History EnsembleDarkHorse / ProWrestling

* Wrestling/TheWyattFamily, a backwoods cult stable, won the fans over with their mysterious entrance and leader Wrestling/BrayWyatt's sinister Manson-esque personality. Although their booking started to take a turn for the worse after ''[=WrestleMania=] XXX'', it hasn't stopped fans from admiring them and wanting better for them.

* Wrestling/{{Daffney| Unger}} became surprisingly popular in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] despite degenerating into a rarely used {{jobber}} {{heel}} as time went on, devoid of any redeeming qualities. Following her governor run she had a (weak) FreudianExcuse and that was it.

* WWE backstage interviewer Renee Young is actually incredibly popular with fans. It helps that she is both very good at her job and is a genuine wrestling fan. And,if we're being honest, the fact that she's good-looking doesn't hurt either.
* There have always been calls for Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels to be in a higher position in TNA, excepting when he was part of [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Bad Influence]], which itself is was an ensemble darkhorse {{tag team}} that only came together out of a {{Ass Pull}} {{diabolus ex machina}} to make the life of Wrestling/AJStyles worse.
* Referee Paul Turner is amusingly popular with Ring Of Honor fans, considering he got that way from stopping a fan from hitting top heel Wrestling/AustinAries.

* Wrestling/NecroButcher caught on better in Ring Of Honor than IWA Mid-South which, given the latter being in a GarbageWrestling phase, you'd expect to be the opposite. Even after he joined the initially XPacHeat drawing Age Of The Fall Necro Butcher did not suffer much loss of popularity.

* ''Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon'', has always received a lot of ovations compared to his father, mainly because his no-DQ matches has allow him to go beyond the limit [[note]]such as his spots atop the Titantron in Backlash 2001 and Unforgiven 2003, being German Suplexed through glass at King of the Ring 2001, and his Hardcore title match against Wrestling/StevenBlackman at Summerslam 2000 being the most memorable instances of his badassery.[[/note]] as well for being Stephanie's polar opposite. [[spoiler: His return on Raw in February 22 has the biggest pop of the night.]]
* Wrestling/TheShield, despite being heels for most of their run, were incredibly popular with fans, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of Internet favorites Wrestling/SethRollins and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose. Even after their breakup, both Rollins and Ambrose were able to hold on to the same popularity (even though the former was a heel). Wrestling/RomanReigns, the other third of the group, wasn't nearly as lucky, as he quickly became a major CreatorsPet in the eyes of fans.

* Wrestling/{{Breezango}}. Inititally a make-shift team formed to serve as jobbers to the higher level superstars, they broke into their own after adopting the "fashion police" gimmicks and starring in some ReferenceOverdosed skits, showing off their comedic talents and earning the love of the audience.
* Originally [[Wrestling/RusevAndLana Rusev]] started out as an unbeatable ForeignWrestlingHeel and got some heat before settling into a mid card heel role who no one really cared about. As of mid 2017 however, he was teamed up with Aiden English and allowed to express his naturally comedic personality, and as a result his Rusev Day gimmick has gotten incredibly popular, to the point where the only people who consistently get bigger pops on Smackdown are Wrestling/AJStyles and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], and that's despite him and English ostensibly being heels. He's selling merch, too, with Rusev Day shirts consistently being in the top 5 shirts on the entire WWE store. Time will tell how far Rusev's Dark Horse status will get him.
* Wrestling/BeckyLynch slowly became this as she climbed up in the NXT Women's division, as people came to see the value in her as more than just a lackey for Wrestling/SashaBanks. She soon gained more confidence and broke away from Sasha, winning the No. 1 contender shot for the NXT Women's Championship. Lynch lost the title match, but she put in one of the best women's performances in NXT history and looked strong in defeat. As Becky sat in the ring clutching her arm and reduced to tears, the crowd promptly showed their appreciation, chanting her name and singing her theme song before it was cued up again to play Becky out of the ring, giving her the biggest boost of her career even though she lost. She was previously this in SHIMMER - as she didn't make too many appearances but was fondly remembered for years after her retirement. What's more is that the only time Paige got booed during her heel turn promo was when she insulted Becky. And so far, Becky is the only {{Face}} that has ever been cheered going against Sasha Banks on the main roster.
** At the start of 2019, Becky is universally considered to be the most beloved person in the entire company, easily becoming WWE’s most over star since [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] at the peak of his popularity in 2014, especially when compared to her "best friend", CreatorsPet Wrestling/CharlotteFlair; her popularity absolutely exploded when she turned heel at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2018'' and attacked Charlotte after their title match, to which the crowd loudly cheered for her. WWE tried persistently, bless them, to turn the fans against her after that, with each successive attempt falling flatter and flatter until Becky's concussion at the hands of Wrestling/NiaJax just before ''Survivor Series 2018'' - to say nothing of her ''absurdly'' badass NoSell of the injury immediately afterward - made them give up entirely and deliberately seat Becky at the top of the ladder. When the latter incident gets you unironically compared to ''Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin,'' well...
* [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]] is widely regarded as one of the funniest wrestlers in recent decade and is consider the best ''the'' 24/7 Champion making the title itself as popular as he is. You know you're a hit when ''Brock Lesnar'' finds you legitimately funny.

* Wrestling/LAKnight got very popular as soon as he debuted on NXT, with many fans loving his infectious cocky personality filled with [[BadassBoast badass boasts]] that many liken to [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. When he was repackaged as Max Dupri and given a model gimmick, many fans were upset, and once he was reverted back to his LA Knight gimmick, many fans were overjoyed. It's even to the extent that whenever he appears, he gets some of the loudest crowd reactions of the night.

* Chad Gable has been this ever since he got his first singles run. While he was decently popular in a tag team, on his own, fans were wowed by his athleticism, selling, strong promo ability, and having a massive amount of strength for someone of his height. He's even been compared to a mini Wrestling/KurtAngle.

* LA Knight got very popular as soon as he debuted on NXT, with many fans loving his infectious cocky personality filled with [[BadassBoast badass boasts]] that many liken to [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. When he was repackaged as Max Dupri and given a model gimmick, many fans were upset, and once he was reverted back to his LA Knight gimmick, many fans were overjoyed. It's even to the extent that whenever he appears, he gets some of the loudest crowd reactions of the night.

* LA Knight got very popular as soon as he debuted on NXT, with many fans loving his infectious cocky personality filled with [[BadassBoast badass boasts]] that many liken to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson. When he was repackaged as Max Dupri and given a model gimmick, many fans were upset, and once he was reverted back to his LA Knight gimmick, many fans were overjoyed. It's even to the extent that whenever he appears, he gets some of the loudest crowd reactions of the night.

* Chad Gable has been this ever since he got his first singles run. While he was decently popular in a tag team, on his own, fans were wowed by his athleticism, selling, strong promo ability, and having a massive amount of strength for someone of his height. He's even been compared to a mini Wrestling/Kurt Angle.

* Wrestling/{{Daffney| Unger}} became surprisingly popular in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] despite degenerating into a rarely used {{jobber}} {{heel}} as time went on, devoid of any redeeming qualities. Following her governor run she had a (weak) Freudian excuse and that was it.

* While Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio is ''by no means'' an EnsembleDarkhorse (he was at the beginning of his WWE run but his popularity dropped sharply afterwards), his former ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, is, thanks to his LargeHam personality.

* Wrestling/LivMorgan. How she's gone from one third/half of Wrestling/TheRiottSquad to one of the most over and popular stars on Wrestling/WWERaw who was in a feud with Wrestling/BeckyLynch over the WWE Raw women's world championship.

* Wrestling/LivMorgan. How she's gone from one third/half of Wrestling/TheRiottSquad to one of the most over and popular stars on Wrestling/WWERaw currently embroiled in a feud with Wrestling/BeckyLynch over the WWE Raw women's world championship.

* Wrestling/LivMorgan. How she's gone from one third/half of The Riott Squad to one of the most over and popular stars on Wrestling/WWERaw currently embroiled in a feud with Wrestling/BeckyLynch over the WWE Raw women's world championship.

* Wrestling/MauroRanallo, a commentator that began his WWE career on the first Smackdown on the USA Network, has been well received by the IWC for his fantastic first night on the job on commentary [[note]]it helps that he has prior experience commentating for Showtime Championship Boxing, Glory Kickboxing, Invicta Fighting Championships, and Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling.[[/note]] and being a vast improvement over the likes of fellow commentators Wrestling/MichaelCole and Byron Saxton.

* Wrestling/StevieRichards in WWE. On the September 10, 2007 ''Raw,'' [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]]'s flunky Jonathan Coachman told him that, in the online poll on WWE's website of who the fans thought would be revealed to be Vince's "son," Richards was in second place, leading to Coach bringing Richards in to see Vince. Considering how Richards had not held a title for five years[[note]]He scored his 22nd, and final, win of the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-hc.html WWE Hardcore Title]] for less than a day on August 18, 2002[[/note]] and had not even had a [=PPV=] match[[note]]The [=Mexicools=] (Juventud Guerrera, Wrestling/{{Psicosis}} [who qualifies for this himself] and Super Crazy) d. the Blue World Order (Richards, Wrestling/TheBlueMeanie and [[Wrestling/MikeBucci Nova]]) at ''WWE The Great American Bash 2005'' on July 24, 2005[[/note]] in two years at that point, it just showed how Richards had been able to retain a fan base from his years in ECW.
** Part of the reason for Richards' popularity was he was on [[BShow Sunday Night Heat]] for years without being fired, and had an ironic gimmick about his lack of popularity.

!!Example Subpages:

[[index]]
* ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse/{{WWENXT}} WWE NXT]]''
[[/index]]

!!Other Examples:

* ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse/{{WWENXT}} NXT]]''

* [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] is perhaps the biggest example of this trope in professional wrestling history. He was a was a former [[Wrestling/TheNexus Nexus]] member who quickly became the most over WWE superstar since the Attitude Era if not of all time. In fact, Bryan was so popular that crowds went into complete and utter meltdown whenever he was booked weakly and not given opportunities at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, including '''two consecutive ''Wrestling/{{Royal Rumble}}s''''', [[XPacHeat actively turned on face wrestlers]] seen as having "[[ReplacementScrappy stolen his spot]]", such as Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Wrestling/RomanReigns, and Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, got ''Wrestling/ShawnMichaels'' over as a heel in ''2013'', forced WWE to abort what seemed to be his own turn with him joining Wrestling/TheWyattFamily (and got a pop reminiscent of a title win for what was just him breaking away from a stable he was only in for ''two weeks''), and cheered him ''even when he wasn't in the ring''. It got to the point that WWE had to completely rebook ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XXX'' simply because the fans refused to accept anything that didn't end in "Daniel Bryan wins the World Title" (the departure of Wrestling/CMPunk after that year's ''Rumble'' may have had something to do with it).

* There have always been calls for Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels to be in a higher position in TNA, excepting when he was part of [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Bad Influence]], which itself is was an ensemble darkhorse {{tag team}} that only came together out of a {{Shocking Swerve}} {{diabolus ex machina}} to make the life of Wrestling/AJStyles worse.