History StarMakingRole / ProfessionalWrestling

** Marty "the Moth" Martinez had faced a slow climb from JokeCharacter to a heel that people could take seriously during his Season 2 feud with his sister Mariposa against the pair of Sexy Star and The Mack, but it was when he moved on to feud with [[Wrestling/SwerveStrickland Killshot]] that he ''really'' proved his mettle. The Weapons of Mass Destruction match early in Season 3 guaranteed that ''nobody'' would think of the Moth as a joke ever again, and it made a star out of Killshot too.

** Marty "the Moth" Martinez had faced a slow climb from JokeCharacter to a heel that people could take seriously during his Season 2 feud with his sister Mariposa against the pair of Sexy Star and The Mack, but it was when he moved on to feud with Killshot that he ''really'' proved his mettle. The Weapons of Mass Destruction match early in Season 3 guaranteed that ''nobody'' would think of the Moth as a joke ever again, and it made a star out of Killshot too.

'''A Administrivia/{{No Recent Examples|please}} rule applies to this trope'''. To avoid any knee-jerk reactions, examples shouldn't be added until '''six months''' after the performer first appears in the role, or after the match that boosts their career to stardom (whichever comes later)

'''A Administrivia/{{No Recent Examples|please}} rule applies to this trope'''. To avoid any knee-jerk reactions, examples shouldn't be added until '''six months''' after the performer first appears in the role.

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* Wrestling/{{Edge}} had already built up quite the midcard following thanks to the above mentioned three-way feud between him and Christian, the Hardy Boys, and the Dudley Boys in the early 2000s, but most people didn't take him seriously as a main event talent, even after winning his first WWE title at Wrestling/NewYearsRevolution 2006. He didn't get his big break as a singles competitor until he and Mick Foley put on a brutal hardcore match at Wrestling/WrestleMania 22.

* Speaking of double-sided Star Making Matches and ladders, The [[Wrestling/MattHardy Hardy]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Boyz]] and Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Wrestling/{{Christian}} broke out over a series of Ladder Matches against one another, started by an outstanding effort at ''No Mercy 1999''. The whole Hardyz/E&C feud is a [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments Crowning Series of Awesome]] for all four men.

* Wrestling/{{Edge}} had already built up quite the midcard following thanks to the above mentioned three-way feud between him and Christian, the Hardy Boys, and the Dudley Boys in the early 2000s, but most people didn't take him seriously as a main event talent, even after winning his first WWE title at New Year's Revolution 2006. He didn't get his big break as a singles competitor until he and Mick Foley put on a brutal hardcore match at Wrestling/WrestleMania 22.

** Speaking of Killshot, he came out of his feud with Marty looking great, but his subsequent feud with debuting embittered former friend Dante Fox elevated him to the next level. But that's nothing compared to how it made ''Fox'' look. The culmination of the feud at Ultima Lucha Tres stole not only the show but almost the entire ''season,'' and made Fox in particular look like the next big thing. Indeed, both men joined with The Mack to capture the Trios belts only two weeks later.

* PaulHeyman had been a wrestling reporter creative personality and an announcer for years, but he credits the Dangerous Alliance with putting him on the map.

** Mil Muertes was already a made man from his debut, but when he feuded with Fenix over the affections of Catrina, culminating in the literally ''murderous'' Grave Consequences match, it raised his stock considerably (or at least raised anticipation for his return) and made Fenix one of the top stars in the promotion.

** Pentagon Jr. started out as just one of multiple masked wrestlers and fell into being a flunky for Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr, but after Chavo turned on him at Aztec Warfare he found a "Master" and started breaking the arms of jobbers, causing people to really sit up and start to take notice. His subsequent feud culminating in a ''[[HolyShitQuotient brutal]]'' hardcore match against wrestling legend Vampiro at Ultima Lucha made him for life, particularly with TheReveal that [[MagnificentBastard Vampiro]] was his master all along. Now he's LU champion.

* Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}'s career STARTED this way. After having worked some non-televised matches, he made his surprise TV debut on the September 22, 1997 episode of ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'' against Wrestling/HughMorrus, where he became the first wrestler to kick out of Morrus' FinishingMove No Laughing Matter en route to winning the match. EVERYBODY was talking about Goldberg after that.

* Wrestling/{{Edge}} had already built up quite the midcard following thanks to the above mentioned three-way feud between him and Christian, the Hardy Boys, and the Dudley Boys in the early 2000s, but most people didn't take him seriously as a main event talent, even after winning his first WWE title at New Year's Revolution 2006. He didn't get his big break as a singles competitor until he and Mick Foley put on a brutal hardcore match at WrestleMania 22.

* Sometimes, ''losing'' a match could be the best thing to ever happen to your career, as [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] found out at ''WrestleMania 28'' after an 18-second loss against Sheamus. While he was an independent legend beforehand and his NXT angle was very well-received, after that squashing, he quickly became one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster.