In the spirit of year end awards, and thoroughly enjoying the Year end Shows, I thought I would pose the question. Who is the Breakout Star/Rookie of the year? Someone who came out of no where and captivated us wanting to see more…for the casual or die hard fan…Pete Dunne?..Tyler Bate…or…
100% Velveteen Dream. Without a shadow of a doubt.
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I can’t get enough of Pete Dunne. He’s just awesome.
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I’d go with Dunn.
I love Pete Dunne (as the votes and nominations I cast in the awards suggest) and he is a total break out star this year.
However, he had a lot more coming into his WWE career than Velveteen did. This time last year, If you’d have told me that Pete Dunne would be involved in a WWE MOTYC, I would have replied with a happy, “Well, duh! Of course he will!”. If you would have told me the exact same thing about Velveteen, I would’ve looked at you quizzically and checked the alcohol content of whatever you were drinking.
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I’d say Cody Rhodes. The guy went from a forgotten WWE guy to a legit main event player. He just feels like a big deal now. He’s the breakout star.
In terms of relatively new/rookie of the year, it’d be Velveteen Dream. Pete Dunne did break out in WWE but that guy had a ton already going in. Dream came from out of nowhere.
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In WWE: Dunne, Velvateen, Alister Black…come to think of it, it has to be NXT guys because everyone goes through that system now
Rest of the World: Cody is now an A-list headline; Marty Scurrl seems to have caught fire everywhere and winning the Jr. IWGP is a big deal I think
in NJPW specifically - Juice Robinson, though I’m not sure he was a rookie this year, he was hella over on almost every card I watched and his match with Kenny was great
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Everyone mentioned so far is very worthy but at this point last year I despised Braun Strowman as a generic, lumbering big man with no upside other than his size. Now I see a strong upper-mid-to-top-of-the-card contender who has shone brightly for the majority of the year. He had a little stumble in the Brock match, but overall he’s been impressive and for someone with such a short time in the business he is showing a real aptitude for the skillset he is still developing. He has a very bright future.
Cody is a weird one as he is just as much hated as he is loved. There’s little-to-no middle ground with the guy.
Personally, I can’t stand him, and that touring 6-man schitck he does with The Bucks just makes my eyes roll. Great at marketing himself though, a lot of guys should take note of that.
IMO, Velveteen Dream is 2017’s breakout star. He went from pretty much a complete unknown to having the NXT Feud of the Year. Big things to come for Patrick Clark.
I 100% agree, can’t wait to see more from him this year.
Can we not call 15 year vet Alister Black a rookie?
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Velveteen Dream! His growth as a character (that could’ve easily bombed) has truly been impressive. At first, he was awkward and seemed to be trying too hard. Now it feels like he IS the Velveteen Dream, and he is thoroughly entertaining.
My honourable mention would be Lars Sullivan as he really did come out of nowhere for me, and has been an impressive hoss so far.
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Velveteen Dream is definitely my breakou star for 2017. I initially thought the gimmick was going to sink Patrick Clarke but he has really owned it and made it his own. Looks like he’s in line for some great programs in 2018, provided he stays healthy.
I also think Dalton Castle improved quite a bit in 2017 and it was great to see him cap it off with the ROH title win over Cody. I enjoyed their program, especially the contract signing angle.
In regards to Breakout Stars only, I thought Keith Lee was a huge breakout star this year on the independents.
Within WWE/NXT, and in a sense the rest of the world, Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate really stole the spotlight.
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