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Every year a select group of WWE Superstars begin to rise up and stand out from the crowd, putting on consistently amazing performances week-in, week-out and staking a claim on that time as the best Superstar in the WWE for the past 12 months.
In 2018 Superstars like Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were the standout performers on the main roster with Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa rising to the top of NXT?
But who will rise to the top in 2019? Which Superstars will leave a lasting impression at the end of the year and make those year-end best-of lists on wrestling websites? Well, WWE themselves have released a list of Superstars to keep an eye out for in 2019, so it seems likely some of those Superstars will be the highlights of 2019 when it's done!
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Let's take a look at who made the WWE's list and see if we agree!
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#15. Drew McIntyre
'The Scottish Psychopath' had rather a breakout year in 2018, so the fact the WWE are predicting big things for him in 2019 as well makes it seem like they're intent in paying off all of the promise and talent that McIntyre has shown since he returned to the main roster after leaving and coming back to the company.
He's already won the Raw Tag-Team titles with former partner Dolph Ziggler, but 2019 seems to be the year he sets his sights on bigger and better things, the WWE Universal Title. With Seth Rollins Vs Brock Lesnar for the title taking place at WrestleMania, it won't be until after April, but don't be surprised if McIntyre becomes a world champion after that!
#14. Mustafa Ali
Anyone who watched Mustafa Ali on 205 Live will not have been surprised that he's killing it on the main roster, but I don't think anyone would have expected him to have made the impact he has so far during his short time on the SmackDown Live main roster.
Ali has had excellent matches with Andrade and Daniel Bryan, had a pinfall victory over current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan (albeit in a tag-team match) and is now set to wrestle Samoa Joe. I don't expect we'll be waiting long until Ali wins his first major WWE title.
#13. Asuka
Weirdly, Asuka is listed as someone to look out for in 2019 despite spending all of her NXT career and a large portion of her main roster career undefeated, despite winning the first ever Women's Royal Rumble Match and despite being the current SmackDown Live Women's champion.
That being said, 'The Empress of Tomorrow' has already picked up a submission victory over 'The Man' Becky Lynch in 2019 to defend her title at the Royal Rumble so it seems the WWE were spot on to tell the WWE Universe to keep an eye on her.
#12. The Revival
Hang on, aren't they leaving? Well it seems that regardless of how long Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder remain with the WWE, that the company is clearly expecting big things from them in 2019.
So far The Revival's 2019 hasn't been that good with them losing continuously to Lucha House Party and current Raw Tag Team Champs Chad Gable and Bobby Roode, so things are definitely going to have to pick up for them if they are to live up to the expectations set here
#11. The NXT Class of 2019
This is the WWE cheating a little bit because technically this is several different Superstars, but the WWE clearly have lofty plans for EC3, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery and Lars Sullivan.
Although we're yet to see Sullivan and EC3 in action, Lacey Evans opened the Women's Royal Rumble, Nikki Cross got a huge reaction that was welcomed backstage and Heavy Machinery have their first Monday Night Raw victory.
#10. Matt Riddle
'The King of Bros' Matt Riddle is someone who could literally be at the top of the business within the next few years if he plays his card right and if the WWE give him the opportunities he needs to do so.
They're biding their time with him in NXT at the moment, with Riddle only coming to blows with Kassius Ohno. However, he remains emphatically undefeated absolutely crushing Ohno in their series of matches so hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Riddle in the future!
#9. Andrade and Zelina Vega
Andrade (formerly "Cien" Almas) may have lost his surnames but it set to gain massively in 2019, with the much touted 'year of tranquillo' coming into effect and the WWE finally letting him off the leash to show everyone why he's highly regarded as the best wrestler in the world.
His pairing with Zelina Vega is one of the best things in the WWE and I'm hoping that 2019 is that year that one of them wins championship gold. But first I think we're in for an instant classic 'Mania match between Andrade and Rey Mysterio!
#8. Toni Storm
Toni Storm's 2019 has been a bit of a torrid one for reasons I'm sure most of you are aware of but that I won't go into here. However, there were some huge positives for the female Superstar as she became WWE NXT UK Women's Champion.
Let's also not forget that she won the Mae Young Classic 2 final at Evolution and is still only twenty-three years old. This means that if she isn't a multiple time world champion on the main roster by the time she's thirty then WWE have dropped the ball so hard they've shattered it into pieces.
#7. Ricochet
'The One and Only' Ricochet hasn't been in WWE NXT for long but already his high flying moves, daring acrobatics and overall athleticism has led to some incredible matches in WWE's yellow brand.
He may have just lost the North American Championship to Johnny Gargano, but it seems clear that it won't be too long until Ricochet has another title belt around his waist. The question is what will Ricochet want to go for first? Cruiserweight Gold, or maybe even a world championship?
#6. Keith Lee
Keith Lee is somewhat of an enigma in wrestling. He's positively enormous, incredibly strong and unbelievably agile. I've had the pleasure of seeing him live in action and some of the things he can do in the ring despite his size are beyond belief.
Even more incredibly Lee's physical talent is outmatched by his oozing charisma and character. He performs his own theme song, everything he does has swagger. If Lee isn't blowing people away this year then I'll eat my hat (disclaimer: I don't wear a hat, but you get the point)
#5. The Boss 'N' Hug Connection
Sasha Banks is a four time WWE Women's Champion, Bayley is a one-time WWE Women's Champion and together they're 'The Boss 'N' Hug Connection' and they're almost guaranteed to be the first WWE Women's Tag Team Champions.
They've both recently lost singles matches to current Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey but it seems that they will definitely be more successful as a pair and will spend the best part of 2019 with tag-team gold around their waste. Or at least they deserve to!
#4. British Strong Style
They were at the forefront of British wrestling on the independent circuit, they were then at the forefront of British wrestling in WWE and now it seems that British Strong Style will be at the forefront of wrestling in general in the WWE for 2019.
There's certainly no denying that Pete Dunne, who finds himself the longest reigning WWE champion, Tyler Bate, who was the first ever WWE UK champion and Trent Seven, who has a fantastic moustache are incredible wrestlers. Let's hope their 2019 can match their level of talent!
#3. Mia Yim
Mia Yim made such a splash during the first ever Mae Young Classic tournament that the crowd chanted 'Please sign Mia'. Naturally, the WWE wasted no time in snapping Yim up and she joined NXT last year.
Whilst the women's division in NXT has been ruled by Shayna Baszler for some time now, it seems abundantly clear that 'Head Baddie' Mia Yim is set for great things in 2019 and could be the one to finally dethrone Baszler!
#2. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville
The former 'Absolution' stablemates turned on and off, but mostly on best friends are in a very unique position. If Bayley and Sasha Banks are going to be the top face team when the newly formed women's tag team division arrives then they're going to need a top team to act as antagonists. That's where Rose and Deville step in!
They've already proven they have what it takes to be the despicable bad guys with Mandy Rose trying to ruin Naomi's relationship just to get at her, not to mention their 'Absolution' days. Don't be surprised if 2019 is a breakout year for these two ladies!
#1. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
The best friends have already had successful main roster careers and were set to do some interesting things on Monday Night Raw until both had to take time off because of injury. We're on the cusp of them returning and that's incredibly exciting?
Why is it exciting? Because the pop they get when they return will be huge, Owens in particular looks like he's in the best shape of his life and the two of them together could have the biggest year of their WWE careers yet in 2019, which given what has come before for both of them, could be pretty big!
