Impressive Blackburn Rovers, who showed there is life after Damien Duff, gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a severe lesson in Premiership football.
The gulf in class was evident from the first whistle as Rovers put their visitors to the sword and in truth, could have had a hatful more than they eventually scored.
New Blackburn signings Brett Emerton and Lorenzo Amoruso both scored on their debuts, as did Wolves' Steffen Iversen, while Andy Cole (2) and David Thompson also notched.
Wolves keeper Matt Murray needed to be sharp from the start, making a tremendous save from Matt Jansen. However, his efforts were in vain as from the resulting corner, Amoruso steamed in to thump home Emerton's delivery.
Rovers made it two in the 29th minute, Thompson playing a one-two with Jansen before placing a delightful half-volley into Murray's top corner.
Wolves, despite loud vocal backing from their supporters, were clearly shell-shocked. Even so, Iversen and Colin Cameron both spurned decent opportunities to get their side back into the game before the break.
They were to be duly punished.
Emerton ripped a stunning 20-yard drive into the corner of the Wolves net on 53 minutes while Murray was alert to deny Dwight Yorke.
Iversen pulled a goal back for the visitors after his first header came back off the post on 71 minutes but it was false ray of hope for Wolves.
Cole clambered off the bench to bury a left-footed shot in the 79th minute and the striker scored again on 87 minutes when he latched on to Tugay's delightful through pass.
Blackburn boss Graeme Souness was understandably delighted by his side's start to the season, saying: "This was a very good day for us, we started well. I was very impressed with both Lorenzo and Brett. We showed good stuff going forward and were good at the back." His opposite number Dave Jones was philosophical in defeat: "Nobody expected this season to be easy. We did not do ourselves justice today, we need to learn from this and learn quickly."