The year 2020 and the unprecedented circumstances that surrounded it brought a number of opportunities for young, exciting and even underutilized talent to take major jumps to the next level.
WWE, All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling all had stars emerge with the potential to carry those companies into the next decade.
Drew McIntyre, Rhea Ripley, Jey Uso and Darby Allin are just a few of the names to break out this year. But who else joined them in 2020 and what do their futures look like?
Take a look for yourself with these difference-makers, listed in no particular order.
In 2020, The Street Profits graduated from random backstage promo segments to winning the Raw Tag Team Championships and becoming the premier team in WWE.
Since winning the gold in February, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins have successfully defended against all challengers and even defeated The New Day at Survivor Series in November.
Charismatic and athletic performers, they bring an energy to every match to elevate its overall quality. Whether they were working with Seth Rollins and Murphy, Angel Garza and Andrade or Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, they proved capable of delivering a show-stealing display.
In a year when performances were often uneven, Ford and Dawkins brought consistency to a tag team division that was anything but and firmly established themselves one of the biggest breakout acts of 2020.
The most unexpected leap from midcard to main event came when Jey Uso earned a Universal Championship match against his cousin, Roman Reigns, at Clash of Champions on September 27.
The storytelling involved and strong performances from all involved have helped make the storyline one of the best in recent memory. Uso, in particular, was superb as he tried to prove he belonged in the position of No. 1 contender.
"Which one are you?" he said, recalling the question that fans ask him. He vowed to make sure Reigns and the world knew exactly who he was at the pay-per-view. While he didn't win, his gutsy performance against The Tribal Chief earned him acclaim and led to another title match at Hell in a Cell.
That match was a masterclass in storytelling and provided Uso with his first five-star classic recognition. He lost again but would remain a key piece of SmackDown's main event scene, thanks to his love-hate relationship with Reigns.
As 2021 arrives, it appears Uso's run is just getting started. He remains by his cousin's side, mixing it up with any and all challengers to The Big Dog's throne. As long as his performances continue to impress, there is no reason to believe he won't remain the most conflicted tweener on the WWE roster.
The enigmatic Darby Allin was well on his way to breaking out in All Elite Wrestling before 2020, but the year brought opportunities that finally allowed the face-painted antihero to realize his potential.
Matches with Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Cody Rhodes helped prepare him for the next level of competition, while a feud with Team Taz's Brian Cage and Ricky Starks provided Allin a legitimate program to sink his teeth into.
It was not until Full Gear on November 7 that Allin really earned his spot on this list, though.
After several clashes with Rhodes that saw him fall just shy of defeating The American Nightmare, the 27-year-old finally claimed that elusive win and won the TNT Championship in the process. The victory served as a passing-of-the-torch moment, the coronation of a young star who had been groomed for big things from the beginning of the Dynamite era.
Now watching over AEW as its dark avenger, he has taken on a similarity to Sting from the height of the Monday Night Wars. It is ironic, too, because an interaction with The Icon has created quite a bit of buzz that Allin may one day mix it up with the legendary competitor.
Not bad for a guy originally known for skateboarding to the ring and making his own black-and-white videos.
Hikaru Shida finally recognized her potential this year, as she defeated Nyla Rose to win the AEW Women's Championship in May at Double or Nothing and still holds the title.
During her reign, she has established herself as the face of the division and proved her ability to work with women of different styles and backgrounds. She could brawl around Daily's Place with Rose, grapple with then-NWA women's champion Thunder Rosa and legitimize Penelope Ford in a great traditional match.
While AEW still has work to do with regards to its women's division, it has a star on its hands in Shida.
Whether the 32-year-old can survive an impending date with the terrifying Abadon is a whole other question, but it can wait until 2021.
Shotzi Blackheart became one of the breakout stars in NXT, thanks to an increased profile with the black-and-yellow brand and the opportunity to show off her enormous personality.
While the 28-year-old was proving her worth in the ring against NXT women's champion Io Shirai, hosting Halloween Havoc or captaining her own WarGames team, she also became one of the faces of the most talented women's division in pro wrestling—not to mention one of the more popular performers on the brand.
The future is bright for Blackheart, who finds herself still engaged in a rivalry with Candice LeRae and her lackey, Indi Hartwell, as the year comes to an end.
The year started with The Ballsy Badass appearing in her first Royal Rumble. Perhaps 2021 will take her one step closer to winning the storied match.
This year has felt so incredibly long that it is easy to forget Drew McIntyre was still mostly a midcard act on a bloated Raw roster 12 months ago.
