10 WWE & AEW Wrestlers Who DESPERATELY Need A New Direction

Which wrestlers need to chart a new course in 2023?

Bayley WWE
WWE.com

Well, 2022 was quite the year wasn't it? (Walkouts, brawls and regime changes, oh my!) However, stepping away from the chaos that engulfed most of wrestling the last calendar year, there were plenty of success stories to celebrate.

Bianca Belair solidified her status as one of the pre-eminent figures in women's wrestling, and Rhea Ripley looks set to equal - and possibly surpass - her; AEW's flailing woman's division finally found solid footing with Jamie Hayter as its champion; and, of course, Sami Zayn and the Bloodline is the best storyline WWE has produced since Becky Lynch became The Man.

Unfortunately, not every wrestler enjoyed as productive a year.

Almost all the entrants on this list endured a disappointing 2022, and enter the new year in need of course correction. None of the wrestlers on this list are beyond saving - indeed, some are doing relatively well - but each of them could be doing so much more than their current position allows.

With a little TLC (the non-furniture-based kind) from WWE & AEW, these wrestlers have the potential to erase the disappointments of last year and turn 2023 into a banner year for themselves and their respective companies.

10. Asuka

Bayley WWE
WWE.com

The above picture - showing Rhea Ripley using the back of Asuka's head as a stress reliever - is an unfortunately accurate representation of how the Empress of Tomorrow closed out 2022.

Don't get us wrong: Ripley is undoubtedly the future of women's wrestling, and she needs to look strong for her inevitable title match at WrestleMania (he says, hoping WWE don't miss the open goal they've spent months setting up). But Asuka herself deserves a lot better than being used as glorified enhancement talent.

Asuka's WWE career is a strange one, in that it's been undoubtedly successful - she's a bonafide grand slam champion, after all - but there's always been the lingering sense that WWE could do so much more with her. She's essentially a modern-day Bret Hart, in that she gets pushed only until the office finds someone more to their liking to replace her with (usually Charlotte).

Asuka is still a dynamo in the ring - not for nothing did she main event half-a-dozen RAWs last year - and she herself has been complaining (in kayfabe, we think) at her current status on social media. Here's hoping this means WWE have something suitable in store for the Empress in 2023!

Contributor
Contributor

Hello! My name's Iain Tayor. I write about video games, wrestling and comic books, and I apparently can't figure out how to set my profile picture correctly.