, so while it was a big match and great moment for him, it was actually The Rock who came out of the whole deal better, since he would say 'goodbye' to the IC Title scene and win the WWE Title at Survivor Series, never looking back.

I hear he's in films now, or something?

5. Chris Jericho (Vs. Triple H) - Fully Loaded 2000

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Chris Jericho probably thought he had it made after leaving the sinking ship of WCW for the promise lands of WWE and being booked to verbally joust with The Rock on his first night on the job.

It was an iconic debut, but the truth is that following it Y2J instantly floundered, the victim of a combination of creative team apathy and toxic backstage politics.

Things got better and Jericho stayed over long enough to be put into a programme with Triple H, who was on a major roll at the time (and was also one of the people that Jericho butted heads with behind-the-scenes early on).

Their phantom WWE Title switch on the April 17, 2000 episode of Raw made for incredible television and showed that the former Intercontinental Champion had bags of potential, but his real WWE breakout performance came against The Cerebral Assassin months later at Fully Loaded.

The two men had a brutal Last Man Standing match that Triple H just about edged. The Ayatollah of Rock 'n Rolla proved he could hang with one of the best in the business in a high-pressure situation though and won over many of his critics with his work.

It may have taken him a further year and change to win the WWE Title for real, but he opened a lot of eyes at Fully Loaded.

His career was never - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER - the same again.

4. Stephanie McMahon & Trish Stratus - No Way Out 2001

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She eventually established herself was one of WWE's best female workers ever, but in her early days Trish Stratus' primary function on the show was to be eye candy.

The former fitness model began her sports entertainment career as the manager of T&A and then moved into a storyline with the McMahons, beginning an on-screen relationship with Vince and promptly raising the ire of his daughter, Stephanie.

Trish had done a bit of wrestling previously, usually in the clothes-ripping matches that were en vogue at the time or in mixed-tags, but she hadn't had a proper, featured singles match on a pay-per-view before.

Neither had The Billion Dollar Princess, a former Women's Champion in her own right, whose matches were either short or filled with gaga (or both) to make up for her lack of experience.

So when the two were put together in a match at No Way Out 2001, expectations weren't exactly high. Which certainly helped both performers, because they surprised everyone with a cracking contest that was full-on and very intensity.

They were out there for about eight-and-a-half minutes, which was practically an iron man match for the women in those days, and never looked lost or messed anything up.

This was the first real hint that Trish could perhaps be a bit more than a pair of booming bosoms in a tight t-shirt, while also showing that there was value in Stephanie as a wrestler, too.

3. Brock Lesnar (Vs. The Undertaker) - No Way Out 2002

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They scouted him in college, signed him to the most lucrative developmental deal in history just to train in Kentucky and then they strapped the rocket onto him from the moment he debuted on WWE television in March 2002.

There were always big plans and high expectations for Brock Lesnar, but that didn't mean he was guaranteed to be everything they wanted him to be.

The early signs were good, as he worked his way through the Raw roster, won the King of the Ring, beat The Rock for the WWE Title at SummerSlam and was then traded to SmackDown.

It was on the blue brand that the toughest test lay, the Next Big Thing on a collision course with The Undertaker.

Their effort at Unforgiven was somewhat satisfactory, but the double DQ didn't do Brock any favours and he'd looked much better against The People's Champion the month before.

Thankfully, Lesnar assuaged any doubts as to his upward trajectory in their next meeting, inside Hell in a Cell at No Mercy 2002. This was a proper, assured, main event performance by the champion, who retained his title and was made to look very dominant against The Deadman in his first match inside the Cell.

Again, Brock had been something special from the moment he arrived on the scene, but his work here was leaps and bounds better than what it had been just a few months prior.

The definitive victory against WWE's gatekeeper, in the main event of a pay-per-view told fans that Brock Lesnar was, in fact, the real deal and was here to stay (for another eighteen months anyway).

2. The Hardys And Edge & Christian - No Mercy 1999

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When The Hardys and Edge & Christian got backstage after their show-stealing Ladder Match at No Mercy 1999, Mick Foley greeted them with congratulations and told them that they had just went from being 'WWE wrestlers' to 'WWE superstars'.

He wasn't wrong, either, because the match put both teams on the map and took them to the next level in the eyes of fans, management and their fellow wrestlers.

Before that, they were just four (obviously talented) guys trying to break through and establish themselves in a jam-packed landscape where many others were jostling for TV time.

They had wowed in matches together at King of the Ring and SummerSlam, but those were short and didn't have a chance to linger long in the memory.

No Mercy was different, because not only was it a pay-per-view and a favourable stipulation, but they had time and the creative freedom to do what they needed to do to get over. Jeff, in particular, gave a preview of what was to come from him with his wild and reckless bumps and fervent originality.

The following night on Raw, the audience gave both teams a deserved standing ovation.

From then on, they - along with the Dudleys - would rule the doubles scene for the next couple of years, before the inevitable breakups and varying singles pushes.

1. Steve Austin (Vs. Bret Hart) - Survivor Series 1996

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If you believe the WWE's version of history, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring, delivered his iconic promo while being coronated and from there it was a nonstop bullet train to the WWE Title and record-breaking business.

In reality, that wasn't exactly the case and Austin actually missed out on the next pay-per-view, pinning Yokozuna on the SummerSlam pre-show Free for All. He did a promo with Brian Pillman and Owen Hart at Mind Games the month after and then wrestled (and beat) Triple H in the opener of October's Buried Alive.

Was Austin getting more over? Yes. Were WWE selling a couple of 3:16 t-shirts? I've heard that before somewhere, yes. Was Austin's character nicely evolving on television? Oh hell yeah!

But Austin wasn't necessarily given any juicy opportunities to follow up his King of the Ring home run, at least not in the ring on pay-per-view.

That all changed at November's Survivor Series, when the Texas Rattlesnake squared off with a returning Bret Hart. Handpicked to be the opponent for The Hitman in his first major match back since WrestleMania 12, Austin made the most of the situation and had what was his best WWE match to that point.

It looked like this was the night that everything clicked for the Bionic Redneck, as he more than kept up with Bret and took him to the limit in a thirty-minute stunner (pun slightly intended). He didn't win, but he didn't come out of the match looking like a loser and used the result to hound the Pink and Black Attack for a WrestleMania rematch.

And to think Austin began the year as The Ringmaster and was almost given the name 'Fang McFrost'...