WWE's Breakout Star of the Year

[Andrew is Good]

I did this on the TNA board, and to be honest, I think it's sad that a place that has three brands had almost as many break out stars as TNA. This is my opinion, but I looked up and down the rosters of all brands, and these were the guys who I felt had the strongest break out year, for various reasons, and even some of them have been on the downslide, one I think got let go recently. But, here are the reasons why:

-Jack Swagger: Jack started the year off on a high note, defeating Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship. He would also go on to defeat Christian in his defense against Captain Charisma. He was left off Wrestlemania, but up until recently, was very successful on Raw. After failing to capture the US Championship, Swagger has been on somewhat of a downturn.

-Kofi Kingston - Had a strong year as a long time reigning United States Champion, and spent most of the year wearing some gold. Recently has been getting the best of Randy Orton, and has been cementing his status as a future main eventer.

-Sheamus - One year ago, Sheamus was in FCW as the Florida Heavyweight Champion. Now, he reigns atop Raw as the WWE Champion. Got the best of Goldust and Shelton Benjiman on ECW, and dominated Raw and won the WWE Championship in quick fashion.

-The Miz - Since being drafted to Raw, Miz had an up and down year. He started the start of the year atop the tag team ranks, but was unsuccessful in capturing the Unified Tag Team Titles. He had a feud with John Cena, in which he was squashed. However, Miz ended up regaining his steam by capturing the US Title from longtime champion, Kofi Kingston. He lead his team to victory at the Survivor Series

Dolph Ziggler - The former caddy and cheerleader had a decent year, being successful against a number of stars, but was unsuccessful in capturing the Intercontinental Championship. Had a relationship with Maria.

Drew McIntyre - Won the Florida Heavyweight Championship in FCW earlier in the year, and quickly made an impact by attacking R-Truth before a few matches. Quickly became the Intercontinental Champion by beating John Morrison.

John Morrison - Started out on top of the tag team ranks as one half of the World Tag Team Champions. After being drafted to Smackdown, he became one of the more popular stars on Smackdown. Won the Intercontinental Championship from Rey Mysterio in one of the best matches this year.

The Hart Dynasty - Tyson Kidd debuted and made a quick impact on ECW. David Hart Smith returned shortly, joining he and Natalya. Had a decent outing against DX, and has gotten the best of Cryme Tyme in their series of matches this year.

Tommy Dreamer - An unlikely breakout star, and while most of the year, he may've spent a lot of time looking at the lights, Tommy Dreamer was able to have his run at glory by becoming the ECW Champion. Was a strong champion until losing it back to Christian, and may've left WWE already.

Yoshi Tatsu - Started out in FCW and wasn't that successful at first. But, once given the opportunity to be called up, Yoshi picked up a quick victory over Shelton Benjiman. Yoshi has been tearing it up since his debut, putting on some of the best matches on ECW this year.

Zack Ryder - With a dorky catchphrase that debuted on the Dirt Sheet, Zack Ryder took that to go from one of Edge's lackeys, to being one of the more colourful characters on ECW.

I was considering putting a few more in there, including R-Truth, though I'm not quite sure if he belongs in this list. But yeah, tell me what you would think of R-Truth being on the list, because he has had a weird run this year.

Others that one could argue had a break out year were Legacy, but I feel that Rhodes and Dibiase were more like Hawkins & Ryder to Edge. They had more main event exposure then Hawkins and Ryder, but spent most of the year getting crushed by everybody, so that's why I didn't put them in the list.

[Texas Tornado]

Definitely Kofi. I have a feeling that if they keep his momentum up by next year that Miz will be shooting up there as well, so I'll give him an honorable mention.

[Deleted]

Kofi and Sheamus should be the only two who are even options.

[Andrew is Good]

I mentioned it briefly in my original post.

Again, these are all my opinion, but from looking through all the breakout stars, despite WWE having 4 tv shows and 3 brands, I found 11 potential break out stars, 2 of which have been on the losing end recently, one who is going to leave the company, and I'm even second guessing putting in the Hart Dynasty. TNA had 10, with 1 television show. WWE had no divas in my opinion who broke out, where as I put in two with TNA (though Sarita could be argued as being a break out star, quickly winning the newly established TNA Knockouts Tag Titles).