That all changed with his win in the Royal Rumble match in January, a WWE Championship victory over Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 36 and subsequent title defenses against Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton.
In a year of great uncertainty and without a crowd to feed off of, McIntyre has become the face of Raw. He carried the company on his back through the most unprecedented year in its long and illustrious history. And when he lost his WWE title to Orton, he quickly regained it, adding a second reign to his resume.
At Survivor Series, he delivered a legitimate Match of the Year candidate against Roman Reigns.
The year brought McIntyre the accomplishment of his childhood dream and success the likes of which he had been groomed for since 2009. Luckily for him, the new year looks set to bring him more of the same in his place at the top of the card—and rightly so.
At the start of 2020, Ricky Starks was making waves as one of the breakout stars of Billy Corgan's revamped National Wrestling Alliance. By mid-June, he was a red-hot free agent courted by WWE and All Elite Wrestling.
The 26-year-old debuted for the newer promotion on June 17 when he answered an open challenge by TNT champion Cody Rhodes on that night's episode of Dynamite.
Starks impressed immediately and officially signed with the company shortly afterward. While it took him a little time to find his footing, he eventually aligned himself with Team Taz and partnered Brian Cage in battle with Darby Allin.
It was against Allin that Starks delivered one of his finest performances and continued to cement his status as one of the future stars of AEW.
As Team Taz continues to target Cody, it finds itself firmly in the crosshairs of Sting. That Starks originated in the NWA, the same organization that popularized The Icon in 1988 is a nice touch of irony.
When 2020 began, Rich Swann was in the middle of rehabbing a brutal leg injury that threatened his career.
At Slammiversary in June, he made a surprise return to the squared circle in the main event for the Impact Wrestling World Championship. it was in that multi-man match that he pinned and eliminated Eric Young, sparking a rivalry that would see The World-Class Maniac brutally assault and sideline Swann again.
Their rivalry would build heading into Bound for Glory in October, when Swann's emotional comeback culminated with him doing the unthinkable and dethroning Young for the top prize in Impact.
Swann would successfully defend it against Young and then knock off Sami Callihan and Chris Bey in live event specials.
It is what 2021 holds that supports the 29-year-old's breakout year, though.
If there was any question that Swann is the face of Impact, it was answered when he was chosen for AEW world champion Kenny Omega's first big feud with the company.
At Hard to Kill on January 16, Swann will team with Motor City Machine Guns' Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley to battle Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in a match that is sure to have the wrestling world buzzing.
Like Drew McIntyre in WWE, Swann made the jump from trusted midcard act and former X-Division champion to a genuine main event attraction who helped carried an entire company during a time of great uncertainty.
Io Shirai made the jump from quality in-ring worker and heel to the face of women's wrestling in NXT this year.
At TakeOver: In Your House in June, she defeated Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat match to win the NXT Women's Championship. If defeating two women who did battle at WrestleMania 36 wasn't enough, successfully defending it over the course of the next six months certainly was.
Dakota Kai, Candice LeRae, Shotzi Blackheart and Ripley all fell to the 30-year-old, who set the bar incredibly high for in-ring excellence.
At WarGames, The Genius of the Sky even added "internet legend" to her resume after her jump off the top of a steel cage with a trash can over her head in hopes of wiping out the competition went viral.
An energetic performer with a knack for taking to the skies, Shirai enjoyed the most successful year of her WWE career and is on track to kick off the next in a program with Toni Storm, the woman who beat her to win the 2018 Mae Young Classic.
Otis very nearly missed out on this list, thanks to questionable booking that essentially undid everything that made the big man such a lovable breakout star earlier in 2020.
A romantic angle with Mandy Rose helped earn him the love and support of the WWE Universe. Solid booking early on helped him breakout as one-half of Heavy Machinery, including a fantastic showing at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, where the notoriously difficult Philadelphia crowd was ready for him to win tag team gold.
As the storyline with Rose continued, along with the input of Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville, Otis' popularity continued to skyrocket.
Then came the Money in the Bank victory and the questionable booking decisions that followed. Indecision, a break from the Rose relationship and the evident lack of direction for Otis with the briefcase cooled him off swiftly. And that's a position he still finds himself in.
His tag team with Tucker has broken up, and he has now aligned himself with the motivational Chad Gable, whose goal with Otis is not readily apparent. The storyline stinks of indecision and a lack of focus, something a charismatic big man like Otis cannot afford at this point.
