00:00Do you know what is always exciting, no matter what kind of wrestling fan you are,
00:04looking at the younger generation of talent, taking your own finger of power and going,
00:08I think that person is going to become a star.
00:12So we're here at What Cultures and I decided it'd be a really good idea to find 10 of these
00:16and call a list the 10 wrestlers who we think have the biggest star breakout potential,
00:21gonna do good things in the future.
00:24And then we reworked that name a little bit, and we arrived here.
00:27I don't know what I'm talking about.
00:29My name's Simon, if you care.
00:31Let's go.
00:3210 Ricky Starks.
00:33If there was three words to sum up Ricky Starks, every single time he is on television, he maximizes his minutes.
00:41And he just makes sure that no matter what AEW gives him, he knocks it out the park.
00:45So you give him 30 seconds backstage, he will find a way to weave this into his social media,
00:50so it becomes a bigger thing.
00:52If you give him 5, 10, 15 minutes in the ring, he will make sure he smashes it.
00:56And he doesn't even say that much on AEW Rampage commentary, but every word counts.
01:01Another new statement in wrestling has always been, make sure they remember you,
01:05because if you do find a place in a fan's brain, you nestle in, you're probably gonna be in there for life.
01:11And I tell you this, one day Ricky Starks, without a shadow of a doubt,
01:15in either big wrestling company, will be a world champion.
01:19And there was a time where people said, well, that hook, he's just a comedy figure, he's just a meme,
01:25nobody really cares about him.
01:27And here we are months later, long after his debut, and let's just be honest, we're all in love.
01:33And this just comes down to something that somebody has within the confines of professional wrestling.
01:38Like, he's not the greatest in-ring worker I've ever seen, I'm not even sure I've heard him say more than a few words,
01:44but when he walks down that aisle with his glorious hair, straight away, I just want to see what he's going to do.
01:51We have this kind of relationship, and no, it's not weird.
01:54But as I say these words, he's about to team up with Dan Houser to take on Mark Sterling and Tony Nese,
01:59and maybe if you had told me that six months ago, I would have gone, what, that sounds absolutely ridiculous.
02:05Instead, it's one of my favourite things on all of wrestling television, and a large part of its success is Hook.
02:12He is also a second generation talent, given that he is the son of Taz.
02:16So once again, keep your eyes on this boy, he's gonna fly.
02:20Number 8, MJF.
02:21I mean, if MJF ever hears that I put him on a list that said he is a future breakout star,
02:26he is going to find me and probably laugh at me for being bald.
02:31But really, this is just a massive compliment, because right now, he is one of the best in all of professional wrestling.
02:38But I tell you, I tell you right now, he is only at the tip of his iceberg.
02:42Because I tell you, eventually, he is going to break through to an even higher stratosphere
02:45when he gets some more experience under his belt, and when he finally wins a world championship.
02:50I mean, think about all the 24-year-old wrestlers you know right now.
02:54How many can you point at and say, well, that person is definitely going to win belt after belt after belt after belt.
03:00There ain't that many, but one of them is Maxwell Jacob Freeman.
03:03The irony being, even if a promoter decided, actually, no, I don't want to give him any gold.
03:09He'd still find a way to be a star, because he already is one.
03:13I mean, his contract isn't up until 2024, and people are already going, maybe he's going to go to WWE.
03:18Maybe he's going to stay in AEW, and that is because he has created a buzz for himself.
03:24Another important tool, say it with me, in professional wrestling.
03:28Number seven, Julius Creed.
03:30If you go back to when NXT 2.0 was about to become a thing, two names kept being thrown into our face.
03:36One was Bron Breaker, and the other was Julius Creed.
03:39And if you want to know why Julius fits in here, it's because while Bron has been given the keys to the castle,
03:44and everyone's like, oh my gosh, if you want to become a 2022 Goldberg, that would be great.
03:49Julius has kind of got some crappy creative here and there, and do you know what he has done every single time?
03:56Made it work.
03:57Now, I will say I think Breaker is ahead of the pack at the moment, but Creed is always having good matches,
04:02and he has this weird, like, jock energy, which may actually see him become a breakout star.
04:08I mean, he'll more than likely be a heel, but that's okay.
04:11You can be a big deal and also be a bad guy.
04:13You've got to imagine that WWE absolutely loves him too, because look at him.
04:17So if the machine does get behind him and pushes him like he needs to be pushed,
04:23I think in a few years' time, we may have a main eventer on our heads.
04:27Number six, Yuka Sakazaki.
04:29Yuka Sakazaki has so much breakout potential because of three major things.
04:34One, she's just so damn happy all the time, you can't help but root for her.
04:38Two, she moves so quickly and has this dodge ability, it's like you're watching a damn video game.
04:44And three, she has time on her side.
04:47I mean, she's only 29 years old and could already do all this stuff in the ring,
04:51and while we've only seen her a couple of times in AEW,
04:54I think eventually, as their women division does grow,
04:57Yuka is going to find a massive place, and when she gets her chance, she will smash it.
05:02So really, all she needs is a little bit more time in front of the camera,
05:06so maybe this is a little bit of a Hail Mary,
05:08but just go on YouTube and watch any of her matches.
05:12She's so damn smooth, I'm talking smoother than my bald head.
05:15Number five, Jade Cargill.
05:17So we have another MJF situation on our hands here, because let's not pretend otherwise,
05:22Jade Cargill is already a massive star.
05:24I mean, she has one of those intangible qualities that you can't teach right down to the point.
