10 Wrestlers Who Grabbed The Brass Ring In 2020

8. Kyle O'Reilly

Eddie Kingston
WWE.com

The Undisputed Era has always had a very set-in-stone pecking order since it formed back in August 2017.

All four members of UE are extremely talented, yet it was always Adam Cole positioned as the top tier singles star of the group, with Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong usually competing in the tag team ranks bar Roddy's run as the NXT North American Champion. Earlier this year though, O'Reilly was finally given the chance to showcase his ability in a main event singles setting.

NXT higher-ups decided to have O'Reilly headline TakeOver 31 and challenge for Finn Bálor's NXT Championship. The Canadian technician may have been on the losing side of things on that September night, but his performance against Bálor cemented his spot as a legitimate main event star for the gold and black brand.

Of course, that match, while being one of the best contests of the year to take place under the WWE banner, was so hard hitting that both O'Reilly and Bálor are currently out of action as they deal with the physical fallout of their TakeOver outing.

When Kyle O'Reilly is finally cleared to wrestle once again, here's hoping that he continues to be utilised as a major player for the NXT brand.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.