5 best storylines potentially building up for the year

2019 has been a great year to be a professional wrestling fan. While WWE is still the most valuable player on the scene by a mile, its product isn't the most critically reviewed program by any means. While Vince McMahon's promotion has a galaxy of Superstars - past and present - and five different shows airing per week, many of its storylines haven't set the world on fire recently. With the financials perks attracting the very best to the company, WWE can turn it around, but its two main challengers have their steady set of fans as well.

With AEW's weekly show on TNT just a month away, wrestling fans will have a lot more storylines to sink their teeth in to for the rest of the year. AEW has already made stars out of talent like Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy and Darby Allin while ex-WWE stars like PAC and Jon Moxley are more relevant now than ever and fans can't wait to see all these elements mixing things up in Tony Khan's promotion.

NJPW has undoubtedly been rocked by the departures of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, but the promotion originally caught the eye due to their brilliant in-ring action and they still have a hell of a roster to continue doing the same - Okada, Tanahashi, Naito and Ibushi are all there with the likes of Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr on the cusps of breaking out.

So among the three companies, which are the storylines that have already started playing out and has the potential to have fans hooked till at least the end of the year? Read on.

5. NXT is Undisputed

NXT has often been cited as the best brand in the WWE - While it is not really fair to compare the developmental show to the rigors of RAW and Smackdown, the storylines developing at Full Sail have the potential to be awesome, especially considering the show's move to USA network.

Women's Champion Shayna Baszler is in the perfect position to put someone over and move on to the main roster whereas Io Shirai's heel turn has turned in to the most engaging storyline in recent times. And then there is the Undisputed Era.

True MVPs of the roster, comprising of the NXT Champion Adam Cole, Tag Champions Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish as well as Roderick Strong, Undisputed Era are the faces of the yellow brand. With Strong rumored to win the North American title at the USA network premiere of the show, it could see the Era hold all the titles in the brand come October.

The rise and the eventual fall of the Era is a compelling storyline and the major arc will involve Cole. Whether it be another classic for the NXT title against Johny Gargano or the crowning of a young pretender like Dream or Riddle, Cole's title run will define NXT for the year.

4. The New Day implosion?

Kofi Kingston's decade-long journey to becoming WWE Champion was arguably the best feel-good story of the year and WWE has continued to back the experiment by allowing Kofi to beat challenger after challenger. The on-going feud with a reinvigorated Randy Orton has pushed Kofi to another level and will likely cement Kofi's place as a true main eventer and not just a one-time Champion.

However, knowing WWE's treatment of World Championship runs of former Tag team specialists, it seems likely that a New Day split will play a major impact on the Kofi as Champion storyline. Kofi's challengers have used both Woods and Big E to make a statement to the Champion and clever booking suggests that seeds of dissension among the New Day might not be far away.

Kingston will not be holding on to his title all the way till next Wrestlemania and how he loses the belt is a major storyline. Woods and Big E will play a big role and the split may come as early as Survivor Series.

3. Kenny Omega's AEW redemption arc

Kenny Omega might just be the most self-less wrestler around. He might not have opened up NJPW to western fans, but he sure solidified its presence as a viable alternative to the WWE. With classic matches against the likes of Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, the brilliant Bullet Club and Golden Lovers storylines, Omega could have chosen to accept a multi-million contract from the WWE a star of his magnitude deserved.

But Omega chose to join AEW with his pals and while his EVP position might have been an incentive, the best wrestler in the world has proceeded to show wrestling fans that he can conduct business the right way. Omega's AEW Singles record stands at 1-2 with a stunning loss to PAC at All Out the most noteworthy.

With his feud with Jon Moxley still going on, Omega could have chosen to protect himself with a positive result in the match - or he could have accepted a fluke loss. While fellow EVP Cody was busy downgrading Shawn Spears from potential top heel to mid-card hand at All Out, Omega chose to have PAC knock him out in the middle of the ring with the devastating Brutaliser. It is an act that is starkly different from other wrestlers who have the power to book themselves.

With all due respect to Chris Jericho, Omega is the biggest star in the company and the end game is surely him capturing the AEW Championship. But Jon Moxley would be another stumbling block and the story of how Omega rises to the top of the AEW mountain is an intriguing one.

2. Heels Bayley and Sasha Banks

Sasha Banks and Bayley made quite an impact last week

When Bayley and Sasha Banks teamed up in 2018 to less than tremendous results and with the expected breakup not coming even after months of teases, it was feared that they might have used up all the goodwill that they had built from the WWE Universe over the years. The Women's tag team title victory was sort of a given and when Banks took time off after Wrestlemania, it seemed like WWE had missed the trigger on these two. Not quite!

A reinvigorated Banks is the first serious challenger to Becky Lynch's Raw Women's title and she is finally playing her natural role of being a heel. While Bayley could have continued to prosper on her own as the babyface Smackdown women's champion, the shock that was generated when she blasted fellow Champion Lynch with those chair shots ensured that it was one of the best turns in recent WWE history. The fact that she proceeded to provide proper justifications for her actions at that week's Smackdown before pummelling Charlotte in the same manner perfectly rounded off the turn.

Sasha and Bayley are in cahoots again - but the storyline this time is far more engaging. With the likes of Becky and Charlotte going to be proxy faces, the Four Horsewomen can be truly expected to raise the standards of the women's division yet again.

1. Kota Ibushi's championship pursuit

With the Elite's move to AEW, NJPW was forced to adjust its top-level storylines. While Kenny Omega was the right man to end Kazuchika Okada's historic title run and Tanahashi's redemption on beating Omega at Wrestlekingdom made for an emotional storyline, the IWGP World title is once again back in Omega's capable hands, with the Rainmaker looking for the right challenger to do the honors.

Enter Kota Ibushi.

Ibushi has been a top star at NJPW over the years without ever being the World Champion. His tremendous 2018 G1 block deciding victory over Omega, the emotional final defeat against Tanahashi and the brutal Intercontinental bouts with Tetsuya Naito all solidified that he was the true NJPW babyface and that a date with Okada for the World title should not be far away.

The fact that he chose to remain a freelancer instead of signing an exclusive deal with NJPW did complicate matters last year, but the NJPW management pulled off a major coup in persuading him to finally commit himself to the promotion instead of following his friend Omega to AEW.

With the management fully invested in him, Ibushi won this year's G1 Climax, fittingly beating Okada to advance to the finals where he rode the momentum to beat the foreign heel Jay White and set up a potential crowd-pleasing culmination to his IWGP World title arc at next January's WrestleKingdom.

Okada vs Ibushi for the World title is a mouth-watering prospect and it has all the characteristics for a torch-passing moment. Expect fireworks at the dome!