NOTE: Plenty of people not on this list are going to have great years, but they're not being included because it's expected of them. This list is meant to reflect people who will take a step forward in their careers and move to a brand new level, reaching new heights they've yet to achieve, whether some of it is the obvious career trajectory or not, or just dominating the market place, instead of a person like John Cena, who perpetually is always at the top. Roman Reigns is always one to watch and the same applies to AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar and so on.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
In no particular order...
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa
There's a solid chance Gargano defeats Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia to win the NXT Championship, but even if he doesn't, he and Tommaso Ciampa are going to have one hell of a feud once Ciampa returns, along with a very high likelihood that they pull off the best match of the entire year.
Aleister Black
This guy's either winning the NXT Championship or he's going to dominate the cruiserweight division on 205 Live by winning that title. They clearly value him a ton and that's not going to change any time soon. He's just going to continue his rise.
Shinsuke Nakamura / Asuka
I'm grouping these together because I feel like they're both guaranteed to win their respective titles at WrestleMania and get a decent run with the belt following suit. There's not much more to say beyond that point, except to also clarify that I wouldn't be shocked if Asuka remains undefeated until well into 2018.
Ember Moon
Once you're at the top of NXT, you're pretty well suited to have a good year, as your title reign should last a few months and then you can be moving up to the main roster pretty soon after that.
With someone like Moon, she could open the year with the NXT Women's Championship and by the end of 2018, close out the year with either the Raw or SmackDown Women's Championship as well.
Zelina Vega
I fully expect her to transition from a manager to a wrestler, and when she does, she'll be at the top of my call sheet for potential champions to dethrone Ember Moon, along with....
Shayna Baszler
It's not even an argument whether or not Shayna Baszler is going to have a good year. The only question is what achievements will be on her list, which could very well include not just a run with the NXT Women's Championship, but possibly the Raw or SmackDown Women's Championship as well as even a match at this year's WrestleMania with the Four Horsewomen involved.
Bobby Roode
He'll transition from upper-midcard to main event tier and win the WWE Championship in 2018, possibly after winning the Money in the Bank contract.
The Revival
While I do think The Authors of Pain will move up to the main roster and get a title reign, I think The Revival are going to be huge focal points for the tag team division on Monday Night Raw, basically controlling that brand's championships for the better part of the year as they feud with The Good Brothers, The Bar, The Hardy Boyz and others.
Chad Gable
I can definitely see him splitting from Shelton Benjamin, turning babyface, and becoming a midcard staple of SmackDown sometime after WrestleMania, possibly in the latter half of 2018.
ONE TO WATCH FOR 2018 = Braun Strowman
Above all others on this list, I can't ignore the big man who I think will end up winning his first world title and continue to be pushed to the point where he reaches the second highest tier in the company, just underneath the legend status, where he's a bona fide top main event talent who runs roughshod over everybody else, similar to how Batista used to be. It's a bit of a cop out answer, as he's clearly being positioned for this role and I'm not taking a risk on some wrestler lower on the totem pole, but hey, I call 'em like I see 'em.
Check out our discussion on this subject from the latest episode of the Smack Talk podcast below!
WHO IS YOUR WRESTLER TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2018?
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