10 wrestlers who need a push after WrestleMania

WWE WrestleMania 34 is almost upon us, which means we are closing in on the beginning of a new year for WWE. Many people, myself included think of the WWE’s “season”, or whatever you choose to call it, starting the night after WrestleMania and ending at the following year’s WrestleMania. The “playoffs”, if you will, begin with the Royal Rumble and have their conclusion at the show of shows.

Every year we see something big happen after WrestleMania. A brand draft, the return of a superstar after being shelved from a long-term injury, call-ups of NXT talent and, occasionally, some new stars being featured in bigger roles. That often comes in the form of men or women who hit it big at WrestleMania and thus start off the new “season” at an advantage, but every once in a while, a new star breaks out of the pack and gains new life that he or she didn’t have before WrestleMania. This is a list of 10 stars that need to be given some of the spotlight, once the curtains close on April 8th and the WWE begins anew.

#10 Rusev

Many people would put Rusev at the very top of this list, naming him the number one guy who should get a big push and more focus spent on him once WrestleMania is all said and done. I agree, but this list isn’t necessarily in order of importance. Also, I just want to get him out of the way, because most people already feel the exact same way that I do. The man is an extremely good wrestler, he’s able to play a funny role, a serious role, and has the rare ability to do both at the same time without coming across like a doofus who is forcing it. He has literally everything that a wrestling fan wants in a pro wrestler. Everything that you would think Vince McMahon would want -- but he’s not American, so it’s just easier to keep him marginalized until the time comes for him to be the big evil foreigner again.

It’s a real shame that a man who has proven time and time again that he can excel in any and every role is being relegated to being the guy kept off to the side until he’s needed for some good old-fashioned jingoistic pandering. He gets just enough exposure so that people know that they are supposed to react to him when he turns into the really bad guy. Rusev Day is lightning in a bottle. They have something that accidentally fell in their laps -- it was a joke for a one-and-done segment, but the audience adopted as their own and made it something that sells tons of merchandise and gets fans to chant when they are not happy with the segment, often in place of “boring”. What people are saying is “we want Rusev in a more prominent role” and WWE is hearing “we want to buy some calendars and t-shirts”. Short-term thinking, just like always.

#9 Tye Dillinger

I think a lot of people would agree with me on this choice as well. Dillinger is a guy who has all the potential in the world. In the few times he’s been given the opportunity to try to live up to it, even for just a brief moment, he has made the most of it and proven that he deserves to be more than just a low-card enhancement wrestler. Most WWE superstars also agree with this. Check out Twitter for yourself, and see how many of the current WWE roster members praise Dillinger as one of the most all-around talented guys that the company has to offer.

Tye is a stellar in-ring performer, and as a 16-year veteran, he’s not getting any younger. He just turned 37, so it’s not like time has run out by any means, but if WWE doesn’t utilize the talent that he has, they are just throwing money in the toilet. He can play a cocky heel and he shines as an underdog babyface, with the ability to convey seriousness, humility, and sincerity better than almost anybody in the business. Once WrestleMania is said and done, Tye would be a perfect candidate to start a climb toward the United States Championship and would be a great eventual challenger to either a heel Randy Orton or a heel Bobby Roode. Either feud would be money.

#8 Breezango

This is a tag team, not just a single wrestler, but I think it’s very important. If forced to choose I would pick Tyler Breeze over Fandango, but it’s my list and I’m not choosing. Shortly after WrestleMania last year, Breezango actually did get a bit of a boost. They had been doing the Fashion Police routine as heels, but it was getting over and WWE decided to capitalize on that by turning them into good guys and having them earn a shot at The Usos and their Tag Team Championship. Breezango were not the team expected to come out as the number one contenders on an episode of SmackDown in which they were part of a “Beat The Clock Challenge” series, but they did it, much to the delight of the crowd. Their silly antics won the audience over and their Backlash title shot against The Usos was one of the funniest and most unconventionally entertaining matches that WWE has had in years. They came very close to defeating The Usos, and the crowd was absolutely begging for them to win the Tag Team Championship. Alas, it did not happen and they also lost a rematch -- shortly after they fell back to the very bottom of the tag ranks.

It was a complete waste of an extremely popular team. The Fashion Files became a big hit and continued to be a highlight of SmackDown on a weekly basis, and the crowd still clearly was ready to see Breeze and Fandango get another shot at tag team gold, but they continued to flounder as just another pair of bodies. They are too good to be relegated to a couple of guys who get trotted out on TV occasionally to lose. Ever since the Fashion Files became a WWE dot com exclusive show, they have been essentially complete ghosts, almost never appearing on television. These guys need another shot. Tag team wrestling as a whole needs a shot in the arm, and I think when the next round of trades happens, or when WWE does a draft or Superstar Shakeup, these two should find their way to RAW. Breezango versus The Revival writes itself!