05:28I was watching All Elite Wrestling the other day,
05:29my girlfriend walked in, she showed Jade Cargill, and she said,
05:34well, who the flub is that?
05:35And believe you me, usually I get no questions, just disappointing looks.
05:39But once again, though, do not forget, as we have been talking,
05:41she has only had 32 matches, meaning she's just going to get better and better and better.
05:47And if we are marking things on a curve, if she is here right now,
05:51then in a few years, well, she's going to be off the page.
05:54Even if she doesn't, it doesn't matter, because once again, when Jade is around,
05:58everybody's going, oh man, maybe we should go check out Cargill.
06:02Seriously, she could own AEW for a long time to come.
06:06I can't wait.
06:07Number four, Konosuke Takeshi.
06:09Just go back in time.
06:10Only recently, you don't have to get a DeLorean and watch Jay Lethal versus Takeshi
06:14on AEW television.
06:17If you had never seen this man before, well, about 12 minutes later, you went,
06:21that guy's ridiculous.
06:24All Elite Wrestling clearly knows this as well,
06:25because he had a visual pin over Jay Lethal until there was shenanigans.
06:30And this is another guy where you can go watch his stuff in Japan,
06:32or you can watch his stuff over here in the States, and the dude never misses.
06:37I mean, imagine you are starting to be a wrestler right now,
06:40and you know this is the bar, even when you're early on in your career,
06:44you're going to start freaking out.
06:45He also looks like he could absolutely whoop your ass, but can also move at around about 100 miles per hour.
06:52And sure, we don't really know what he's like on promos at the moment,
06:55but sometimes it really doesn't matter.
06:59Number three, Isaiah Cassidy.
07:00Now you can really take either of the guys from Private Party,
07:03because do not forget how far they've already come.
07:06Do you remember when they had that upset win over the Young Bucks,
07:09when Dynamite was a brand new thing that we were playing with,
07:12and now they're heels that have teamed up with Andrade?
07:15I mean, honestly, they are starting to understand it,
07:18and once again, they're only like nine years old.
07:20This year, though, in particular, Cassidy is impressing,
07:22because he seems to have really bought into this new character,
07:26and ensure that it matched up with his ring work.
07:28And he's just got this brand new confidence, he's unlikable in the way that he's trying to be,
07:32and when he does get on a microphone, he's always talking about like,
07:36I'm going to get in the ass, makes me laugh.
07:38Do not turn this into one of those,
07:40oh man, Simon is saying that one of them is Marty Jannetty,
07:42and one of them is Shawn Michaels.
07:43No, I'm not saying that.
07:45Both of them are going to do great.
07:47It's just in 2022, Isaiah Cassidy has really come out of his shell.
07:52Number two, Roxanne Perez.
07:53The former Roxy proved she had superstar potential
07:56when she did indeed debut for NXT 2.0,
07:59and all of a sudden, the internet,
08:01especially those who weren't aware of her beforehand,
08:03went, ha ha, who's this?
08:05I mean, recently, she did a dive where she was in the ring,
08:08and she jumped through somebody's legs in order to execute it,
08:12and while that sounds absolutely ridiculous,
08:14it was just the way she did it.
08:17Just made her felt like a big deal.
08:18She's also ridiculously young, really agile, talented, and can go,
08:22and so far, I don't think I've seen her have a bad match,
08:24and maybe more importantly than all of this,
08:26you can just feel, and you can tell that she wants it.
08:30I mean, so far, she's doing pretty good,
08:32in the sense she was excellent in Ring of Honor,
08:33and now she's probably going to make her way up
08:35to either Raw or SmackDown,
08:37and if WWE treats her right,
08:39and I know that's a big question mark,
08:41I think we will finally have a good promotion
08:43from the developmental leagues
08:45to the top number one, Paige Van Zandt.
08:48Now, we already know that Paige Van Zandt
08:49connects with a big audience
08:50because she did it in MMA,
08:52and she did it with UFC,
08:54so if she just takes all of those qualities
08:56and applies it to professional wrestling,
08:58where arguably you could amp this up even further,
09:01then flub me, she's going to be great.
09:03And really, she already is.
09:04Like, when she ran out during that ladder match
09:06to fight Ty Conte,
09:07she has barely been a sports entertainer,
09:11and yet everybody was going crazy for her
09:13because once again, she just emits this kind of energy.
09:16I think a huge reason for this too
09:18is because people know that she's legit.
09:20I'm not going to call her the female Brock Lesnar
09:22or anything like that,
09:23but you have seen her punch people in the face
09:26and her opponents crumble down onto the floor.
09:29Also, when she was done
09:30with the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
09:32she went into bare-knuckle boxing.
09:34What I'm trying to tell you
09:36is that Paige Van Zandt would kick your ass.
09:38So it really is so far so good right now,
09:40and given that she is training with Gangrel
09:42in order to improve all of this,
09:44well, if all the stars do align,
09:48WWE may regret passing on her,
09:50which apparently they did.
09:52Not any other people
09:52that could be massive breakout stars.
09:54Make sure you let us know in the comments below,
09:56and don't forget to like the video,
09:57share the video, and subscribe.
09:59Then head over to whatculture.com
10:00where you can read articles like this with your eyes.
10:01Make sure you come say hello on social media.
10:04We have other videos.
10:05Why don't you watch one?
10:06My name is Simon from WhatCulture.
10:08Thank you very much for joining me as always.
10:10I will see you soon.
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