SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Happy New Year, wrestling fans! A New Year brings us one step closer to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania season. Momentum for individual performers at this time of year is vitally important, as it helps determine who will be featured in the all-important months ahead.
Today, we look at the best and worst performances this week in WWE, and anticipate how current booking impacts each wrester’s prospects.
Rising Star of the Week: Oba Femi
After a year of dominance, the Ruler of NXT leaves on top. After convincingly defeating TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater on “NXT: New Year’s Evil,” Femi voluntarily relinquished the title, presumably in accordance with his imminent main-roster call-up.
Like most championships, holders of the NXT Title departing for the main roster have traditionally gone out on their backs, doing favors for the incoming champion. In fact, no man has ever voluntarily relinquished the NXT Title before (although Asuka and Paige were allowed that honor).
Allowing the Nigerian native to abandon the title rather than lose it is a sign of how committed WWE creative is to protecting him. It’s a sign that there are big plans in store for Femi, which require him to look as strong as possible even on his way out of NXT.
Look for the Ruler to take over on the main roster, and look for it soon.
Runner-up: Gunther
Was it good booking to have John Cena to tap out to a sleeper, of all things, in his final match? On this point, wrestling fans disagree.
One thing we can all agree on: Gunther is making the most of it.
Self-assured and arrogant, the Ring General has taken apparent delight in rubbing his victory in the faces of Cena’s friends and fans alike. Audiences are livid.
Having defeated Goldberg in the latter’s final match as well, Gunther is developing the persona of legend-killer.
All signs point to A.J. Styles as his next victim. The ultimate destination is unclear, but Gunther is more relevant than he has been in some time, and bound for greater things.
Second Runner-up: Izzy Dame
Among 2025’s most improved wrestlers in NXT, Dame has been given a much higher profile in recent months, sparked by the alliance with and subsequent betrayal of her Culling stablemate Tatum Paxley.
Gifted with a tall frame, Dame physically resembles Charlotte Flair. Both former volleyball players are listed at an identical 5-10. Like Charlotte, Dame’s size makes her physically imposing and her long limbs allow for an impressive big boot.
Beginning with her NXT debut in July 2023 until early 2025, Dame’s inexperience has been on full display in a series of forgettable matches. Her missteps culminated in a memorable botched pin on Wren Sinclair in April 2025, in which she released the pin at the count of two to celebrate victory. The hapless referee counted to three in accordance with the planned finish.
The latest year of training and a pairing with Paxley have done Dame a world of good. The two appear to have excellent chemistry in the ring and on the mic. Dame’s promos, in which she defends her treachery, have been compelling and convincing, generating genuine vehemence from the NXT audience. In defiance of near-constant, loud jeering from the audience, Dame has kept her nerve and avoided getting rattled or losing her place.
Although far from a technical wizard, Dame has been able to hold her own in matches of increasing length. Recent grudge matches with Paxley have been Dame’s best to date.
Almost immediately after cleanly losing the apparent blow-off match with Paxley on New Year’s Evil, Dame outsmarted her former partner to be the first to answer Thea Hail’s impromptu women’s North American Title open challenge. Dame took advantage of an apparently injured Hail and defeated her convincingly, becoming the new champion in a shocking twist.
Following two years of poor to middling performances, Dame has been given her first true spotlight. Like Jacey Jayne, Dame has risen to the occasion, giving memorable performances inside the ring and out. Her title victory suggests that NXT bookers have taken notice.
In a few short months, Izzy has evolved from lame to game.
Honorable mention: Trick Williams
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Fading Star of the Week: Bron Breakker
Breakker isn’t ready.
Although he can more than handle himself in a main event match, his promos in a war of words against C.M. Punk were just okay. The Future of WWE he may be, but he’s not the present. Not yet, anyway.
Although he may yet find a way back to the title picture by WrestleMania, Breakker is being put on the back-burner yet again. This may be in service of a storyline, but it also gives him precious time to practice his mic skills.
He’ll need it if he is to become the top-level star WWE clearly wishes him to be.
Back of the (Steiner?) line, Bron.
First Runner-Up: Maxxine Dupri
After years of paying a joke character, Dupri reinvented herself to become an MMA badass. WWE invested a great deal in her: promos, videos, three wins over Becky Lynch, and a reign as intercontinental Champion. Lynch in particular did everything she could to make Dupri look like a star. Did it work?
Not really.
Dupri did not lack confidence in her demeanor, and her wrestling skills have improved to barely adequate.
However, you don’t go from Bridget Jones to Rhonda Rosey overnight. Not unless your name is Jacey Jayne.
Asking fans to swallow this transformation was asking too much, and Dupri couldn’t quiet convince us otherwise.
Fans responded to Becky, but not so much to Dupri.
Second Runner-Up: A.J. Styles
Styles is in a tough spot.
Given Phenomenal One’s recent record and that of Gunther, it’s impossible to believe that Styles stands a chance against Gunther one-on-one. Styles could conceivably win their first encounter in a massive upset, but it won’t matter in the end.
Given that Styles has announced 2026 will see him retire from in-ring competition, and Gunther’s pattern of destroying bigger stars on their way out, there’s only one way this can end. All signs point to the rivalry ending with Gunther destroying Styles. It’s a challenge to tell a compelling story along the way when such an unhappy outcome seems inevitable, and Styles’s limited acting chops make it a greater challenge still.
Styles’s saving grace is this: The match itself looks to be, for lack of a better term, phenomenal.
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