10 WWE Wrestlers Poised To Break Out In 2024
The men and women about to make the jump from star to SUPERSTAR in 2024...
What is it to "break out" in the market leader in 2024?
If you work for WWE, the implication is that you've already made it to the promised land, but decades of history tell us that it's less than half the battle getting to walk through the Performance Center's staff entrance. Careers can be made for life on the industry's biggest stage, but they can die on the vine just as spectacularly. A televised collapse can be so monumental that there's no possible recovery, just as a break out can be so impressive that it transforms a reputation beyond even lofty beginnings.
Gunther is a man for whom the former was predicted, but the latter has materialised.
The Austrian former indie darling hasn't yet made his inevitable ascent to the top of the ladder, but then he hasn't really needed to - 'Der Ring General's run as Intercontinental Champion has done that for him, as great stints with that secondary strap often used to do. That's been the trick - he's achieved what 25 years of Intercontinental Champions failed to by making the championship itself actually matter.
Winning Raw's World Heavyweight Championship would be a step down, by comparison. He didn't "break out" in 2022 or 2023. He's been a made man for years, but the ceiling remains unknown. 2024 could and should be his year too, as well it should be for...
10. Trick Williams
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams were box-fresh and born ready when NXT relaunched as "2.0" in 2021, and stuck out from the idiosyncratic pack of brand new faces (and heels) as credible and believable characters.
Rather than rushing either man to Raw or SmackDown just for being able to get over substantially quicker than the rest in the field, WWE have taken time propelling both to singles glory on the developmental show. Hayes was promoted as best-in-class, but all along Williams might have been the total package.
A better promo and with a more ostentatious side Hayes admittedly might have been forced to hold back on, Trick has everything but the CV of high-end matches. But it's important to remember that this is WWE; that side of the skillset specifically can build over time, and sometimes it's as satisfying to watch development take place on the big stage as well as the small one.