Story highlights Fox News announced Tuesday the participants in it's prime-time debate

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry did not make the cut

Washington (CNN) The wait is over to find out who will grace Fox News' prime-time debate stage on Thursday -- but for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the outcome wasn't what he'd hoped.

Fox News said Tuesday that Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich will all appear on the dais Thursday for the premiere event.

That leaves Perry and the six other major declared candidates -- Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore -- to appear together during a debate earlier Thursday evening.

The debate in Cleveland marks the beginning of a new stage in the Republican nominating contest, where candidates will likely sharpen their first contrasts with one another and the field's front-runner, Trump. The debates -- which gave new life to presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich in 2012 -- are now only open to the heavily splintered party's favorites.

Those who are unable to make Fox's debate could be left to languish without the political oxygen provided by the televised event; some Republican strategists have argued that those who fail to make the debate will also slowly be de-legitimized in the eyes of donors and early state endorsers.

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