WWE RISING STARS & FADING STARS: WrestleMania Edition including Seth Rollins, Tiffany Stratton, Iyo Sky, Oba Femi, Damain Priest, Jey Uso

WrestleMania 41 is in the bag, earning mostly positive reviews. Some performers stepped up their game and made the most of their WrestleMania moment, while others stumbled in the spotlight. These stood out the most.

Rising Star of the Week: Seth Rollins

Rollins’ 10 years in the WWE has seen remarkable highs (his 2015-2016 heel run as World Heavyweight Champion) and embarrassing lows (“Eye for an Eye” match with Rey Mysterio).

His recent baby face presentation in WWE has been a mixed bag: top-notch matches and a beloved theme song have been undermined by cartoonishly outlandish apparel, a grating laugh, and diminishing gravitas.

Consequently, this past year has seen him increasingly sidelined and irrelevant. If ever a top star was in need of a makeover, it was Seth Rollins.

Enter Paul Heyman, who in the past decade successfully brought the careers of both Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns to unforeseen heights. While it remains to be seen what degree of chemistry Heyman and Rollins will share and what story they will tell, a heel turn with Heyman at his side represents Rollins’s best chance at a career resurgence.

I anxiously await the next chapter.

1st Runner-up: Iyo Sky

Sky’s 2023 to 2024 championship run with Damage CTRL failed to set the world on fire. Miscast as the treacherous leader of a dominant rule-breaking faction, her reign, and WrestleMania title match with Bayley, largely fell flat.

Since then, Sky quietly turned babyface and was relegated to midcard status, failing to connect with fans and losing regularly on TV in spite of excellent in-ring performances.

This year’s WrestleMania build saw Sky positioned as an underdog champion in opposition to Rhea Ripley and Bianca BelAir and earning unprecedented fan sympathy and support. Anything but cool, her earnest, dorky enthusiasm is endearing.

On Sunday, Sky more than rose to the occasion of the most important match in her career. Sky was the glue in an epic triple threat match, which saw her retain against her more established opponents, who played their parts in turn. Sky’s selling was dramatic, high spots spectacular, and transitions believable. The crowd ate it up.

Sky’s stock has never been higher.

2nd Runner-up: Oba Femi

The NXT Champion proved himself more than capable of a top-notch main event performance during his triple threat championship match at NXT Stand & Deliver. The match saw thrilling action and featured amazing feats of athleticism from bell to bell, while telling a compelling story. Credit to his opponents Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans for similar phenomenal work. If you missed it, this match is one to go out of your way to see.

Femi’s victory confirms he will remain on top in NXT for the foreseeable future, sharpening his ring- and mic-work to a razor’s edge. He is destined for main event status on the main roster when he has eventually called up, particularly considering the recent lack of black men in world title contention.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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Fading Star of the Week: Tiffany Stratton

As her first major title defense and her first WrestleMania, Stratton needed Saturday’s match to be great. Paired with Charlotte flair, who has arguably wrestled more great WrestleMania matches than any other woman, Stratton seemingly had every opportunity to make it so.

Their match was hard hitting and featured impressive spots, including Stratton going over with her finisher “The Prettiest Moonsault Ever”. Stratton finished looking battered, with a welt on her forehead and seemingly chipped teeth (she later reassured fans on Instagram “I have all my teeth guys”) but her performance was ultimately lacking.

The two failed to tell an engaging story throughout their match. They lacked in-ring chemistry, despite (or perhaps because of) their infamous real-world animosity. The fact that the two looked so similar, with nearly identical hair & outfits, made it difficult to tell one from the other.

Stratton has yet to prove she can pull off a great one-on-one match. If Flair cannot pull one out of her, it remains to be seen who can.

First runner-up: Jey Uso

Jey helped tell an engaging story in the buildup to his underdog rematch with World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. With tremendous fan support, decades of ring experience, and an ideal opponent, he seemed poised to take full advantage of the biggest match in his career (as documented in my column last week).

Much like Stratton, Uso and Gunther failed to deliver a memorable match, or even one as good as their outing in January’s Saturday Night’s Main Event. The finish was truly satisfying with Uso forcing Gunther to tap out to Gunther’s own move, something fans hadn’t seen before. Jey lacks an effective arsenal of wrestling moves, and seemingly hasn’t adopted any new ones since transitioning to singles matches. The WrestleMania match started out slow and never picked up steam. Despite his moniker, Jey’s performance on Saturday confirms that he didn’t deserve the main event slot, and bodes poorly for his championship reign.

2nd Runner-up: Damian Priest

2024 saw no WWE wrestler given more opportunities that Priest. Last year’s WrestleMania saw him successfully cash in the Money in the Bank Contract against Drew McIntyre to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Priest went on to defend the title successfully on multiple occasions, only losing it at SummerSlam due to interference from his Judgement Day ally Finn Balor. The resulting babyface turn and alliance with the uber-popular Rhea Ripley and winning feud with the Judgement Day dominated Raw during the fall.

Priest possesses an impressive power, an intense look, good ring skills, and an undeniable cool factor. However, he failed to connect with the fans in a meaningful way, in stark contrast to his WrestleMania opponent McIntyre. Crowd reactions failed to justify his push.

Their Sin City Street Fight saw McIntyre dominate Priest, handing him his biggest defeat in recent memory. 2024 was the year of Damian Priest, but don’t expect a similar 2025.