#7 Apollo

Titus Worldwide is a terrible travesty and needs to end. The crowd doesn’t care about Titus O’Neil, and being associated with him just drags Apollo down. The initial pairing may have helped Apollo gain some confidence in a speaking role, but outside of that, it’s been a waste of time. Apollo is an extremely talented wrestler and is one of the rare cases of a wrestler being called up from NXT far too early instead of far too late. He barely sipped a cup of coffee in NXT before he was pulled up to the main roster, and he suffered for it. The crowd didn’t really get a chance to be properly introduced to him, so when he didn’t receive an immediate superstar response, WWE left him out in the cold.

While he is still not the best talker WWE has to offer, he has a lot of in-ring presence and he is an amazingly talented athlete who continues to improve as a wrestler each and every time he has a match. On in-ring talent alone he was able to make the crowd believe that he had a chance to defeat The Miz on an episode of SmackDown in late 2016 for the Intercontinental Championship. And this was coming off the heels of an absolutely terrible feud where he teamed with Kalisto to take on a newly heel-turned Dolph Ziggler, a storyline that the crowd could not be bothered to care about.

He did it again earlier this year in the qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber, specifically with his outstanding performance in the last chance fatal 5-way match that ended up being won by both Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. Imagine -- Apollo was in a match with Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, and Matt Hardy for the final spot in the Elimination Chamber and the live audience actually believed that he had a legitimate chance to win the match. That alone should have been enough to wake up WWE management, but clearly, it fell on deaf ears. He could have a breakout year as Intercontinental Champion in 2018.

#6 Becky Lynch

The first ever SmackDown Live Women’s Champion has become a complete afterthought. Instead of being the world-beating fan favorite Irish Lass Kicker that the entire crowd wants her to be, she’s just friends with Charlotte and Naomi and will do whatever she must in order to protect the sanctity of the women’s division. Or some silly crap like that. By choosing to side with Charlotte against the Riott Squad, Becky was putting herself at the back of the line for a title shot and actually helping the current champion hold onto her title instead of trying to earn the right to take it away from her.

It’s terrible, awful booking and WWE, especially SmackDown, has been guilty of having absolutely zero clue how to portray their women on a weekly basis. For months upon months, it has literally just been some combination of Becky, Naomi, and Charlotte taking on Ruby, Liv, and Sarah. Singles, tag and six-woman tag matches between those six women have dominated the division, with Natalya getting a sniff every once in a while and Carmella, Ms. Money in the Bank, occasionally gets to poke her head out from behind the curtain to remind people that she exists.

The whole thing is a mess, but in my eyes, the biggest tragedy of all is that Becky Lynch has been reduced to being a glorified sidekick when she used to be the most loved female superstar on SmackDown -- one of the show’s biggest stars, male or female, to be perfectly honest. Becky Lynch needs to be a big presence in the women’s division in 2018, whether it’s on RAW or SmackDown.

#5 Bo Dallas

As a man who will only be turning 28-years-old in May, it seems like most fans have already given up on Bray Wyatt’s real-life little brother. Dallas found his groove as a disingenuous heel and defeated Big E Langston to become the third NXT Champion. He had a great reign, which ended in a ladder match on the first live event aired on the WWE Network, NXT Arrival. Neville was crowned the champion that night, and only a few months later Dallas would become a full-time member of the WWE roster, continuing his “Bo-Lieve” gimmick that made him such a great heel champion.

Much like most NXT wrestlers, the writers of WWE’s main roster didn’t understand the reason why Dallas had been so successful in NXT, and they completely ran his gimmick into the ground. Instead of continuing his run as a hated heel, WWE quickly transitioned Bo-Lieve into a joke and he has never been able to dig himself out of that hole. At the beginning of the new brand split in 2016 it looked like Bo was being given another chance, as he returned to TV with a new look and a significantly more aggressive attitude. That lasted for a few weeks before they pulled the plug on that and he went back to being a laughing stock low card loser.

The Miztourage partnership has been very beneficial to The Miz and is certainly beneficial to the wallets of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, both of whom are now on TV every week in a significant supporting role. They’re still cannon fodder and portrayed as mostly inept goons, but at least they can help get the job done when it matters. It’s all to the benefit of The Miz, however. Both men deserve to break free of the Miztourage, but Dallas is good as a wrestler and is a very charismatic character. He may never be WWE Champion, but he has all of the tools needed to be a very successful player in the Intercontinental or United States Championship divisions. And hell, he’s young! Maybe one day, if WWE doesn’t continue using him as a punching bag, he can achieve greater heights. The Miz did!

#4 Big E

Now let’s not be silly. Big E has been a player from the very beginning. He got over big when he burst onto the scene in NXT and defeated Seth Rollins to become the second ever NXT Champion -- while Rollins was already a member of The Shield, and Reigns and Ambrose were at ringside! After losing the title to Bo Dallas he soon made his way to the main roster and immediately became an important part of the show. He teamed with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee, then feuded with Ziggler after Dolph turned babyface. Before that, he teamed with Ziggler at WrestleMania 29 to challenge Daniel Bryan and Kane for the Tag Team Championship, only 4 months into his run on the main roster. That’s a pretty big deal.

He turned face later that year and challenged Dean Ambrose unsuccessfully for the United States Championship, but soon after, won the Intercontinental Championship, becoming champion almost exactly 11 months after his main roster debut. He held the belt for 6 months and then quickly entered a feud with Rusev, who had just burst onto the scene in a big way, dominating everyone. Big E was seen as pretty much the first guy who had a chance to defeat Rusev, and they had a great series of matches. Big E was ultimately unsuccessful, but he had a ton of crowd support.

