The 2018 Breakout Stars of NXT

Despite another year of losing a ton of incredible talent, NXT remains fairly strong going into 2018. You've got plenty of Indy darlings like Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, and The Undisputed Era (featuring Adam Cole, bay bay). WWE also has home grown guys with Street Profits, Lars Sullivan, and Heavy Machinery. It's a place where you're always bummed about guys leaving, but there is always enough to keep you excited about the future. And I have some picks for 2018 that will help that future become even brighter.

Why should you listen to me? Well, last year, I absolutely nailed this list. Akira Tozawa won the 205 Title, Mandy Rose made it to  Raw, Patrick Clark went from weird dude to totally beloved, Montez Ford is one half of one of the hottest tag teams on NXT, and Andrade "Cien" Almas is NXT Champion. Like, I don't know if that can possibly be topped. So instead of going with the method used last year, I'm going to take bigger risks and go even more obscure for my picks for 2018.

Babatunde Aiyegbusi
As you can probably tell, Babatunde has not gotten his NXT friendly name yet, although just shortening it to Babatunde is definitely an option. This dude is massive. How massive?

He's so massive that he took Brock Lesnar's jersey number with the Vikings. Dude is 6'10" and 350 pounds, and in WWE terms, that means he's over 7 feet tall and well over 400 pounds. I have seen him a few times, and he moves well for a man his size. Also, they are starting to experiment with his character which means he should get the chance to debut in 2018. And with his size, he will definitely make an impact.

Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler

You remember Wesley Blake from his time as a tag team champion with Buddy Murphy. You remember Steve Cutler from losing a lot. But together they are a couple tough biker types, but that's not important. What is important is that Wesley Blake calls everything garbage, and the whole world is going to learn to love it. He's done it at various house shows, and it will be as over as a Tye Dillinger "Ten" chant. In relatively safe matches, they have shown good teamwork which makes me think the wrestling acumen is there enough for them to be an interesting tag team in the next year with a 100% chance of them feuding with Street Profits.

Demitrius Bronson

My darkest of dark horses, and that is not meant to be a racial thing. I have never even seen Bronson wrestle in person as I think his only action came in a squash match against Heavy Machinery. Bronson is a former running back who has now transitioned into the world of professional wrestling. I am judging him off nothing more than giving a really fun promo at an NXT house show in Largo where he had the whole crowd singing "Ooh yeah" at everything he said. I don't know how to express how fun the "Ooh yeah" was, so you're just going to have to trust me on it. As I said, I have no idea where he is wrestling wise, or really anything outside of a fun promo, so it could turn out to be a 2019 pick, but I hope he's given the opportunity to make an impact in 2018. Also, fun fact, the photo above is from his LinkedIn profile.

Dan Matha
Dan Matha actually made his NXT debut. Remember these vignettes?

It seemed like he was being positioned to be a destroyer of worlds who would come in and overwhelm the talent at NXT. Then he debuted and...

...well, that didn't go as planned. But Samoa Joe is gone from NXT, and although Matha has not made an appearance for over a year, he is still a massive dude, and when I saw him in person this past weekend, he showed some charisma and wrestling skills in his match against Danny Burch. I don't think they are going to be looking to do anything with him anytime soon with Lars Sullivan taking the position of bald white monster currently, but WWE will always find a spot for a guy with Matha's attributes.

Zelina Vega

The least dark horsiest of any of my picks, but I needed to pick a lady, and Zelina Vega, although obvious, was really the only reasonable choice. She has a strong history in wrestling, and she has already shown a ton of charisma as the manager for Andrade "Cien" Almas, so it's just a matter of her transitioning from manager to wrestler. When you look at the women's roster, you have some options like Nikki Cross or Peyton Royce, but it wouldn't be too surprising to see Ember Moon hold the title for a while before eventually being knocked off by Vega. Even if Vega doesn't win the title this year, she will surely make an impact on the division and is a no brainer for a huge year in 2018.