- 22 hours ago
Andy Murray runs through the great wrestlers set for HUGE things in 2026, including:
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello there my very good friends, Andy here for World Culture Wrestling and we've got something
00:03fun for you today. We're going to talk about the wrestlers that I think are poised to break out
00:07in 2026. As 2025 comes to an end we're looking forward now to wrestlers who are going to, I don't
00:14know, be here at the start of the year and go all the way off camera up here potentially. Now
00:20ideally when you're talking about breakout wrestlers you'd be talking about people who
00:25are coming from a place of obscurity and suddenly inserting themselves in the wrestling sphere to
00:31where everybody knows their name, right? It's not the case with every single person on this list but
00:36it is the case with every person on this list that they will be soaring to previously unseen heights,
00:43to heights they've never been before in their wrestling careers in 2026. I've got people who
00:49are already on WWE's main roster here but I think are going to fly next year. I've got a person on
00:55here who has never had a single match yet so it's a fun varied one for sure. And look, if we're
01:01looking at examples for this year, people I think who have broken out, Kyle Fletcher is a great example
01:07over in AEW, pretty much established now as one of the top players in that company and a future main
01:12eventer on a regular basis. Javon Evans in WWE, he had a sneakily long indie run before joining WWE
01:21despite being obscenely young. But now everybody knows who Javon Evans is. I'd also throw Marina
01:28Shafir on there. She's been around for a while but this was the year she really found her voice
01:32and if the Deathriders story has been good for anyone, it's probably her. But let's get this list
01:38on the road. I'm Andy from WhatCulture. Here are eight wrestlers poised to break out in 2026.
01:45Number eight, Lash Legend. She has just arrived on the main roster at the time of recording here,
01:52serving effectively as an ally of Nia Jax for the time being and the reporting by WrestleVotes
01:58suggests that this is set to continue for a while and the people in WWE are feeling pretty good,
02:03pretty confident about Lash Legend's creative direction now that she has announced arrived
02:11on the main roster. I think her call-up has been due for a while. Obviously the metaphor
02:15or no more and the tag team that worked really well with Chikara Jackson who is no longer with
02:21the company. However, Lash stands as from start to finish, from where she began to where she is today
02:28as one of the most impressive and most startlingly improved people in the company. She's just
02:36tremendous. I mean, tremendous athletic pedigree to start with. But like when she entered the Royal
02:41Rumble this year, I thought she looked right at home and was actually one of the standouts
02:46from that match, which wasn't one of the best Rumbles ever or anything like that. But Lash
02:50looked really good. I think that the sky is the limit really when it comes to her. I think that
02:56look, powerhouse-based wrestlers in the women's division always stand out because naturally most
03:02people on those scenes are smaller and work to that, obviously. But Lash has got a real character
03:09and a personality of her own, which complements that powerhouse style really perfectly. I think
03:15you'd have to be a fool to bet against her succeeding, provided the creative is right. And I do think the
03:21creative is right. I think bare minimum, you will see her and Nia Jax hold the Women's Tag Team
03:26Championships at some point. And look, working with Nia Jax has worked in the past for people
03:32who are coming up, especially Tiffany Stratton, for example. It's a pretty good blueprint to follow
03:37if you're a Lash legend. And I think it's going to work out really well for her.
03:41Number seven, Leon Slater, who you could argue has already broken out. If you're paying attention,
03:46you know who Leon Slater is. You know he's been one of the most exciting young prospects
03:51coming out of the British Isles for a while. You know he's the most exciting young wrestler
03:56in TNA. And you know when he's moonlighted on NXT, he's been tremendous over there as
04:01well. But I think the next year, this guy's career is really going to fly. I honestly don't
04:05think that winning the NXT Championship is completely out of the question for Leon Slater.
04:10I do think that, you know, while he has contracted TNA for a while, I do think his long-term future
04:16is going to be WWE because of that working relationship. He already has experience working
04:22for the promotion. And at his young age, man, I think his career is just going to go from
04:27one stellar thing to another. The guy is a seriously impressive prospect. He can do lots
04:33of flashy, flippy stuff, but he's also good at the core stuff as well. The selling, the
04:38space between the moves is very important. And to have mastered that, to have developed such
04:43a strong grasp of that at such a young age is extremely, it's extremely impressive.
04:49My favorite word when describing Leon Slater is impressive. Look for this guy to be one
04:54of the biggest stars in wrestling within the next three or four years. And I think next
04:58year, big steps forward. Number six, Aaron Wolf. This is the guy I mentioned
05:03in the intro. Not had a single wrestling match yet. He's going to have his first one on the
05:074th of January, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom. Evil is his opponent.
