Between regime changes and main roster call ups, 2022 has been a pretty interesting year for WWE.
In a lot of ways it feels like a new dawn for the company, which feels fresher right now than it has in years.
That being said, while the presentation of the product feels rejuvenated, one area that hasn’t seen a lot of change is the upper card, which seems dominated by a lot of the same old faces we’ve been seeing for the past decade or so.
Roman is still the top guy, the Usos hold all the tag team gold, and guys like Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and the Four Horsewomen (or what’s left of them) are still the go-tos for those big-time match ups.
One thing we’re hoping to see in the new year is pushes for people who might not have had much time in the limelight up until now – some new faces, and some old hands who are well overdue to receive their flowers.
Here are seven WWE stars Triple H could push in 2023.
7. Cameron Grimes
2023 may as well be 1969, because next year Cameron Grimes is going to. The. Moon.
Or at least he will if WWE has any sense.
With all the NXT call ups there have been this year, Grimes seems like a baffling omission (although if recent reports are to be believed, he’s been earmarked for a while, and talents backstage are just waiting for the inevitable).
He can do heel, he can do face, he can do filthy rich, and he can do regular filthy. The man has it all.
He’s the perfect candidate for next year’s Mr Money In The Bank, as somebody who could easily spend a full year milking a teased cash in – not to mention the ladder match itself, a match format in which Grimes excels.
Or maybe let him use his natural charm (and buckets of cash) to put together a stable of similarly slimy heels like Baron Corbin and Chad Gable, and let them go to town.
And speaking of Gable…
6. Chad Gable
Look, Alpha Academy is great – if I wasn’t worried about losing my job this list would just be Otis fifteen times in a row and nothing else – but you can’t deny that Gable is one of the strongest performers on the WWE roster, and is long overdue for a solid singles run.
It doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty much the full package too (height and height-related nicknames aside), as a consistently hilarious performer on the mic.
With the planned call up of Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, this might already be on the cards for Gable, who as a fellow Olympian could help Steveson put on some technical masterclasses as he learns the ropes.
Or Triple H could finally answer my letters and put him in a program with Otis that could help both men establish themselves as solid workers instead of just a catchphrase-spewing heel comedy act.
Kurt Angle has even hinted that he might have one last match in him, and who better to do that than the man who should have been revealed as his biological son all those years ago?
I don’t care how he does it, but it’s time to push the button on Shorty… I mean Chad Gable.
5. LA Knight
Allow me, if you will, to talk to you.
If you aren’t familiar with LA Knight here’s the pitch: he’s just like the Rock, except better.
Well, that’s what he thinks at least. He isn’t far off though: he’s got the look, he’s got the skills, and he’s even a dead ringer for dear old Dwayne when it comes to his promo skills.
Knight is currently in a (pretty slow-moving) program with Bray Wyatt at the moment, which in itself could be the start of a legendary push for Knight.
At the moment though, that story is all about Bray – as it should be, if we’re being honest – so next year could be the time to finally pull the trigger on the former Eli Drake and build him up to main event status.
And what better way than to put him in a six-month feud with the Maximum Male Models, and… wait where are you going? I’m not done talkin’ to ya.
4. Shotzi
Shotzi may not have had the strongest year from an in-ring perspective, but there was a point in NXT where she was the coolest thing on the roster.
A lot of people are going to say that a lot of her appeal comes from the tank, and hey, I’m not going to argue – it’s a cool tank.
But Shotzi (née Blackheart) always had a reputation in the black and gold for doing things that the other women (and some of the men) on the roster never would.
Bringing her to the big leagues has taken some of her shine away, but with the right push and the freedom to wrestle the kind of style she’s accustomed to, we could see a return to the old Shotzi in 2023.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a main event push; Shotzi is a great tag team wrestler, and with the right partner she could really help revitalize that whole division.
Plus if she gets the right sort of push and the fans get behind her, she can come out in a real tank at a future ‘Mania like Rusev did that one time, and I just think that would be cool as hell.
3. Nikki Cross
While Cross has already had a stint as WWE Raw Women’s Champion last year, her push was massively curtailed by rushed booking and dodgy presentation.
It’s a shame, too; Cross is a consistently solid mainstay of the women’s division, and has always been on the very cusp of making a huge splash.
WWE already seem to be making some headway with her, stripping her of the Nikki ASH gimmick and letting her run wild as crazy Nikki once again.
If Cross continues along her current trajectory, we could definitely see her in a more central role in the women’s division as we head into the new year.
Whether as part of a new SAnitY-style stable, or rekindling a teased feud with Alexa Bliss (who seems to be well on her way to a character change herself), Nikki can bring a level of fun and energy to storylines that few else on the roster can.
Hell, stick her with the Brawling Brutes (with Drew and Tegan, while we’re there) and let the UK/Ireland takeover of WWE begin.
2. Johnny Gargano
Johnny came in hot when he returned to WWE Raw in August, but he’s cooled off a little since then, forgoing the chase for championship gold in favour of becoming the Shaggy to Dexter Lumis’s Scooby Doo.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that – honestly I think he’s pretty funny, and what he’s been doing with the Miz right now is more “pro wrestling” to me than a hundred five star classics.
But like… it’s Johnny Gargano we’re talking about. The man who had one of the most heartbreaking feuds in NXT history with Tommaso Ciampa.
Sure, he’s kind of a little guy compared to your Drews and your Romans, but handled the right way he could easily have a Daniel Bryan-style underdog run.
Like Gable, he’s as strong a speaker as he is a wrestler, and could more than hold his own at the center of a passionate main roster feud.
In fact, I’d be surprised if Triple H isn’t waiting for Ciampa to be back in fighting shape so he can book exactly that in 2023.
1. Cody Rhodes
This one’s pretty much just here to save my ego in case all of these other predictions turn out to be wrong, but since his injury and subsequent absence from the promised land to which he returned at WrestleMania 38, Cody’s push isn’t quite the lock it was a few months ago.
Think about it: there was a time when Rhodes was pretty much guaranteed to be “the guy” to face Roman at ‘Mania 39, and now he’s third in line between a 50-year-old actor and El Generico.
And don’t think Triple H has forgotten that whole throne thing from Double or Nothing 2019. The Game knows how to hold a grudge.
In reality, Cody will probably be put right back on the same track he was on when his chest decided to go into business for itself before Hell In A Cell, but what shape that track will now take is a little more up in the air.
Maybe instead of going straight for the big one, Cody will go for something a little smaller and work his way up through the company.
Screw it, give him the US Championship and have him defend it like old-school Cena.
And then give him a custom one shaped like that tattoo on his neck, so I can buy a replica and wear it everywhere I go from now on.
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