If 2022 brought nothing else, it was a year of opportunity for certain superstars who had been idling around for years to start firmly establishing themselves as forces on the roster and future stars that WWE could rely upon for years to come. There were stars who won their first championships, others who had major character turns and some who broke off from tag teams and started singles careers. In terms of who stood out from the rest of the pack, here are the nominees for Breakout Star of the Year in 2022.
Liv Morgan
It was a long time coming for Liv Morgan. Starting out on the roster as a third of the Riott Squad, she slowly vanished into the darkness in WWE before a resurgence within the last two years. Towards the end of the last year, she started to hit her stride as a singles career that saw her pursue Becky Lynch’s RAW Women’s Championship. While that pursuit would end in failure along with a brief tag team run with Rhea Ripley, Liv’s fortune changed at Money In The Bank, where she would win the briefcase and cap off a historic night for her by defeating Ronda Rousey to win her first major singles championship in WWE.
While her title reign was forgettable, her finally winning the championship was a huge moment for her, and it may lead to future title reigns. While I do believe her matches can still be quite touch and go, I believe she’s a marketable superstar that WWE can use in the women’s division. With the changes that the division has seen in recent months, there are bound to be more opportunities for her to establish herself.
Solo Sikoa
There’s not many bigger ways to make your debut than interfering in the main event of one of the best PPV’s WWE has produced in quite some time. Drew McIntyre had Roman Reigns dead to rights in the main event of Clash at the Castle, when all of a sudden, Solo Sikoa came in for the save at the last moment. Turns out, that debut was the key to producing the final piece of the puzzle for the Bloodline. You had your dominant, box-office attraction in Roman Reigns. You have one of the greatest tag teams ever in The Usos. You had your curious, but enthusiastic and charismatic outsider in Sami Zayn. And the final piece to put it all together, was the extra muscle.
Solo doesn’t speak much, if at all. But what he will do is sport a menacing look, command a menacing posture and handle the dirty work if needed. Every faction feels incomplete without that enforcer, and Solo fits that bill perfectly. He recently just took out Matt Riddle, who will be written off television for weeks, if not longer. Many have stated he could be Roman Reigns Jr. Not sure if I’d go that far, but 2022 was an eventful year for The Bloodline, and their newest addition having a breakout year only continued to add to their dominance.
Austin Theory
2022 was a metamorphosis of sorts for one Austin Theroy. In 2021, he was braggadocious, egotistical, wet behind the ears, but very talented. His gimmick was carrying out his cell-phone and taking selfies of every superstar he’d put away, humiliating them for his own pleasure. Then, he became an apprentice under former WWE chairman Vince McMahon, who quite clearly saw something in him a la Drew McIntyre in 2009. Having his stamp of approval resulted in him having his first singles WrestleMania match, his first major singles championship with the Untied States title, and even winning the Money In The Bank ladder match.
However, after parading around with the briefcase and failing to cash in on Roman Reigns a multitude of times, he then proceeded to set his sights on Seth Rollins’ United States Championship. And when that venture failed, everything changed. His attitude. His demeanor. His facial hair. His first name returned. He’s not anyone’s boy anymore, and he’s apparently not to be messed with. Coming off a huge win at Survivor Series, he goes in 2023 as the United States Championship, but he also enters as one of WWE’s hottest singles stars. If 2022 was any indication, 2023 may end up being a bigger year for Austin.
Chad Gable
If you were paying attention, you’d see that Chad Gable had quite the sneaky good year in 2022. As one half of Alpha Academy, this was a year where Gable really got to show off his wrestling prowess and have quality match after quality match on RAW. In many ways, you could say he’s the RAW equivalent of Sheamus.
Sporting quality singles matches with the likes of AJ Styles, Matt Riddle and Johnny Gargano, Gable has had so many high quality performances on RAW, it makes one wonder what will be in store for him in 2023. He’s basically the perfect character. Starkly annoying, but absolutely delivers in the ring.
I suppose you could say this isn’t technically a breakout year for him because anyone who has followed Chad knows that this is who he has always been. But with the lack of a world champion on the RAW brand, it opened up many opportunities for other stars to step up, and Chad took advantage of these opportunities. We saw it in American Alpha, and now over half a decade later, he’s replicating some of that old magic with Alpha Academy.
Dominik Mysterio
Dominik turning on his father was only a matter of when, not if. Since started competing for WWE in 2020, Dominik had largely lived within the shadow of his father. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as he enjoyed winning the tag team championships with his dad, and many of his deficiencies as a performer was able to be hidden.
However, as tensions gradually broiled over with Rey Mysterio during their feud with Judgement Day, Dominik finally had enough and sent his old man out to pasture, joining Finn Balor, Damian Priest and his new “mami”, Rhea Ripley in Judgement Day.
Dominik isn’t a breakout star in terms of what he does in the ring. But WWE has a new villian, and perhaps one of their biggest storylines going in to WrestleMania 39. Father vs. son matches are rare. So rare, in fact, that the only one to happen in WWE between a father and his biological son was Vince McMahon taking on his son Shane. But as we all know, McMahon self-indulgence was quite a thing from the late 90s to the early 00s.
Rey vs. Dominik is bound to happen, and I personally can’t wait to see it.
AND THE WINNER IS……..
AUSTIN THEORY
Had to think about this one a little, but to me, Austin separated himself more than any superstar on this list. And if the rumors of him taking on John Cena at WrestleMania 39 are any indication, he’s bound to have an even better campaign next year.
Let me know your thoughts.