05:13Not always the best option there, but we'll see how it goes. Look, here's the thing with
05:19Aaron Wolf. You might not have heard of him now, but there is hope apparently within New
05:22Japan Pro Wrestling. This guy is going to be the next big star for the company and Lord
05:28knows they need one. There's a lot of hope pinned on him about breaking out and seeing how
05:36he takes to pro wrestling. Obviously, it's not as simple as coming in and you're an amazing
05:42wrestler. If you don't have the charisma, the personality that translates in a wrestling
05:45sense, you're not going to do as well. So this, to me, is one of the most interesting
05:50wrestling matches of the year immediately before it's even started. If you don't know
05:54who Aaron Wolf is, let me tell you a little bit about this guy. He is a genuine celebrity
05:59in Japan, but he's not just like an influencer or streamer or whatever. He's a legitimate combat
06:07sports badass. Representing Japan in the 2020 Olympics, won the gold medal in the 100 kilo
06:14category. He's got serious pedigree and if his charisma, if his personality does come across in
06:20pro wrestling, they could have a really tremendous prospect on their hands here. I like to throw you
06:26a little curveball in these lists sometimes. Sometimes throwing a name you maybe haven't heard
06:30of before. Aaron Wolf. If you've been following New Japan, you know the name already. If you haven't,
06:35now you do. Keep an eye on him. Watch the match on January 4th. Might be a really rewarding pro
06:42wrestling career to follow from the ground up. Number five, Queen Aminata. First AEW entry on the
06:48list. I think that Queen Aminata is awesome. She hates people really hard. Her stuff looks great.
06:54She's exhibited a level of skill that's far above her push in AEW and I think that that might increase
07:03next year. I think that there will be a time when the push and the skill align and it will result in
07:09her competing for gold. Look, so far my impression of Queen Aminata is that AEW doesn't quite understand
07:15how good she is as of yet. If they did, she'd be a little bit better presented in the car. It's not
07:20like she's been booked like an idiot or anything like that, right? She had the feature program with
07:25Tekla, which is a step forward, but I think it goes to the next level next year. Greatly enjoyed
07:30her work continuing on the indies as well. At the time I'm recording this, she is the reigning DPW
07:34Women's Champion. Rest in peace, DPW. Sad, sad, sad that that promotion is going on hiatus.
07:42But Queen Aminata is one of the most interesting prospects for me in AEW today. The women's division
07:48has like really, really taken off in the past couple of years in particular. In terms of the
07:53in-ring ability level, right? The general quality has just improved, right? And that is from people
07:59like Tekla coming into the company, but it's also from people like Sky Blue who've improved a lot too.
08:04I think that Queen Aminata fits in extremely well. I think she can match almost anybody in the company
08:11and she has this awesome hard hitting edge to her that I really, really enjoy watching. Hopefully
08:172026, we see a bit more of a push for her. She's in a pretty good spot right now. I think it's going
08:22to get even better. Number four, Kendall Gray, who is a ground up WWE prospect coming into the company
08:28with limited to no experience, learning the trade in the performance center, working on Evolve and
08:35loop and all of that stuff. Level up doesn't exist anymore, but you know what I mean?
08:38The developmental to the developmental show. She's the current Evolve Women's Champion as we're
08:43recording this. She's just 24 years old and she's only had a few dozen matches and yet she looks
08:48like a natural already. Honestly, in terms of skill, you could pop her on the main roster tomorrow and
08:54she wouldn't look totally out of place. Now, I'm not advocating for that just yet. I do think there
08:58is value in keeping her in developmental for a while longer because there's more to wrestling than
09:02just having really good matches, but she recently had a really tremendous match with Callie
09:07Armstrong that I think you should check out for Evolve. It's free on YouTube. Just check it
09:11down. Just find it. Find it. You find it. Both of them just demonstrating a level of desperation and
09:19urgency that isn't often present, particularly from a wrestler who's not coming into the company
09:24with 10 years of indie experience. She's learning this thing as she goes. It's extremely impressive
09:29and I think she's one of the brightest prospects in performance center history, really. In terms of what
09:34her breakout could look like in the new year, I think it's competing for NXT gold. She has defended
09:40the Evolve belt on NXT TV before, but I'm talking about the North American title. I'm talking about
09:45the NXT women's title. She should be right in that mix. Well, the men's field in NXT, aside from
09:52Obathemi and a few other names, isn't exactly flush with a dozen incredible prospects or whatever.
10:00The women's side of things is really, really strong. I think Kendall Gray is going to be at the tip of the
10:07spear there. She's going to be the one pushing everything forward. Man, 24 years old is crazy.