Who knows what 2021 holds for the 28-year-old, but hopefully it involves a return to form from a booking perspective because this recent inconsistency threatens to ruin his credibility and potential.
Orange Cassidy was already one of the most popular stars in AEW entering 2020, thanks in large part to his King of Sloth Style persona and penchant for humor.
Fans appreciated how different the 36-year-old was from the rest of the names on the roster and his ability to dial up intensity as a match went on if need be.
Then came the feud with Chris Jericho that elevated him to a level few could have expected. Suddenly, a performer often criticized as a comedic act ruining the business was embroiled in a genuine main event program with one of the greatest wrestlers to lace a pair of boots.
Their segments often flirted with the absurd and the comedy was over the top, but there was also a level of intensity and aggression that lent it some levity.
Most importantly, the program elevated Cassidy's star and helped him break out of his preconceived position on the card.
A top merchandise seller for the company, there is no denying the demand for more Freshly Squeezed. Whether he can consistently appear at the top of the card against main event talents is the question.
While equally disappointing and frustrating, the knee injury that kept Dr. Britt Baker out of action for much of 2020 may have been the best thing to happen to her.
Everyone knew she was being groomed for a spot atop the women's division, but they didn't know she had an enormous personality just waiting to be showcased.
That came to the fore thanks in large part to her on-screen chemistry with Tony Schiavone.
Baker's demeaning attitude toward the former voice of WCW helped establish her as a villainess. The addition of her wheelchair, her condescending attitude to the rest of the women's division and the addition of Rebel to her act helped her become one of the most entertaining characters on AEW.
At a time when the women's division was defined by characterless performers, it was refreshing to see a woman with a personality spotlighted to the extent that the 29-year-old was.
Her feud with Big Swole was spectacular, even if it ended in one of the worst matches of AEW's year. And Baker's return to the ring later in 2020 exhibited a woman whose growth as a wrestler will only help her achieve every one of her goals in the new year.
Murphy started the year as a disciple for Seth Rollins. As 2020 advanced, it became clear the Aussie took great exception to the ruthless, vile and disgusting actions of his mentor.
By the time The Monday Night Messiah looked to further tear the Mysterio family apart in September by suggesting Aalyah was not really Rey's daughter, Murphy had had enough.
Having developed a relationship with Aalyah, he fought back against Rollins for her honor.
On the November 20 episode of SmackDown, he unleashed months of frustration and anger on The Messiah, defeating him to score the biggest win of his career.
A Superstar who could barely sniff television time a year ago, Murphy made the most of his opportunities in 2020 and became a significant babyface star on SmackDown.
Rhea Ripley earned a place on this list the moment she laid down the gauntlet for a match with Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36.
By the time that match wrapped up in April, it was abundantly clear the Australian was the hottest young star on the WWE roster.
The 24-year-old stole the show on wrestling's grandest night, proving to be The Queen's equal in a match that she may not have won but certainly made her mark on.
Ripley would remain one of the cornerstones of NXT throughout the year, elevating Robert Stone and Aliyah's stars during their brief feud, doing the same for Raquel Gonzalez and heightening the significance of the NXT Women's Championship anytime she challenged for it.
A future Raw or SmackDown women's champion, she is the star of WWE's future and a centerpiece around whom it can build an entire brand's division. Those types are incredibly rare to come by.
Ripley will be around the top of women's wrestling for a very long time, and much of that can be traced to her performances throughout 2020.
At the beginning of 2020, Deonna Purrazzo was an afterthought on the NXT roster.
She was a significant signing at the Performance Center but had been left behind as others found success on television. A squash match against Nia Jax just 24 hours after WrestleMania 36 wasn't enough to feed her desire for more.
On April 15, she was released from her contract with WWE and made the jump to Impact, where she immediately became the star she knew she could be. The Virtuosa targeted the Knockouts Championship, defeating Jordynne Grace for the gold at Slammiversary and retaining it in subsequent rematches.
Purrazzo quickly became the face of women's wrestling in Impact, battling everyone from Grace to Kylie Rae to Su Yung. Her in-ring work backed up every braggadocious claim that she was the best wrestler in the world and her partnership with Kimber Lee gave her a fun dynamic to play off.
Now under a long-term contract with Impact, the 26-year-old will be the measuring stick for all other women to judge themselves by. A two-time Knockouts champion already, do not be surprised to see her win that title many more times as she leaves her imprint in the promotion's record books.
She's damn good, and the fact that she went somewhere to find creative and professional satisfaction is an indictment on WWE and its booking process.