Then came The New Day, which has now been going strong for nearly 3 and a half years. Big E is easily one of the most successful NXT call-ups, probably only behind the three members of The Shield. So why does he need a push? Well, The New Day can’t last forever, and lately, it feels like they may be on their way out as a team. It’s been an amazing run, but it’s time for Big E to become the singles superstar that he was born to become, and it starts this year.

#3 Oney Lorcan

One of the hardest hitters in NXT, Oney Lorcan has recently been upping his stock slowly but surely on the brand. He isn’t much of a player and probably won’t be, but that’s okay. He should be heading up to the main roster and 205 Live after WrestleMania.

With the new focus of 205 Live being competition more akin to the Cruiserweight Classic, Oney Lorcan is the perfect fit. He has had one or two matches on the program in the past in solid losing efforts but was only around to make other guys look good. Now it’s his turn to look good. Guys like Roderick Strong, Hideo Itami, Drew Gulak, and Jack Gallagher are similar in style, using smashmouth brutality and sudden quickness to take out their opponents. Between guys similar in style and all of the high-flyers on 205 Live, Oney is the kind of guy who fits into the picture beautifully. He would be a great asset to the brand, and it is his best shot at being successful in WWE in my opinion. I don’t think there’s a place for him in NXT, but the cruiserweight division should welcome him with open arms.

#2 Ruby Riott

Ruby Riott burst onto the scene in NXT as a babyface superstar, representing a more counterculture type of female wrestler. An atypical hairstyle, lots of tattoos, dark makeup and piercings all over, Riott was something different. Add to that her charisma and in-ring capability and you have an all-around exciting superstar. She was an immediate player upon appearing in NXT last March, but was continually unsuccessful in her chase to get a shot at the Women’s Championship. After only about 8 months there, she debuted on SmackDown and formed the Riott Squad.

As I discussed earlier when profiling Becky Lynch, the women on SmackDown Live have been floundering. There’s no drama and it’s the same thing week-in and week-out. The Riott Squad debuted right after Absolution did on RAW, and both groups were essentially identical until Paige got injured and RAW’s trio became a team with a manager while on SmackDown Live the Squad has continued to be a threesome. I think the experiment is over. After losing to Charlotte in her first shot at the Women’s Championship in the placeholder match at Fastlane and months of repetitive nothingness, it’s time for Ruby to go in a different direction. She should be the rebellious babyface, playing a role similar to Becky Lynch, now that I think about it.

She’s a relatable character because there are a lot of young women who look and dress like she does, and they don’t have anybody on WWE TV to look at and say “hey, she represents people like me!” That could be a reality. Break up the Riott Squad. Keep Ruby on the main roster and let Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan get the NXT runs that they deserve (in a good way -- they never got a chance to do anything there and they are worse off because of it).

I think it’s time to start a riot.

#1 Kofi Kingston

You didn’t see this coming, did you? Kofi Kingston has been a part of the WWE roster since the beginning of 2008 and from the very start, he has been a mainstay. He debuted on ECW on Sci-Fi in January 2008 and won his first title, the Intercontinental Championship, almost exactly six months later. And he beat Chris Jericho to win it. Since then he has held that title for a total of 4 times, the United States Championship 3 times, and he is a 7-time tag team champion. The man has been all over the place and has done pretty much everything you can do in WWE -- except win a World Title.

Now of course, not everybody needs to win the WWE Championship. Some of the best of all time like Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts never won the belt. Mr Perfect didn’t win it, either. It’s a different time now -- championship reigns are often much shorter, and the belts aren’t given only to THE guys. Say hello to WWE Champion Jinder Mahal and World Champions Great Khali and Jack Swagger. But that doesn’t describe Kofi Kingston. He’s a wrestler who could easily become THE guy for one of the two brands. He is supremely talented in the ring, he’s amazingly charismatic, he is funny, he can play it serious -- much like his younger partner in The New Day who is also on this list, Big E -- Kofi can do it all.

As I mentioned, it looks like it’s a possibility that The New Day may not make it out of 2018. They might not make it through the rumoured upcoming draft later on this spring. If that’s the case and New Day is no more, I think it’s time to give Kofi a run at the big one. It looked like he was headed that way as early as mid-to-late 2009, less than 2 years into his run in WWE when he got a program with Randy Orton, but that didn’t turn out well due to, by some alleged accounts, Orton throwing a tantrum because Kofi messed up the finish of a match, and it caused Kofi to lose his chance at becoming a main event guy. We’ll never know the truth, but it doesn’t matter. Kofi has had an amazing career with a ton of highlights, and he still has plenty of time to go.

But I think 2018 would be a great year for him to move on to the next chapter, and he can finish his last few years (he’s only 36 even though they call him the “old man” of the New Day) -- or maybe just spend the next few years of his career before he starts winding down, as a main event guy. Doesn’t AJ Styles vs. Kofi Kingston sound like a great idea? I think it does.

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