10:12She's going to be doing this for another 15, 20 years. The body of work that she's going to build up
10:17could be insane. So watch out for Kendall Gray if you haven't seen her already. I think she's a big
10:23part of WWE's future. Number three is Adam Priest and this one irks me a little bit because I would love
10:30the indies because I think he's one of the best guys on there and the scene benefits from having
10:34wrestlers of his caliber, of Trevor Lee's caliber, of Kevin Blackwood's caliber sticking around. But
10:40ultimately, you want the best for that. You want to see these people fulfill their goals and all of
10:44that stuff. And I think that Adam Priest has tremendous potential as a TV heel. He has just, man,
10:53this year in particular in DPW, I mean, the way he has mastered wanting to see him get punched in the
11:00face is quite remarkable, really. You watch a Priest match, you're going to get something different
11:05from what other people are offering right now. He begs off like a pro. He cowers. He runs away. He
11:10takes all the shortcuts in the world. He comes across as the most dastardly scheming dude around.
11:16Cuts a pretty damn good promo too. A lot of people compare this guy to Jamie Noble, which to me is a
11:22big compliment because Jamie Noble, to me, is one of the best working mid-carders of his era,
11:28of WWE and WCW. Obviously, he had bigger things on the indies as well. But Priest, man, you could use
11:34him as such a valuable utility player on wherever you are, whatever company you are. I think that
11:39AEW are mental if they haven't already contracted him. He has worked with FTR and T, stuff like that
11:45before. But actually, I'd love to see FTR take them under his wing. He would fit their attitude and
11:50their style and their approach to pro wrestling like an absolute glove. The one thing that Adam Priest
11:55doesn't really have going for him is size, right? He's not the tallest dude in the world.
11:59But for his role, I don't think he necessarily needs that. Tremendous wrestler. One of my wrestlers
12:05of the year. One of my favorite guys to watch this year. And I think that as soon as he's on TV
12:09regularly, when that happens, I don't think it's an if. I think it's a when. But when that happens,
12:14your heads are going to be turning. Number two, Nick Wayne. You could argue, again, he's already
12:19broken out. He's under AEW contract. He's been under AEW contract since he was 17, 18 years old. He's
12:24still like 20 or something. Crazy stuff. He's currently out injured. That's a bummer. But
12:29I think that when he returns, Nick Wayne is in line for an even bigger push than ever before.
12:35I started taking away of Nick Wayne when he was breaking out in the Indies. Son of a legend,
12:41obviously. He's having matches at like 16 years old. They're very high level, but very action
12:46focused, very spot focused. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's many a person's preferred
12:51style of wrestling these days. But I think over the past year or so, Nick Wayne has really developed
12:56as a TV performer as well. He's got the facial expressions down now, the mannerisms, the body
13:02language. He has really, really improved in that realm. And look, if you don't see it in Nick Wayne
13:07at this stage, I just think you're not looking hard enough. Really, all that is lacking in Nick Wayne
13:14right now is a little bit of bulk. Fill the frame out, right? He's still a gangly young lad.
13:20He's in tremendous shape. But if he adds a little bit of extra muscle, if he adds to his frame in the
13:26way that a guy like Will Ospreay has over the years, Ospreay has got to be this guy's ceiling,
13:32man. I really think he has all the potential in the world. I'm very bullish on Nick Wayne's future.
13:38Once he overcomes the injury, once he gets back into AEW, I think he's going to be competing at a TNT title
13:44level at the very least. I think he's already developed into a really good heel and I can't
13:49wait to follow the rest of his career on TV, however it unfolds. And at number one, I've gone with Braun
13:56Breaker. Again, another guy you could argue has already broken out, but we're talking about reaching
14:01unforeseen, unseen levels, new levels in a man's career. And I think by the end of the year, he's
14:07going to be competing for the world title in WWE. I really do. I think he's probably the most impressive
14:11pure athlete in WWE. He's certainly the most impressive athletic specimen they've brought
14:17through developmental in years. I mean, it's in everything from the snap on his moves to the
14:22speed with which he runs the road. It's insane. We all know the iShow speed spot. I can't speak
14:29from the Royal Rumble. But he does that every single week, man, when he's working. The guy
14:34is a freak. The spear looks incredible. I mean, he really throws his full body into this.
14:38Probably going to have to watch the old Neckerino, right? You know, taking those hits at some
14:44point. But, man, what a visually impressive guy. Charisma is still developing. I think
14:51personality is still developing a little bit. But he does have that Steiner dog in him, man.
14:55He comes across like the baddest jock in the locker room. It's a matter of time before he's
15:02ascended to world title level. I think if they get him locked into a really cool Wrestlemania
15:06program, maybe beat some big name, that would be a really sick escalation for him. And with
15:13the vision set to remain a very heavily pushed thing in WWE, he should beat Seth Rollins for
15:19me. And he should go on to win a world title sooner rather than later. But that's my list.
15:25What's your list? Let me know in the comment section below. Have a nice day and I'll see you
15:29soon.
Recommended
1:02
|
Up next
2:20
11:09
9:49
10:06
11:44
8:56
10:06
9:46
10:18
3:36
0:30
3:48
1:25
2:01
1:44
1:22
13:05
11:38
13:40
Be the first to comment