Who was WWE's breakout star of 2018?

Drew McIntyre of WWE Raw

#7 Io Shirai

Io Shirai

Io Shirai is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best professional wrestlers in the world today, male or female. With her high flying moves, quick and deadly strikes, and supreme technical prowess, she made a huge splash in the Mae Young Classic tournament, making it all the way to the finals only to fall to superstar known as Toni Storm.

Shirai means 'purple thunder' in Japanese, and Io certainly brings the thunder to her matches. She is a grand slam champion for World Wonder Ring Stardom and is considered to be the biggest star they have as of yet produced.

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Naturally, her talent and beauty put her on the radar of the WWE. After some tense back and forth negotiations, Shirai finally inked a deal with the promotion and debuted in the Mae Young classic. Though she fell to Toni Storm in the finals, she is still poised to make a tremendous splash in NXT and beyond on the main roster.

About the author

Christopher Scott Wagoner is a writer from Austin, Texas in the United States. He is also a proud descendent of the Choctaw and Lakota people.
Chris has an English and Creative Writing degree, and is a published author with Simon and Schuster. He's ghost-written over eight million words in more than 500 books.
A long time wrestling fan, Chris is also a professional journalist who covers sports-entertainment. He's been writing for Sportskeeda since 2018.

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Edited by Sripad