It seemed that, even though TNA can be knocked for using older stars, they've done the best job in creating new stars. The post above me makes a great point, where Sheamus and Kofi should be the only ones on the list, and that's a good point. WWE has been really bad with creating new stars this year.

[The Genesis of KoOS]

Zack Ryder, he went from almost not having a job, to being a regular on ECW.

[Just Jay]

I definitely want to say Sheamus. He debuted strong, stood out among the rest and hasn't turned back since. My money's on him.

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Woo

Woo

Woo.

YOU KNOW IT!

[Big L]

Dec 25, 2009 20:25:47 GMT -5 Texas Tornado said:

Definitely Kofi. I have a feeling that if they keep his momentum up by next year that Miz will be shooting up there as well, so I'll give him an honorable mention.

Agreed! ;D

[barley96]

In terms of success it would be Sheamus, but Kofi feuding with a main eventer is a big push, not to mention that he is far more entertaining than Sheamus.

[calibancalhoun]

Both Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase had great moments this year where the crowd was on its feet ready to explode if they would just stand up to Orton. It seemed like the WWE had something there and was going to pull the trigger...and then it didn't and that angle went nowhere...twice. Now nobody cares about them again. So yeah its Kofi but now I'm losing interest in him again. The great thing about that car promo was that it had a bit of a psychotic edge...Kofi was always a good guy lost in the mass of generic interchangeable good guys but now he wasn't quite so good anymore. That was the appeal, now to be fair RAW has been tuning me out lately so maybe I'm missing it but it seems like after the first few weeks that anger and intensity was gone and Kofi has more or less regressed except that he's from Ghana now. Still one good intense, edgy, "first it was your car next is your WIFE!" type promo and Kofi is back in the driver's seat.

[rnrk supports BLM]

In terms of onscreen acomplishments, Sheamus is the obvious winner.

But if we go by who's done the most that convinces me he's going to become a big star in the business, I'd go with Miz (followed by Morrison).

I like Kofi, but I still don't see him ever achieving anything higher than Mysterio's current level (not that that's bad).

[4real]

Sheamus followed by Miz and Kofi.

[MAGGLE]

I am starting to get annoyed by the Kofi Kingston love.
He can be a big star, but at the moment we have a guy who has won the WWE Title in his first year and is not considered breakout star, just because some people around here are Kofi Kingston marks.

It is just the same with saying John Morrison should win the Royal Rumble this year. It is like people don´t even think about build up anymore and Morrison has none.


So I say Breakout Star of the year is Tyler Reks and the Royal Rumble Winner will be Funaki.

[Enrico Palazzo]

Not in kayfabe terms but CM Punk has really come into his own this year.

Shaemus wins this for me, with a meteoric rise (rightly or wrongly). Kingston will next year become what Jeff Hardy was this year.

On a personal level, my favourite breakthrough has been the Miz. He is one of the few bright spots left on Raw.

[Marvelously Mediocre]

Yeah this is one of the few WWE got right. Kofi has had a great push but in purely kayfabe terms (which is the only thing I look at when choosing these awrds because it's a fake sport.) Sheamus wins by miles. He only came into the company this year and won the WWE TITLE! He's only been pinned once and never as part of Raw.

Kofi's been pushed well but only recently and he's lost a hell of a lot. No one else even comes close.

[@TenaciousBe]

I think in terms of character development, Kofi beats Sheamus by a long shot. Kofi's gone from that lovable athletic Jamaican guy who never talked to one of the biggest stars on the show by virtue of this program with Orton. This Kofi push is one thing they've actually done right, and made him a believable star without shoving him down our throats at every turn. I do think Orton needs to get the better of him a time or two pretty soon to keep it believable, but so far it's been pretty much rock solid.

Sheamus, on the other hand, has pretty much come out of nowhere to be a monster who actually won the title (as they failed to do in the past with guys like Kane, Mike Knox, etc). Sure he has the title, but he still doesn't have a main event feel to him. He will, given time, and the right storyline, but his title win is still just a fluke at this point. Push him properly, and he can be next year's big breakout star.

[bob]

Kofi Johnson