5 feuds that will define WWE in 2018

A new year brings new feuds. The glue that holds wrestling programming together, a wrestler in a good feud shoots to the stratosphere, while a bad feud or no feud makes him an afterthought.

It's impossible to predict every feud that will be "year defining" on January 1. Who could have predicted that Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne would have the best trilogy of matches WWE has seen in years or that Braun Strowman would get as hot as he became?

Yet, Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns was foreseeable, the logical outcome of his late 2016 booking.

Late 2017, similarly, gave us some clues about feuds that will define the coming year, at least up until WrestleMania. After that, things get blurrier, not least because of the shakeup in April.

There are still reasonable possibilities we can guess at, though, especially in NXT.

#5 Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

A personal matter.

This one is a certainty. In truth, Ciampa's injury following the breakup of #DIY was the best thing that could have happened for this rivalry, because the hold on it has allowed Johnny Gargano to establish himself as NXT's most lovable underdog.

After taking a string of heartbreaking losses, he closed 2017 as the #1 contender for the NXT Championship. It's the perfect setup for Ciampa to return and screw his former partner out of a title win.

The resulting fallout will be nuclear and the feud even more personal than it would have been had it ran its course in 2017. This one could well go for the span of several TakeOvers, with each match bitterer, more brutal than the last. Don't be surprised if many of next year's best feuds list end with this one.

#4 Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole

The stakes will get higher.

Since their arrival at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III in August, the Undisputed Era has made NXT their playground. Their aim, they say, is to "shock the system," and they've done that without fail so far. The stable captured the NXT Tag Team Championship as the year came to an end, with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly dethroning SAnity.

Adam Cole will join them in wearing championship gold sooner or later, most likely the night before WrestleMania. His most probable rival after that will be Aleister Black. The "Ominous Man from Amsterdam" would serve as the perfect foil for the reign of the "Panama City Playboy."

In 2017, Adam Cole established himself as the top heel in NXT, while Aleister Black rose through the ranks as its most enthralling, enigmatic, and unlikely hero. Their full-on collision and the bitter feud is inevitable, and it would be best served as the headliner for TakeOver: Brooklyn IV.

#3 Ember Moon vs. Kairi Sane

Minus two.

With Asuka's departure for RAW, the NXT Women's Division became a wide-open prairie once again. The championship was anyone's for the taking, as seen in the match at TakeOver: War Games. There, Ember Moon took the throne that Asuka abdicated. It was the logical choice. After all, she came closer than anyone else to toppling the Empress of Tomorrow.

Yet, at the same time that Ember Moon was consolidating power in the vacuum that her rival left behind, another force was emerging in the division. Kairi Sane won the Mae Young Classic tournament late last summer, thrilling audiences with each match and earning a shot at TakeOver: War Games. There, the War Goddess and the Pirate Princess had limited encounters but were kept away from one another for the most part. Most tellingly, Kairi Sane didn't take Ember Moon's Eclipse and was out of the ring when the pinfall happened.

It was a tease for things to come. The two will inevitably collide in 2018, likely in New Orleans, but the rivalry could possibly go on all the way to Brooklyn. The two of them are the most prominent competitors in the NXT Women's Division as 2018 begins and there's only room for one of them at the top. Who will reign supreme? We'll find out this year.

#2 Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

This time, Brock won't get back up.

The match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar that will take place at WrestleMania has been four years in the making. Ever since Roman Reigns began his mega push at the 2014 Royal Rumble and Brock Lesnar ended Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania that year, they've been on a collision course.

The first attempt to complete the program was aborted at WrestleMania 31, but things have changed drastically since then. The Roman Reigns that begins 2018 is a mature and seasoned performer, in contrast to his 2015 self. For all the protestations of the show sacrificing everyone else for him, we can at least rest assured that he won't be reciting Jack and the Beanstalk on the Road to WrestleMania this time.

How the feud and match are received is still in doubt, but it will be better than in 2015, and like it or not, Roman's victory will be a huge moment.

#1 AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

No more teases.

While Shinsuke Nakamura is a contender to win the Royal Rumble, seeing him win his claim to challenge WWE Champion AJ Styles at WrestleMania might be wishful thinking.

Regardless of whether it happens at WrestleMania, though, AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura is a rivalry that we will see at some point in 2018. If not WrestleMania, SummerSlam is as good a place as any. It's a rivalry fit to lead SmackDown into a big PPV.

They've held it off for a year, but it's coming.