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Back in 2002 when Brock Lesnar made his debut in WWE on Raw, he demolished everyone inside the squared circle. Broken bodies of Maven, Al Snow and Spike Dudley were lying around as Paul Heyman introduced us to the “Next Big Thing”. From there on Brock destroyed massive stars of the company including Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan and The Rock. He became the youngest WWE Champion in history and went on dominating everybody around him until he left the industry for other interests.
15 years later, Lesnar is still at the top of his game but he is no longer the young destructive machine he was back in the day. It’s time for a new star to rise and claim that title. Some of you might consider Braun Strowman as the highest bidder for that title but Vince possibly thinks of him as a replacement for The Undertaker or Big Show.
So without further ado, here are five WWE Superstars who can be the “Next Big Thing”.
#5 Elias
Elias moved up from NXT to Raw where he was drifting around with his guitar, week after week. So far we had seen his character as a cocky guitarist who likes to make fun of people in his awful songs. Inside the ring, he had few good matches with Finn Balor but on the last episode of Raw, he displayed a great wrestling performance against Roman Reigns. Although he doesn’t have the resume that speaks of outstanding talent, it does not mean that the man has none potential.
Elias is strongly built, jacked with muscles and his long hair and bearded look define a brawler. He is ready to bulldoze over anyone in his path. He needs to stop making ignorant jokes and leave his guitar aside. It will be awesome to see if one night on Raw, Elias snaps after a loss and breaks his precious guitar. From there on he goes onto attacking mid-carders in the backstage. Imagine if he starts manhandling his opponents in the squared circle without worrying about getting disqualified. He has to become more aggressive and ruthless that can do wonders for him.
#4 Lars Sullivan
Lars Sullivan made his name on NXT by destroying his tag team partners as they caused him to lose the matches. So far he has been unstoppable on NXT. He started off in singles competition in a 3-on-1 handicap match, which he won in a dominating fashion. He later moved on to a feud with No Way Jose (It did not result well for Hose). After that, Sullivan recently defeated one of the elite names, Kassius Ohno. The fight finished in the same way with Lars standing tall.
It won’t be false to assert that the NXT Creative Team has massive plans for this new talent and Triple H is a significant part of his sudden success. He has been set up really strong since his inauguration. But that doesn’t mean he can go running straight ahead.
There is still a lot he has to achieve on NXT before he makes his debut and becomes the main roster talent.
He has great rivalries to explore in NXT. But as soon as he's done ransacking everybody over there, he will continue with his reign of terror on the main card. He can start by dominating household names in Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Randy Orton and many more.
#3 Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin has had his up and downs in the wrestling world. The US Title holder had come up from NXT with a bright future ahead. But his twitter bashes and messing around with WWE officials got him into a real trouble. The former Golden Glove Champion won the MITB briefcase which practically guaranteed that he will become the next WWE Champion. Then he screwed up the matter for himself in the office. It ended with him in paying the price for it by cashing in and failing the opportunity on SmackDown Live.
Following his punishment, everything is back on track. He has made his peace with the people he made mad and won the US Title from AJ Styles in a superb match. He defeated The Miz at Survivor Series in another great fight and seems to be in a feud with Bobby Roode. WWE is booking him strongly once again as they realize this guy has the potential to become the “Next Big Thing”. He is great in the ring, can be better on the mic and incredible in making the fans resent him. It is a challenging task to accomplish in this new age of pro wrestling.
#2 Aleister Black
The Dutch professional wrestler has been turning more eyes than anyone since his debut in NXT. The undefeated superstar is much more than a professional wrestler. He's well trained in Mixed Martial Art forms including kickboxing and Pencak Silat. He has beaten some of the best stars that NXT offers. The list comprises Kyle O’Reilly, Hideo Itami, Kassius Ohno and recently Velveteen Dream.
There is not much for him to work on NXT except winning the NXT Championship. His reception of the fans has made everybody realize how special he is. His bizarre and evil driven character is extremely captivating. He is nothing short of spectacular in between the ropes and his finisher the “Black Mass” kick is just cherry on the top of the cake.
WWE has a great opportunity presenting itself in the form of Aleister Black. The aura that he creates with his presence is unique. I’m sure that even if he debuts as soon as in the upcoming Royal Rumble, the crowd will go berserk. If booked properly, nothing can stand in his way to the top.
#1 Drew McIntyre
And here is your winner, the former IC, Tag Team and most recently NXT Champion, Drew McIntyre.
He appeared on WWE TV in 2009 where he used to take pride in announcing himself as “The Chosen One”. It was a gimmick given to him by Vince McMahon himself, describing him to become the “Next Big Thing”. During his initial tenure he performed well in his rookie years but after that, the company lost interest in him. He later teamed with Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal in a trio name the “3 Man Band”. It was just as awful as it sounds. McIntyre got released never to be heard of again.
It changed this year when “The Chosen One” (Yes, he still calls himself that) made his shocking comeback to WWE in its development program, NXT. He remained undefeated there until he dropped his title a few days ago at NXT: TakeOver WarGames. McIntyre got injured in that match, which has made him stay out of action for time being but it's possible he will head straight to the main roster when he returns. He might come back as a surprise entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble match as a fan favourite.
Drew McIntyre made a massive name for himself during the three years he was away from WWE. He won numerous championships and wrestled in many great matches against Will Ospreay, Ricochet and many other great talents. McIntyre is now a potential threat to all big names in WWE. The future promises only remarkable things for the Scottish wrestler and if anybody in this list will be the “Next Big Thing”, Drew has the strongest chances of achieving that.
