How can WWE stop the bleeding? By taking these 10 steps

#9 Push Dream as "the guy"

There are many people in NXT that could be mainstays of the future. Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, and Adam Cole could be upper midcard standouts for years to come, cranking out classic after classic. Matt Riddle can be a legitimate main event player. Io Shirai, the best female worker on the planet, has the potential to bring the women's revolution up to a whole new level.

Yet, there's one name that towers above them all.

Velveteen Dream has picked up the art of professional wrestling with astonishing speed. He broke out in his late 2017 feud with Aleister Black and hasn't looked back since. Black called Dream a "prodigy" on Edge and Christian's podcast and Dream has proven it each and every time. As we get into the middle of 2019, Velveteen Dream is now the most charismatic and entertaining superstar in the entire company, and he has an excellent in-ring resume to round out his character.

And he's only 23 years old.

Since 2014, WWE has had a problem - no one has stepped up to take over John Cena's spot as the true face of the company. The company tried it with Roman Reigns, but his lack of charisma and terrible presentation just haven't allowed him to click in the way that Cena or his predecessors did.

Now, more than ever, WWE needs something different, something completely new and unique. Velveteen Dream could be that guy.

It's not just me saying that, either. John Cena, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, who have both occupied that position, have heaped praise on Dream, in agreement that he could be the next big thing.

He's also the perfect man for the time. Each "guy" has thrived the most when he's met the tastes of the time.

Hulk Hogan was the perfect character for the optimistic, booming 1980s and the Reagan presidency.

In the 1990s with the tech boom, things became more automated and corporate. Dilbert and Office Space became cult classics, lampooning the lives of white collar workers. Stone Cold Steve Austin, the blue collar beer drinker who assaulted his boss, was the perfect antithesis to these trends.

In the 2000s, America ran away from the excesses of the Clinton years in an attempt to return to normalcy of sorts, even as it found it was unable to, with the controversies of the War in Iraq and the coming financial panic. John Cena was the right character for that time period - the family friendly character who epitomized a kind of ideal that was becoming more difficult to attain. This was evident in the growing dissent over his character as the years went by and more people found this out.

After the 2008 recession, populism on left and right arose as the country and world was confused over its identity and place, with internal dissent and squabbles about what that identity should be. Roman Reigns hasn't been able to channel this. He feels like a failed attempt to recreate John Cena, which is the wrong character for the time anyway.

In contrast, Velveteen Dream perfectly epitomizes this time of great social upheaval and confusion. He's excessive and flamboyant, seeking attention desperately, but he's also pampered and fashion-conscious, epitomizing the ideal of leisure and luxury. He's not a hyper masculine character like Austin, and he's not a soft, family friendly character like Cena. He's optimistic, but not excessively so like Hulk Hogan. He's ambiguous, much like the times. He's the Dream.

He, more than anyone else on the roster, has the character for the moment and the charisma to pull it off.

The jury is still out on Dream, but he has the best chance of taking the torch from Cena. He's also the complete opposite of sterile and corporate, and sterile and corporate are what the company needs to run away from as quickly as it can.

When Dream is ready for the main roster, it's worth a try. With his talents and the right cast of characters around him (like Aleister Black, Matt Riddle, Daniel Bryan, and more), he can become the next megastar.

But to ensure that he, and the rest of this list, have the best chance of succeeding, WWE needs to do one more thing.