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Monday, December 28, 2009

2010 Rising Star predictions (part 1)

Ok I am back with another blog. I haven't had the most time in the world to sit down and think about what I want to say. Truth be told I sit here with my Tweetdeck open and tweet pro-wrestlers all day. It's a pretty sweet existence. Most of them write back and answer my questions which is cool. Maybe one of them would submit to an interview for my blog. Now THAT would be awesome.


It's the end of the year and I thought while other websites and blogs are talking about who had the best year and best matches I thought I would look ahead to 2010 and predict who I see having the best year.

Now I've gone ahead and selected 22 superstars (because I counted tag teams together), that's 11 spread out over Raw, ECW and Smackdown. The other 11 has come from TNA. That is on purpose because that way both companies get equal time. I have watched WWF/WWE since I was a little boy, however I have also watched TNA for 5 1/2 of the 7 years of it's existence because that's how long I was aware of them. I consider myself both a member of the WWE universe and the TNAtion. Conflict of interest? Perhaps. But I am a wrestling fan. I like to be entertained and both products, in their way, entertain me. Last time I checked that was my right.

Now I didn't select superstars who I'd felt had stellar pasts. Nobody I'd consider currently in the Main Event. I think it would be foolish to sit here and guess that Undertaker and Kurt Angle will both have awesome years next year. I kind of consider that a given. So obviously I went with the individuals who I feel has their stock on the rise and are about to break through that glass ceiling. The ones who I personally feel have all the tools they need to be big stars. And yes it could be argued that some of the names on this list already are big stars. Unfortunately I think such things are subjective. It's up to us to determine who the big stars are. I had a chance this month to talk with both Desmond Wolfe and Matt Morgan and I considered that to be a pretty deal. Huge actually. But to the casual wrestling fan maybe they've never heard of these guys. So maybe in 2010 I feel that will change. That the average fan suddenly knows what a big deal it is when someone falls victim to the Tower of London, the Carbon Footprint or the Lie Detector.

So here we go.


So we will start with the flagship of the WWE, Monday Night Raw. Now I did not put these superstars in any order other than the order I thought of them.



He's The Miz and he's...the first person on my list. He's also your United States champion. It seems like since he went to ECW all them years ago that he became a big deal. Started out in a 3 way feud between Johnny Nitro and CM Punk over the ECW title. Which later ended in them teaming together and then the rest is history. Now he's on Monday Night Raw where he (allegedly) had 7 straight wins over John Cena. A lot of people don't give The Miz his proper due. He's loud. He's obnoxious. He shoots his mouth off. He doesn't care. Plus he can be very infuriating. Guess what? You just described a lot of guys when they are first coming up. Remember The Rock? Remember John Cena circa 2003? Remember any number of guys that started out just like The Miz did only to become some of the biggest stars in the business? Am I saying that The Miz will be that big? Time will tell I suppose. But as far as 2010 I think you're going to see a big star in the making. And no, I never thought I'd see myself type that but I can't ignore him any longer.



If you've never seen Evan Bourne wrestle. Don't blink. This kid is fast and he is just a joy to watch. He got something like 80% of the vote at Cyber Sunday 2008 to face then ECW champion Matt Hardy. Awesome match. One I felt was one of the best of the year, from any organization. He moved to Monday Night Raw in the last draft and put on a great showing against Randy Orton. He may not have won but he definitely showed he should not be trifled with either. Lately he's just been in go nowhere feuds and random matches. And now they got him teaming up with Primo. I'm not sure if this is to hold Bourne back even further since they've been doing nothing with Primo since he lost the Unified Tag Team championship or if this is their way of creating a hot new tag team. Either way being in the ring with a team like Legacy can only spell good things. Also, with talent like this kid possesses you can't ignore it and you can't restrain it. Unless you're deliberately trying to kill someone's potential. And that's just plain wrong.


Okay sure he won the tag team titles with CM Punk, he won the United States championship & the Intercontinental championship already. Sure it could be argued that his star has risen already. But I disagree. Kind of. Kofi has always to me been kind of a random superstar. When he first broke into ECW he went undefeated for quite a little run and it was cool. But then Shelton Benjamin beat him, and since that time it almost seemed random when he would win a match, like he couldn’t get any momentum. Yeah they would tell us how awesome he was and we would cheer but it didn’t seem like his career really mattered to them. Then he entered this feud with Randy Orton. And yeah we all remember The Boom Drop at Madison Square Garden, and yes that was frickin awesome. But so what? Yeah he pinned Orton, but it was on a fast count from Mark Cuban. He lost the rematch in that series. So how will Kofi’s career bounce back from this? I don’t know. But he is an amazing talent and I just get this feeling that as far as WWE goes, this could be Kofi’s year.


Okay so I wasn’t able to get pictures of these guys and I’m sorry for that. But all three people I’ve selected from the land of extreme are all part of the new superstar initiative. Those people are as follows.


  • Vance Archer
  • Yoshi Tatsu
  • Trent Beretta & Caylen Croft

One’s got that raw power, one has the speed and charisma and the young tag team at the end has a lot to prove and seem dead set on proving it. Very excited to see what these three can bring to the table in 2010.



What's up? R-Truth's career. I really found it hard to ignore the fact that he came in with so much hype and the fans were behind him so strongly and they voted him in the United States Championship match at Cyber Sunday 2008. The very last installment of Cyber Sunday I may add. All the fans wanted him to beat, then champion, Shelton Benjamin. But he didn't win. Maybe they were afraid that his star would rise too quickly and he would surpass more established stars. Which I think is bullshit but it happens. Welcome to wrestling politics 101. Take nothing away from Shelton. He's a hell of a competitor and I'm a big fan. But that's not the issue here. R-Truth has that 'it' factor. He can give great interviews, he puts on awesome matches and he connects with the fans in a big way. Maybe the WWE is finally starting to see this and next year will R-Truth finally winning some gold and showing what a true champion he can be.


You want to see a picture of potential? A picture of future world champions and hall of famers? You’re looking at it right there. These guys are awesome. They are every bit as good as they say they are. Too early to tell if they will win the tag team titles in before the end of 2010 but I will bet that they will be involved in some pretty high profile matches. Quote me on it.


Seriously. No I mean it. Seriously. Could you ask for a better introduction than by being introduced by the boss as a future world champion? That’s like a guarantee. The chosen one Drew McIntyre has already won the Intercontinental Championship from John Morrison. However I do not think for one second that his career will stall in mid-card/upper card status, I feel it really is only a matter of time before he is a solid main eventer. And that time could come very quickly and be 2010.


So those are my picks for the 2010 rising stars of the WWE. Coming soon are my TNA predictions.


My name is Chris and I am the wrestling dweeb.

2 comments:

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  2. Very interesting. Kofi & Miz have a lot of potential on Raw, I think.

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